Final Fantasy Explorers coming to the West in early 2016

Square Enix today announced that Final Fantasy Explorers, the mammoth franchise’s impending Monster Hunter-esque installment, will come to the West in January 2016. Explorers will launch on 3DS in North America January 26, three days before its European release.

Explorers supports up to four-player co-op play, both online and locally, which accentuates its focus on maintaining a diverse party. Over 20 jobs, including Knight, Monk, and Black Mage, will be available at launch. Of course, the core of the game is taming, summoning and defeating monsters, including such Final Fantasy icons as Ifrit and Bahamut.

Final Fantasy Explorers was first revealed in a June 2014 issue of Japanese gaming magazine Jump, and released in Japan the following December. Hope for a Western localization was wearing understandably thin given the game’s absence from Square’s E3 2015 showing. Thankfully, Western players can now start fighting over who gets to play what class.