The first details leaked recently, but now it's official – the F.E.A.R. franchise is returning to PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC later this year with its third installment.

The press release from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment describes F.E.A.R. 3 as “a heart-pounding paranormal horror first-person shooter unleashing intense combat, compelling narrative and co-op play that evolves the franchise”.

F.E.A.R. 3 will introduce divergent co-op, endowing the protagonists Point Man and Paxton Fettel with unique abilities. These abilities will not only impact on your own gameplay experience, but that of your co-op partner as well.

“Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is evolving the F.E.A.R. brand with top horror, co-op and first person shooter combat in F.E.A.R. 3,” said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Monolith Productions has passed the torch to Day 1 Studios to create a quality, powerful game that stays true to the roots of the F.E.A.R. franchise but takes players to a heightened level of gameplay.”

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has also enlisted the talents of legendary horror-film director John Carpenter (Halloween, Village of the Damned) and horror comic and script writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night).

“After working closely with Monolith, Day 1 is honoured to bring the next iteration of the F.E.A.R. franchise to gamers with key elements of the past games yet providing fresh combat and horror experiences in F.E.A.R. 3,” said Denny Thorley, Founder and President, Day 1 Studios. “Players can look forward to new features such as divergent co-op, an evolved cover system, and more scares in F.E.A.R. 3.”

For more info head along to www.whatisfear.com