Final Fantasy Resonance Brings Back Turn-Based Combat, and Critics Are Sold
Square Enix's HD-2D rebuild of Brave Exvius launched Thursday to an 86 on Metacritic — the first HD-2D Final Fantasy, and the series' most traditional turn-based battle system in years.
Final Fantasy Resonance is out now, and the strangest thing about it is where it came from. Square Enix and developer Lancarse have rebuilt the first story arc of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius — a mobile gacha game that shut down — as a full, single-player console RPG, and the result is one of the best-reviewed Final Fantasy releases in years: an 86 on Metacritic and an 85 on OpenCritic, where 90 percent of critics recommend it.
Resonance is the first HD-2D Final Fantasy, taking the pixel-art-meets-3D style Square Enix developed with the Octopath Traveler series and pointing it at the main franchise. It follows Rain and Lasswell, knights of Granshelt, as they try to stop the Sworn Six from destroying the world's eight crystals. Familiar faces — Cloud, Tidus, the Warrior of Light among them — show up as Visions, and the Vision system doubles as the game's job system, letting you mix and match abilities across the party.
The headline change is the combat. Resonance is built around traditional turn-based battles, the most classic-style battle system the series has used in years, layered with just enough real-time touches to keep fights moving. Critics have singled the combat out as the game's best feature, alongside the visuals and the soundtrack.
The split in the reviews is the story. IGN gave it an 8 out of 10, saying it "sets a new benchmark for HD-2D visuals alongside solid turn-based combat and incredible music, which carry an underwhelming story." Eurogamer and VGC were cooler at 3 out of 5, praising the rebuilt battle mechanics while finding the writing predictable. Almost everyone agrees on the shape of the thing, though: excellent battles and presentation, a story that doesn't reach the same heights.
It's also a refreshingly normal length. The main campaign runs roughly 20 to 30 hours, and several reviewers treated that focus as a strength in an era of 80-hour RPGs. Resonance is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, and PC for $49.99, with a free demo on Xbox if you want to try the opening first.
Is a rebuilt mobile game the future of Final Fantasy, or just a very good detour? Either way, the turn-based era isn't done yet.