The first new Crash Bandicoot platformer in 12 years has been announced, with screens and a trailer being released by Activision.

Marked as "the true sequel" to the original trilogy (effectively ignoring The Wrath of Cortex, Twinsanity, Crash of the Titans, and Mind Over Mutant in the process), Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is being developed by Toys for Bob - best known for its Skylanders games and the superb Spyro Reignited Trilogy remaster collection.

It also aided Vicarious Visions on the Xbox One, Switch and PC ports of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, so has plenty of experience with the series.

The new game will be a 3D platformer, much in the tradition of the originals, but with a "fresh art style" and tweaked gameplay to bring the series up to date:

"Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time stands on the shoulders of the core precision gameplay we all fell in love with in the '90s," said co-studio head, Paul Yan.

"This epic new adventure spans space and time, introducing new ways to platform that both long-time fans and new players alike will enjoy mastering."

The story picks straight up from Warped (Crash Bandicoot 3) and tasks players with finding four Quantum Masks that enable Crash to bend the rules of reality, including the Time Mask that slows everything down, and the Gravity Mask, that can turn the world upside down.

As well as Crash, it seems that players will be able to take control of Tawna. Other Bandicoots might be revealed in time.

The game will be available for PS4 and Xbox One from 2 October 2020.