16 years ago, with the release of FINAL FANTASY XIII, it became clear that graphical fidelity had become a priority for legendary RPG maker SQUARE ENIX. At the same time, not every game would have the same budget as XIII (rumoured to have been around 100 million USD), nor would they necessarily even benefit from the same sort of look.
Inspired by the look of FINAL FANTASY VI, by far one of the most visually impressive titles on the SNES, in order to continue pushing visuals forward at a relatively smaller cost, SQUARE ENIX came up with an aesthetic they called “HD-2D”, which combined retro character sprites and 3D environments. The first game to boast this look was OCTOPATH TRAVELER, in 2018, with one of SQUARE ENIX’s biggest franchises, DRAGON QUEST, following suit in 2024, when DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake came out.
FINAL FANTASY RESONANCE’s announcement at the Nintendo Direct this June caught the eyes of many for being the first entry in this storied series to adopt said HD-2D style, which is fitting considering that RESONANCE is the first turn-based FINAL FANTASY in a long while. However, in very much the same way in which the HD-2D style is something fresh built upon sensibilities of the past, RESONANCE is adapting the story and characters of FINAL FANTASY BRAVE EXVIUS: a mobile spin-off game released worldwide in 2016 but shut down in 2024.
“RESONANCE is the first turn-based FINAL FANTASY in a long while.”
This being said, after spending about an hour with a build of FINAL FANTASY: RESONANCE made for gamescom 2026, I’m so happy to confirm that so many of the aspects that it lifts from BRAVE EXVIUS have been entirely transformed: from the navigation and dungeons to the summons and limit bursts, so much has been changed for the better. The demo itself featured a slice of Chapter 2, in which Rain and his party find themselves in pursuit of the Wind Crystal at the, you guessed it, Wind Shrine.
What most caught my attention, though, and what I actually ended up doing before heading to the Wind Shrine, was employing the help of a Vision: an equippable “echo” of a character from across the FINAL FANTASY franchise. In this case, close to the Wind Shrine was the home, or Sanctum, of Noctis: the protagonist of FINAL FANTASY XV. He was already unlocked in my case, but normally, players would have to reach the innermost part of the Sanctum and then answer a quiz to see what they would do if they were to walk in Noctis’ shoes.
For example, before the final battle in XV, Noctis decides to rally his most trusted friends one last time, whereas RESONANCE asks whether or not players would do the same or stay quiet instead. Now, Noctis and I were very much not in alignment, but that didn’t seem to actually deter him from joining my party anyway. Regardless, finding each of these Visions should be a treat to any long-standing FINAL FANTASY fan.
“FINAL FANTASY RESONANCE was a mishmash of old and new SQUARE ENIX sensibilities.”
With Noctis “equipped” in tow, the Wind Shrine was the only destination left for me to explore in this demo. On the way there, though, I dispatched various waves of randomly encountered enemies through spruced-up turn-based FINAL FANTASY combat. The Visions, as it turns out, are incredibly powerful, especially when enemy weakness is exploited until the point of being staggered – which is a FINAL FANTASY XIII mechanic that is brought back in RESONANCE.
Moreover, Limit Breaks, the powerful finishers introduced in FINAL FANTASY VII, are also an important part of combat and function in very much the same way. To complement these two old mechanics are “resonance” attacks, which, like All-Out-Attacks in the Persona series, can be triggered by staggering every enemy on the field during the same turn. For the purposes of this preview, I’m not going to mention any relevant story details, but using every tool in my arsenal and especially Visions and the aforementioned resonance attacks, I did indeed defeat the final boss of the demo.
Leaving the demo station, it was clear to me that FINAL FANTASY RESONANCE was a mishmash of old and new SQUARE ENIX sensibilities. Whether or not this will manifest into a great gaming experience come October remains to be seen, but, based on what I played so far, things are looking very promising.
