Final Fantasy dips back into the SNES golden era with Resonance
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New coverage focuses on how Final Fantasy Resonance combines classic, SNES-era role-playing with modern conveniences, marking the series’ first HD-2D game. The review says its familiar turn-based battles and world map offer a soothing alternative to the action-heavy style of recent Final Fantasy titles.
After ten hours, the reviewer finds the story conventional: Rain and his friend Lasswell set out to stop further crystal destruction after one is destroyed. Battles add health and stagger bars, speed controls and skippable animations, while fast travel and dungeon teleporting ease exploration. Players can recruit “Visions” of characters such as Terra and Cloud to gain abilities; the game adapts the first story arc of the mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, which closed in 2024.
- Resonance is Final Fantasy’s first HD-2D game.
- It pairs traditional turn-based play with modern conveniences.
- Familiar characters return as recruitable battle Visions.
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Final Fantasy is a long-running series of role-playing games from Square Enix. Many earlier entries, including the Super Nintendo games of the 1990s, used pixel art, turn-based battles and journeys between towns and dungeons.
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius was a mobile game set in the same broad franchise, with a story centred on Rain and Lasswell. Its “Visions” feature let players call on versions of characters from other Final Fantasy games, including Terra and Cloud.
The series has since explored more action-focused combat, while still drawing on familiar characters and ideas. This game combines a retro-inspired presentation with newer visual effects and conveniences, and retells the opening part of Brave Exvius for players who may not have played the mobile original.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Resonance offers a thoughtful return to the qualities that made classic Final Fantasy appealing: turn-based battles, a world map and a sense of discovery, presented with modern visual detail and conveniences. Its familiar story and nostalgic tone may be welcome for players who prefer a gentler, more traditional role-playing experience to action-focused entries.
The case against
The same reliance on familiar conventions may make Resonance feel derivative, especially with a predictable plot and recognisable devices such as amnesia. Its nostalgia and references to past characters may offer less for players seeking a more original story or a bolder evolution of the series.
Full account
Square Enix’s Final Fantasy Resonance takes the series back to a familiar role-playing format, with a large overworld, explorable towns and dungeons, random encounters and turn-based battles. Its HD-2D presentation combines pixel-art characters and settings with more detailed 3D effects, giving the adventure a look that recalls the 16-bit era while adding modern visual polish.
The story follows Rain and Lasswell, knights from the kingdom of Grandshelt, after an attacker destroys an elemental crystal and threatens the others. They set out to stop the group known as the Sworn Six, joined by Fina, a mysterious girl connected to the shattered crystal, and spirits called Visions drawn from past Final Fantasy heroes. The premise leans on familiar fantasy and role-playing conventions, and reviewers differ on how successfully the characters and plot rise above them.
Combat centres on exploiting enemy weaknesses with spells and skills, reducing stagger bars before pressing an advantage. The game also keeps traditional features such as a job system and menu-based commands, while adding conveniences including faster battles, the option to skip lengthy attack animations and fast travel to places already visited. The result is designed to feel recognisably old-school without reproducing every older-game friction.
The reports describe different amounts of time with the game and focus on different strengths. The Verge’s preview, based on about ten hours, finds comfort in the classic routines but says the early story is conventional. Nintendo Life presents the game as a cosy return to traditional Final Fantasy, while noting that its mobile-game origins show in some broadly drawn characters. IGN’s full review also sees the storytelling as a weakness, but highlights memorable combat and presentation; its reviewer reports a roughly 45-hour playthrough including side quests and optional challenges.
Where outlets differ
The Verge frames its account as an early preview and compares the deliberately familiar combat with the more action-oriented Final Fantasy VII Remake. Nintendo Life emphasises the game as a substantial reworking of the discontinued Brave Exvius mobile title and praises its fit with classic JRPG design. IGN likewise identifies Brave Exvius as the source of the story and characters, but gives a longer review focused on the adaptation, production and standout gameplay moments.
The accounts vary in how they describe the story’s shortcomings: The Verge calls its opening formulaic, Nintendo Life says the cast can be defined by genre tropes but credits side quests with adding depth, and IGN finds portions unengaging despite added dialogue and events. Their playtime also differs: The Verge had played around ten hours, while IGN says its review took about 45 hours with substantial optional content.