Across every pixel-art revival and remaster Square Enix has put out, not one Final Fantasy has been built in HD-2D. Not a single time.
Oct. 22 ends that streak.
Final Fantasy Resonance is the first game in the franchise to receive the treatment — the look that layers 2D pixel art over three-dimensional environments with dynamic lighting effects. Octopath Traveler introduced the style back in 2018, and Square Enix’s action RPG The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales took it somewhere charmingly new earlier this year.
Resonance pushes the idea further still, wrapping it around a turn-based tale of crystals that imagines an alternate history — one where Final Fantasy never stopped stretching what pixel art could do through the late ’90s and beyond.
A timeline where the sprites never went away
Where it all comes from is odder than the elevator pitch lets on. Resonance draws on the first season of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, the mobile release from 2016. Yes, that game. The one where Ariana Grande and Katy Perry showed up as summons.
Still, call it neither a port nor a by-the-numbers remake. Square Enix bills the project as an expanded and enhanced take on the story, designed to be something with more depth than a phone game dropped wholesale into a console release.
With the October release approaching, the publisher has opened up about the setting, the characters and how heroes from earlier Final Fantasy titles will lend their strength to this one.
SNES-era devotees, take note: chocobos, espers and airships are all back.
The empire is up to something, obviously
The world of Resonance is carved into nations that run on crystals. The Zoldaad Empire, a military state, holds the fire crystal — and it is acting precisely the way a Final Fantasy empire always acts.
“According to rumors, Zoldaad plans to use the airships and magitek weaponry they’ve mass-produced in recent years to invade neighboring countries,” said Square Enix in a press release.
At the opposite end of the map lies Mysidia, an advanced magical city and the home of the Ice Crystal, a place said to exist only in legend. Veterans will recognize the name immediately — Mysidia was the mage-filled city in FF4 as well.
The mysterious city stuffed with mages is a JRPG staple I’ll never get bored of, and there’s no point pretending otherwise.
Meet Jake and Sakura
One of the game’s two new leads hails from Zoldaad, the other from Mysidia.
Here’s Square Enix on Jake: “The leader of the rebel army opposing the Zoldaad Empire. Though Jake comes off as breezy and easily distracted by the fairer sex, within his chest is a heart that beats fervently for his countrymen, and he will do whatever it takes to end their suffering under the empire’s boot. In battle, Jake makes Lady Luck his ally, fighting with chancy abilities such as Coin Toss and Gamble Shot.”
Try reading that without picturing FF6’s Edgar and Setzer fused into one person. No complaints here.
Sakura — the character with the purple pigtails — is trickier to read. She “appears to be a young girl, her true age is unknown. As she speaks in a manner that suggests an ancient soul, many believe her to be far older than she seems… Sakura possesses an immense magical prowess that places her a cut above other mages. Her true origins and identity, however, are a mystery.”
That reads like FF6’s Terra with a dash of FF4’s Rydia.
How the fighting actually works
Battles play out in turns, and party members wield Limit Bursts — powerful strikes tied to a gauge that charges up when foes are staggered or when the character takes a hit.
Espers come back as summonable allies, and the roster carries familiar names: Carbuncle, Odin, Leviathan and Bahamut.
What’s actually new here is Visions — crystalized essences of legendary heroes that you equip so they fight beside protagonist Rain and his companions, growing more powerful the more they’re used.
Manage to stagger every enemy within a single turn and you set off a Resonance with a Vision, unleashing an exceptionally devastating attack. Picture a supersized Limit Break tailored to that specific character.
Vision crystals are earned by seeking out the Sanctums of Light dotted across the world.
Some of these heroes you’ll recognize instantly
A number of Visions are native to this world. Each of the main characters appears to carry several — Amelia, Jake’s gun-toting maid, and Ayaka, Sakura’s white mage friend, among them.
The rest come directly out of the series’ archives. FF3’s Onion Knight. FF12’s Vaan. FF13’s Lightning. FF15’s Noctis. FF16’s Clive. Others besides.
For the players who want to suffer
A good chunk of the Final Fantasy audience turns up specifically for optional punishment, and Resonance is stocked with numerous superbosses and secret dungeons to serve them.
“Though unrelated to the main story, these dungeons offer the perfect chance for those looking to test their mettle,” Square Enix teases.
Final Fantasy Resonance launches Oct. 22 for Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X.
Whether the pop stars make the jump from the mobile original remains unconfirmed — nothing official yet on Ariana and Katy joining this cast.