Final Fantasy Resonance, developed by LANCARSE and published by Square Enix for PlayStation 5, takes an unexpected route back to the series’ roots. Rather than introducing an entirely new adventure, it reworks the first story arc of the mobile RPG Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, stripping away its free-to-play and gacha foundations and rebuilding it as a traditional single-player role-playing game. The result is a surprisingly convincing fit for the HD-2D visual style previously associated with games such as Octopath Traveler. With turn-based combat, a world map to explore, airships, crystals, summons and a host of familiar series conventions, Resonance understands what made classic Final Fantasy so appealing. Its greatest achievement is that the nostalgia feels like the foundation of a proper RPG rather than an excuse to recycle old ideas.
The adventure follows Rain, a talented young commander in the kingdom of Grandshelt, and Lasswell, his close friend and fellow swordsman. When the magical barrier protecting the Earth Crystal begins to fail, the pair investigate and encounter a mysterious armored warrior who destroys the crystal, plunging their homeland into chaos. Their subsequent journey to protect the remaining crystals brings them into contact with Fina, an enigmatic girl whose abilities and past gradually become part of the unfolding mystery. The premise is unmistakably traditional Final Fantasy, with a threatened world, elemental forces and a party of heroes drawn into a conflict larger than themselves. However, familiarity cuts both ways. The narrative moves at a good pace and the relationships between the main characters help maintain interest, but the plot relies heavily on established JRPG archetypes, leaving several developments easy to anticipate. Some supporting characters also receive less depth than their presence suggests they deserve. Nevertheless, the straightforward storytelling gives the adventure momentum, even if it rarely reaches the emotional heights of the series’ strongest narratives.
Where Resonance really distinguishes itself is in its combat system. Battles use a traditional turn-based structure, with the turn order displayed clearly so players can plan their next moves. Each enemy has both a health bar and a stagger gauge, and exploiting elemental weaknesses is crucial to depleting the latter efficiently. Breaking an enemy’s defences temporarily leaves it vulnerable, interrupts its ability to act and grants an additional action to the character responsible for the decisive hit. Stagger every opponent within the same turn, and the entire party receives an opportunity to attack again, opening the door to powerful Resonance techniques. This creates a satisfying rhythm in which identifying weaknesses, choosing the right abilities and coordinating attacks matter more than simply selecting the move that deals the most damage. The system builds on familiar turn-based RPG ideas rather than reinventing them, but the extra actions make battles feel considerably more dynamic without sacrificing their tactical foundations.
The Vision system adds another substantial layer to this formula. These collectible manifestations of characters from across the Final Fantasy series can be equipped by party members, granting access to additional abilities, spells and passive bonuses. Each character already has their own specialities, so choosing a Vision effectively lets players combine different combat roles and develop hybrid builds. As Visions gain mastery, their abilities and attributes can further influence character progression, encouraging experimentation with combinations that might not initially seem obvious. The appeal goes beyond recognising familiar heroes: finding a setup that complements a character’s strengths or compensates for a weakness can make a noticeable difference in challenging encounters. With a broad selection of Visions and plenty of equipment to consider, there is a rewarding amount of customisation available. The downside is that managing these options can become cumbersome, particularly when switching configurations for different encounters. The absence of a convenient way to save complete builds makes repeated adjustments more laborious than they should be.
Difficulty is another area where the experience can vary considerably. Resonance offers multiple difficulty settings, allowing players to choose between a more relaxed adventure and battles that demand careful preparation. On the standard setting, many encounters can become relatively easy once a reliable combination of characters and Visions has been established. This can make some of the more elaborate mechanics feel unnecessary during stretches of the main campaign. Higher difficulties, by contrast, put much greater emphasis on exploiting weaknesses, managing resources and taking advantage of every extra action. Optional bosses and late-game encounters can provide a particularly demanding test, giving the combat system room to demonstrate its strengths. Random encounters are less successful: although they help maintain character progression, their frequency can repeatedly interrupt exploration. Players can mitigate this through certain Vision abilities and equipment, but the interruptions remain a drawback for anyone who prefers to explore without constantly being pulled into battle.
Exploration provides a welcome counterbalance to the battles. The world is structured around a traditional overworld, with towns, dungeons, hidden treasures and optional challenges scattered across the landscape. Travelling on foot, riding a chocobo and eventually taking to the skies in an airship evoke the freedom of earlier Final Fantasy adventures. Optional discoveries include additional Visions, summons, unusual equipment and formidable opponents, giving players reasons to investigate routes beyond the main objective. The dungeons are generally briskly paced, with occasional puzzles and environmental mechanics preventing them from becoming mere corridors between battles. Side quests are less consistently engaging, often involving straightforward errands, but they can provide extra context for the world and its inhabitants. Quality-of-life features such as fast travel from early in the adventure, automatic saving and adjustable battle pacing help keep the experience moving. There is still plenty of incentive to stray from the main route, and the combination of exploration, character development and optional boss fights gives completionists a substantial amount of additional content.
The presentation is one of Resonance’s strongest assets. Its HD-2D approach combines detailed pixel-art characters and enemies with three-dimensional environments, atmospheric lighting, depth-of-field effects and more elaborate camera movements than would have been possible in the series’ earliest entries. The result retains the charm of sprite-based RPGs while giving battles and locations a more contemporary sense of scale. Character animations are expressive, and the camera can add real impact to combat encounters, while special attacks and summons benefit from dramatic cinematic sequences. The visual style is not uniformly pixel-based, as much of the scenery is rendered in conventional 3D, but that distinction rarely undermines the overall presentation. In fact, the contrast between the characters and their surroundings gives the world a distinctive appearance. There are moments when the spectacle feels restrained, and the cinematic flourishes are not used as consistently as they could be, but the art direction compensates for any lack of visual extravagance. Resonance demonstrates that the classic Final Fantasy aesthetic can evolve without losing its identity.
The audio complements the visual presentation with a soundtrack that combines new compositions with music drawn from the wider Brave Exvius legacy. Battle themes provide energy during routine encounters, while boss music helps establish a greater sense of danger when fights become more demanding. Familiar musical motifs also reinforce the connection to the broader Final Fantasy universe, and the cinematic presentation of special attacks gives some of the most important battles extra weight. The sound design is less about pushing the boundaries of the genre than supporting the adventure’s established atmosphere, but that approach suits the game well. The interface is similarly functional: the turn-order display and menu-driven commands make it relatively easy to follow the tactical flow of combat, even when the number of available abilities grows. However, the extensive character and Vision menus can require more navigation than is ideal, particularly when optimising the party for difficult encounters.
Perhaps the most important qualification is that Resonance adapts only the first major story arc of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, rather than bringing the entire mobile game’s narrative to consoles. The result is a substantial standalone RPG, but players should not mistake it for a complete adaptation of everything that came before. The main adventure can occupy several dozen hours, while optional bosses, collectibles, Visions and other activities extend the experience considerably. The scope is impressive, although the narrative’s limited reach may leave those invested in the wider story wanting more. Even so, the game makes a convincing case for revisiting material originally designed for mobile play. By removing the monetisation structure and centering the experience on exploration, progression and turn-based combat, LANCARSE has produced something that feels much closer to a traditional console RPG than its origins might suggest.
Ultimately, Final Fantasy Resonance is an appealing reminder that the series does not need to abandon its past to remain relevant. Its story is familiar and occasionally predictable, random encounters can become tiresome, and the party-management interface could be more convenient. Yet these shortcomings are outweighed by an engaging combat system, extensive customisation, rewarding exploration and a striking visual identity. The Vision mechanic provides a meaningful connection to the franchise’s history while serving a practical gameplay purpose, and the HD-2D presentation gives the adventure a personality of its own. It may not deliver the most original narrative in the series, but it understands the pleasures of building a party, uncovering secrets and winning battles through careful planning. For players who miss the slower, more methodical RPGs of Final Fantasy’s earlier years, Resonance offers a compelling return to form. It is not simply an exercise in nostalgia; it is a well-constructed role-playing adventure that shows how the series’ classic foundations can still support a thoroughly enjoyable modern game.
Score: 8.5/10