Final Fantasy Resonance has the crystals, familiar heroes and lavish HD-2D presentation expected from Square Enix’s celebrated role-playing series. What it lacks is a strong identity of its own.
Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the franchise, is reported to have said that a blue text window is enough to make a game feel like Final Fantasy. Resonance certainly meets that broad test, but its stronger defining feature is the sheer volume of references to earlier entries.
Developed by Square Enix and Lancarse, Resonance expands on the discontinued mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. It removes the original’s gacha systems and reshapes its material into a conventional, full-scale RPG. Like Octopath Traveler 0, it attempts to turn a mobile experience into something more substantial, but the result often feels like an extended celebration of the franchise rather than a confident new chapter.
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A familiar journey
The story opens with a familiar crisis: magical crystals are endangered, an ancient evil is rising and a group of determined heroes must save the world. Rain, the central character, occupies a role reminiscent of heroes such as Cloud and Lightning. The plot also revisits ideas associated with earlier games, including airship-leading knights and an amnesiac woman connected to powerful Espers.
Those recycled ideas are not automatically a problem. Familiar story structures can provide comfort, and Resonance uses them to create a consistently approachable adventure. The difficulty is that the game rarely takes a meaningful risk. That restraint appears to carry over from Brave Exvius, a live-service game designed to keep players engaged and spending rather than disrupt them with major narrative surprises.
There are still effective emotional scenes. One of the strongest involves a priestess, similar in broad function to Aerith or Yuna, struggling between her responsibilities and her wish to live for herself. Unfortunately, moments like this are frequently followed by another reminder of a better-known Final Fantasy story.
Combat caught between eras
Combat uses turn-based encounters without the series’ familiar Active Time Battle system. Turn order and elemental weaknesses are central, with enemies becoming vulnerable when their weaknesses are exploited. The system works, but it lacks the urgency and fresh tactical spark found in Octopath Traveler’s boost-and-break design.
The move away from mobile also removes one of Brave Exvius’ more effective ideas. Its touch controls allowed players to chain attacks and strike enemies simultaneously. Resonance is cleaner and less commercially aggressive, but it is not automatically a better game simply because those monetisation systems are gone.
Limit Breaks return as spectacular attacks that showcase the HD-2D engine. Square Enix is a natural fit for this visual style, even if Octopath Traveler 2 remains its strongest example. Fina, the party’s dedicated summoner, can call Espers during battles, giving her a useful mechanical distinction as well as a meaningful role in the story.
Resonance constantly asks players to remember other Final Fantasy games, leaving too little room for it to establish an identity of its own.
The most prominent new system is Visions. These equipable partners grant characters extra abilities and spells, functioning loosely like a Job System. Some come from Brave Exvius, but the most tempting options are famous characters from previous Final Fantasy games.
Collecting a Vision involves watching a short montage summarising its character’s original game. The idea reinforces the franchise’s history, but it also makes the system feel like a leftover from a character-collection mobile game. I frequently chose favourite heroes, including Squall, because their animated attacks were enjoyable to watch rather than because they created especially deep strategic options.
A smoother game with less friction
Removing gacha pulls and energy limits is unquestionably positive. Players do not need to spend money on random Vision unlocks, and exploration is not interrupted when a mobile energy supply runs dry. The trade-off is that Resonance feels unusually gentle.
On Normal difficulty, battles rarely demanded careful preparation or grinding. Characters generally reached dungeons at an appropriate level, while the world offered fewer rewarding secrets than the classic games that inspired it. The adventure is easy to move through, but that convenience also drains some of its sense of discovery.
Esper hunts provide a welcome exception. These optional encounters require players to track down summonable monsters and defeat them in demanding battles. The game also includes endgame super bosses, some of which offer more interesting fights, although they do not compensate for the lack of challenge in the main campaign.
Preserving a lost mobile RPG
Square Enix deserves credit for giving Brave Exvius a form that can remain playable after the original mobile service has closed. In an industry where game preservation remains uncertain, rebuilding a discontinued live-service title is worthwhile. Resonance and Octopath Traveler 0 suggest the company is willing to give selected failed or retired mobile projects another opportunity.
That also raises an uncomfortable question: why are there so many shuttered Square Enix live-service games in need of rescue? Other titles may disappear permanently, while Brave Exvius itself has more story than Resonance adapts. Several later seasons remain unavailable, and their return would depend on the game performing well enough for Square Enix to continue the project. A follow-up is possible, but far from guaranteed.
A pleasant but underdeveloped homage
Resonance is an easygoing game, well suited to handheld play with a snack nearby and something else on the television. Its Final Fantasy branding and HD-2D presentation give it an advantage over less established projects such as Harvestella and Dungeon Encounters. Yet those games, along with the Octopath Traveler series, often offer more considered interpretations of the same classic influences.
Resonance has crystals, turn-based battles and a parade of recognisable names. It occasionally delivers genuine warmth, but too often treats nostalgia as a substitute for invention. The result is a competent and approachable RPG that feels like a missed opportunity for Square Enix.
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Final Fantasy Resonance is scheduled for release on 22 October 2026 for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on Steam Deck using a prerelease download code supplied by Square Enix.
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