Final Fantasy Resonance - Hands-on Preview
Final Fantasy Resonance may hark back to the series’ beginnings with its’ pixel art style, but a focus on including fan favourite characters and cinematic shows just how far it’s come in the decades since. Fans of the series may recognise Resonance for its similarities to the popular mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, which was pulled off app stores a few years ago – and we now know why. Though some of the story beats and base mechanics may be the same, Final Fantasy Resonance is shaping up to very much be its own game, with fully voiced cutscenes, added narrative elements and a whole lot of visual upgrades.
After Sony’s State of Play presentation last week, a demo for Final Fantasy Resonance containing the whole first chapter dropped across several platforms – so you can actually try the game out for yourself right now. Thanks to Square Enix, I was able to attend a preview a few days earlier that gave me a little extra access, allowing me to spend about an hour in the game’s second chapter – in the Wind Shrine – and even though I’m very much still a newcomer to the Final Fantasy series, the game still has me intrigued.
It’s a classic fantasy story. Powers that have long protected the world are under threat, and it is up to a ragtag group of heroes to keep the evil at bay and restore peace to the kingdom. The group is led by Rain, a commander of the royal airship squadron, and his childhood friend Lasswell – two knights initially tasked with investigating the waning power of the Earth Crystal, but who soon find themselves without a squadron, without an airship, and with the fate of the world in their hands. Widespread devastation awaits if they cannot protect the remaining Crystals, and they cannot do it alone.
Thankfully, when the Earth Crystal shattered and kicked off the chain of destruction, Fina – a mysterious but powerful girl who remembers nothing of her past – emerged to save the pair of knights. For reasons unknown even to her, Fina has the ability to summon espers – magical beings who cost large amounts of MP to invoke, but when fighting alongside the heroes in battle can unleash game-changing attacks to turn the tides in their favour.
Throughout their journey, the heroes will also collect ‘Visions’ that put a unique spin on the otherwise fairly familiar Final Fantasy combat system. Your party can unleash attacks and use skills or items to wear down an enemy’s defenses, which may require some trial and error or investigation of their type weaknesses. But alongside their own skills, they can be paired with a ‘Vision’ – a “physical manifestation” of the “hopes and dreams of legendary warriors given life”. Basically, they are heroes from Final Fantasy games past that can be summoned to perform ‘Resonances’, dead huge amounts of damage or give significant buffs. For many, these Visions will be the most exciting part of Final Fantasy Resonance – there’s something cool about seeing multiple generations of protagonists fighting alongside each other, with an assist by Final Fantasy VII’s Cloud Strife potentially followed immediately by one from Zidane from Final Fantasy IX, or Terra from Final Fantasy VI. When a Vision is discovered, there’s a cool little interactive cutscene that tests for similarities between you and the heroes of the past, questioning whether or not you would have done things differently if placed in their shoes throughout various parts of their journey. Even as someone who isn’t overly familiar with many of the games, I found this to be a nice touch – so I can only imagine what it would be like with context.
Though many hardcore fans might already be familiar with a lot of what Final Fantasy Resonance has to offer through their experience with Brave Exvius, it’s clear there’s more on offer here. This is a fully fledged game that doesn’t have to navigate the awkwardness of a mobile experience, and which is able to take advantage of the full power of proper dedicated hardware. When the power of Visions are activated in battle, full-on epic (often 3D) cutscenes will play to show the legendary hero bringing the pain, in a way that feels made for the big screen. While it was a little jarring the first time one of those fully rendered 3D moments broke through the otherwise classic pixel art, it didn’t take much to get used to – those moments do end up doing a lot to show the breadth of what the series has offered across its lifespan.
Even as someone who is only new to the series, Final Fantasy Resonance has piqued my interest. Along with being its own complete story, it feels like it might be offering me a tasting platter of what the other games have to offer, and I can already feel it making me want to look into them to find out more about the heroes I encountered in the demo. I knew nothing about one in particular, but after hearing about her story here, I looked her up – and now I’m just that little bit more likely to go back and check out her game. Maybe this is a unique quirk of my own life and where I’m at with my attempts to get into the series, but it still feels noteworthy – and I’m sure I’m not entirely alone in this feeling. From what I’ve experienced, it seems like a good jumping off point for a series that can easily feel overwhelming to even dip your toe into – and anything that can make that entry point more accessible to more people has to be a good thing.
Final Fantasy Resonance launches October 22nd on PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S.
