Romero and Josh Sawyer leading Gauntlet rebirth

Midway this week announced "the rebirth" of the Gauntlet franchise under the direction of John Romero (Doom, Quake) and Josh Sawyer (Icewind Dale) at the publisher's San Diego studio.

Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows is due out on PS2, Xbox and PC this winter. The "Seven Sorrows" bit refers to the plight of the great emperor badguy, who is now haunted by "seven acts of deep cruelty and selfishness" and so consumed by his devotion to undoing the murder of his lover Cusirimay that "his mad plans may tear apart the world".

Into the fray charge four immortal heroes who had originally set out to kill the emperor and failed. Having been released from crucifixion on a great tree at the bottom of a world (presumably being crucified whilst immortal hurts but doesn't scar), the heroes now set out to release the emperor from his torment by whatever means possible.

Means that consist of fantasy fighting (read: hackandslash) with a mixture of "user-friendly RPG elements" to back them up, according to Midway. The new fighting system will be very easy to slip into with a degree of depth available to those looking for it, it says, while in addition to a single-player mode the game will boast the expected co-op option and an online community element.

Presumably we'll learn much more about Seven Sorrows sometime in the next few months. Given that the E3 trade show's only a few months off, we'd put our money on May.