Review | Final Fantasy Resonance

A turn-based FF review (finally)

Final Fantasy Resonance is a 2026 role-playing video game co-developed by Square Enix and Lancarse (The DioField Chronicle (2022), Monark (2021), Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth (2018), Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (2009), etc.) and published by Square Enix. It is an adaptation of the first story arc, "Lapis," from the 2015 mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. It is the first HD-2D game in the Final Fantasy series. The game was released on 22 October 2026 for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. A demo was released on 3 September 2026, covering the story up until the end of Chapter One.

My first thoughts were, "OMG, another mobile adaptation, and it's a FF game." I meant that in a bad way, because SE has lost its direction completely, if you ask me. Still, I was hoping for a good turn-based FF game, plus, I loved Octopath 0. And then I tried the demo... And I was really on the edge after 5 hours or so – the story was basic, the characters were shallow, and everything felt like a fan-service, formula-based game instead of a standalone, single-player adventure. I'm really glad I bought the game and continued, because the journey has become one of the best I've experienced in a FF universe lately, and it's a true old-school title with such a good combat system, the best-looking 2D-HD visuals, awesome nostalgic tracks, and quite good characters. How so? Well, let's try to explain in this review!

Just to mention that SE wanted this game to be a cheap, low-budget port of the mobile game, and thank God the team behind the game fought to do what they did – a full game with so much to love, even with a €60 price tag. The game is stable, and the only hiccup was some weird character model flickering on certain maps.

Prepare for a beautiful journey, the best-looking 2D-HD game out there, with a world map! My soul is happy.

Story and the characters

At first, Rain was just a generic protagonist. Everything starts that way, and eventually, you start caring about the dialogues, characters, quests... There are numerous funny moments, such as all the ones with Gilgamesh (that guy rules!). And the overall story is good, maybe not as strong as in some other games, but combined with lovable party members and good voice acting, it grows on you. I especially loved the rivalry between Rain and Laswell, and I loved most of the party members, too. However, I do wish they had more impact in the overall scenes, but that can easily be fixed (in the sequel).

I disliked the first 5 hours due to the fact that the game starts really reserved, with crystals and all those clichéd moments and story plots we've witnessed so many times. That is not the case at all when you look at the whole picture – the plot and twists are interesting, if not great. I loved my 60-hour playthrough, and doing side quests and everything else there is to do (like talking to NPCs in towns) was just lovely and reminded me of early FF titles.

The visions (helpers) that you recruit are simply fan service, and while I have strong nostalgia for old FF music tracks and old FF characters, I wish the next entry (hopefully there will be one) featured standalone models, not ones we all know.

When you hear the menu music from FF7 or the combat victory march... Man, that hits hard.

Game design, exploration

When it comes to the basic design, it's all about visiting towns, dungeons, and exploring the map while entering sub-dungeons, finishing quests, and grinding your party. There are random encounters (I still love them), but I can see how part of the modern audience might be frustrated by the fact that you need to fight quite often. My only "issue" is that the UI (HUD) reminds me of a mobile game, and the font jus isn't right, but other than than... Awesome game design!

This is a true old-school JRPG formula – with a ship that lets you land in more places on the map and explore hidden dungeons... This is a true journey revolving around unique art all over the place, while constantly tinkering with your combat skills and visions. Visions are like support skills that you can level up, and the good thing is that they all provide permanent upgrades as they gain levels, as well as skills that you can assign to your character even if you change the vision. The main idea is to unlock new skills in combat, stagger enemies, and deal massive damage.

All of the mentioned points are things we older gamers know and cherish, and Resonance is my reason to talk lovingly about them, because having a game where everything feels interesting and important, thanks to rewards that can easily be used as part of your characters' combat strategies, is just great.

I think the pacing is just right, and the side content is really fun and will challenge you. And that challenge is the most fun part of the game.

Collecting summons, gathering Squall and Cloud... This is such a good game that cherishes what we all cherish.

Combat

The best part is the combat, for sure. A system where you learn skills from visions (you find them in caves and quests, and you need to beat one to get it) is probably my favourite RPG system in games. Learning skills adds them to your skill list, and using AP, you can set up to 10 passives while also having the passives from your equipped vision active.

When you max out 15+ visions and have, like, 100+ skills, imagine what you can combine in combat. Let me just give you one example. It blew my mind, and it reminded me a bit of Tales games and the Materia system:

• Learn the Double Turn skill and equip it.

• Learn the Double Action skill and equip it.

• Use Double Turn, then Double Action, and you can chain 4 skills!

The same goes for magic. You can boost, stagger, deal more damage... There is an almost endless number of combinations to explore, and this, for me, was a perfect system. Combine this with armour, weapons, and accessories, and you can go even further. I loved the grind, and the Normal difficulty is perfectly balanced, but if you aim to level up your visions faster, you can switch to Hard and get more rewards. Neat! Also, you can speed up combat and skip all animations, which is something I trully salute!

Another take - I don't think boss fights are spongy, and having so many boss fights is one of the best parts of the game, if you ask me. I love chaining everything. I love this system! Okay, maybe I miss more Limit Breaks, but having Visions and having their limits is a good compromise!

There is just so much to love. You will constantly find something to chase, something to adjust, and something to try out.

Side Content

Well, maybe this part is not as good as the combat, but having side stories that expand the lore is just great. Although the quests are a bit fetch-heavy, they are still good because the rewards are always something you can use in your combat strategy, or simply a good healing item. They are 90% of the time mapped, but some quests are well-hidden, so I can say the hand-holding is acceptable, the blend of modern and old school is acceptable.

The rest, like the arena, chasing the Ultimate Weapon, collecting visions, and defeating optional sub-bosses... Everything I've found in the game is fun, but expect a bit of grinding, so if you don't like that, this part may be a bit too much in that regard. I wasn't bored or fatigued in any way. I was just hunting for better and better items so I could rearrange my strategy and kick some asses.

I especially loved the hidden vision – man, that was a fight! If you want, you can always change the difficulty to Easy and enjoy yourself, but there is no need.

At the end of the day, I will remember so much from this title. Good job!

Conclusion

Final Fantasy Resonance turned out to be a wonderful surprise. What initially felt like a generic mobile adaptation became one of my favourite recent FF experiences, with fantastic combat, beautiful HD-2D visuals, nostalgic music, and that old-school JRPG feeling I've missed so much. It may not be perfect, but it's a game made with love for everything that makes classic Final Fantasy special. I really hope we get a sequel!