Dragon-riding combat is hacking and slashing its way back to the forefront of the action role-playing game genre with Drakengard 3.

In a recent post on the PlayStation Blog, Sakura Minamida, Square Enix's senior product manager, has stated that Drakengard 3 is arriving sooner than we realize. Square Enix has also posted a behind-the-scenes interview with Kimihiko Fujisaka, the character artist of Drakengard 3, to show what has changed during his eight-year hiatus from game design. Fujisaka explains that the characters of the series (Drakengard is a prequel to the first title and and is connected to a spin-off series, Nier) must have some modern changes made that adhere to the series' medieval style and establishes itself as a prequel so characters remain close to the their subsequent designs in Drakengard 1 and 2.

In order to prepare, Square Enix has revealed its final set of pre-order bonuses for Drakengard 3. Pre-ordering today will include the six free PlayStation 3 themes featuring the characters Zero, Mikhail, Cent, Octa, Decadus and Dito. Drakengard 3 will be coming out on May 20 exclusively for PlayStation 3.

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