Final Fantasy Resonance, a game made from the ashes of closed-down mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, is good. Very good, in fact, as I learned at Gamescom 2026. It's basically a pixel-first FF RPG that takes old-school turn-based combat and modernises it. It feels like Octopath Traveler, but with all the classic Final Fantasy stuff in there, supported by some stunning HD-2D sprite work that looks simply divine.
I have been thinking about the game since Gamescom, sinking five hours into the free demo that launched shortly afterwards. It's a great, modern reinterpretation of what 'classic' Final Fantasy looks like - and it turns out that was Square Enix's intention all along, Final Fantasy Resonance director Hiroto Furuya told Kotaku in an interview. "As a foundation, it’s very important [that] we have knowledge of Final Fantasy's history and its past. But we're also gamers at heart, so of course we play the latest games that are available outside of Final Fantasy. We have the sensibility of knowing Final Fantasy's history, as well as the general feeling of playing more modern games".
Furuya went on to talk about the specific games the team has looked at when rethinking the combat system from Brave Exvius, considering how a pixel-first Final Fantasy should feel and play in the modern age. And it turns out the best place to look for inspiration were the last two pixel Final Fantasy titles in the mainline series: 1992's Final Fantasy 5 and 1994's Final Fantasy 6.
"The first concept we had in mind, simply put, is what if we take the job system from Final Fantasy 5 and the unique characteristics of each character in Final Fantasy 6, what would that look like?" Resonance producer Keisuke Nakashima told Kotaku. "This type of experiment hasn't been done in the past, so it required a bit of research and innovation."
Nakashima went on to discuss how the studio examined the strengths and weaknesses of the stagger system - a modern mechanic present in the FF7 Remake series and FF16, that requires you inflict a certain amount of 'stamina' damage to enemies in order to interrupt their turns - and incorporated that into the retro inspirations from the 90s games. "[That combination] ultimately [formed] into what you see now, where you have these distinct characteristics, but it also allows for that additional customisation element," said Nakashima.
For my money, the balance is great: by having a cast of characters with their own skills and abilities and pairing them with 'Visions' (characters from the series' past with their own unique abilities), you have a lot of variation across your team, and many combat puzzles with plenty of ways to tackle them. From the demo(es) I've played, I can see this having a lot of potential for RPG fanatics, and a really refreshing injection of turn-based brainteasing for the Final Fantasy series. Given how integral the 'Visions' are to the game's identity and combat mechanics, it's surprising to learn that - at one point - the team considered shipping the game without them.
"There was a time in development where we explored leaving the Final Fantasy series characters out," said Furuya. "However, we ultimately landed on incorporating them, even though there is difficulty in intermixing their worldview with ours. When you go back to the point of how cool it would be to use Cloud’s Cross-Slash, and the bombastic CG sequences, it really delivers on the spectacle and fun that we were drawn to."
Safe to say, I'm excited for this game. Final Fantasy Resonance launches on 22nd October on PC (Steam), PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.eurogamer.net/final-fantasy-resonance-combat-system-ff5-ff6
