I'm a big fan of Square Enix's HD-2D offerings. Octopath Traveler was a sight to behold when it was first revealed many years ago; the Dragon Quest remake treatments are glorious to look at; and now, in what feels like something that should've been a thing years ago, Final Fantasy is getting its first time at the bat with the high-def pixel artstyle with Final Fantasy Resonance, a game that I think will truly resonate (see what I did there) with diehard fans of the series. But hey, even if you don't have nostalgia for Lightning from Final Fantasy 13 or any love for Squall from Final Fantasy 8, there's still a lot to love here for newbies of the franchise.
I had the opportunity to play almost an hour of Final Fantasy Resonance at Gamescom 2026, giving me just a small glimpse of what the full-blown JRPG has to offer. If you've been keeping up with the premise of Resonance, then you might have heard that the game is somewhat an adaptation of an older mobile game called Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, which, unfortunately, was shut down in 2024, even after amassing 40 million downloads. The free-to-play title let players use its gacha mechanic to recruit and summon iconic Final Fantasy characters into battles, such as Cloud, Sephiroth, and Tifa.
But don't fret! Resonance is not just some mobile game rehash — it's a fully realized and fine-tuned console-quality RPG that is loosely based on the first story arc of Brave Exvius. Interestingly enough, my Square Enix PR handler (shoutout to Chad Concelmo) was in the appointment with me and mentioned that in an earlier gameplay session, a journalist who was a hardcore fan of the mobile game told him and other people in the demo room that this feels like a completely different game, so take that how you will! And sure, there are still some things about Resonance that can feel a little "mobile gamey," but ultimately, I walked away feeling excited about this new venture, and also nostalgic for Final Fantasy as a series thanks to the Visions that you'll be able to recruit on the adventure.
From my time and experience with Resonance, it mostly plays out as you would expect for a top-down turn-based JRPG. You have your four main party members that take turns attacking; they each have a set of skills based around their character, you can change their equipment, and, like in recent FF games like FF7 Remake, you can stagger the enemy by doing enough damage to them to faze them, allowing you and the team to gang up and deal even more damage to 'em.
The one major difference in Resonance, though, is the addition of Visions. While some of the Visions are just people who are exclusive to the story of Resonance, some of them are iconic FF characters, like Lightning from 13, Zidane from 9, Squall from 8, and even more recent ones, like Clive and Noctis from Final Fantasy 16 and 15, respectively. As Sakurai of Super Smash Bros. fame would say: "Everybody is here!"
Unfortunately, the embargo information for my Gamescom Resonance demo does not allow me to talk about the specifics of recruiting Visions, but my PR guy did say that some of the Visions are gained naturally through story progression, but some are tucked away in little shrines and other locations on the overworld map, which is how you'll travel from one story point to the next --you can even ride a Chocobo to make the process smoother, which is always a fun time!
I wish I could talk more about my experience with the recruitment process, but I did end up finding Noctis before heading to the Wind Shrine, which was the bulk of my demo, leading to a boss fight I got very close to beating but couldn't quite finish.
But yes, all I can say about recruiting the Noctis Vision is that it made me feel super nostalgic for Final Fantasy 15. I know that sounds wild to say about a game that came out only 11 years ago, but listen: if any of the other recruitment processes are anything similar to Noctis', you're in for a treat, especially if you've played a lot of Final Fantasy games. You don't have to fight the Visions in a heated battle or anything like that, but let's just say it'll tug at your heartstrings and give you glimpses into some of the major parts of the character's respective game.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://gamerant.com/final-fantasy-resonance-hd-2d-hands-on-preview/
