After a decade running as a free-to-play mobile title, Brave Exvius is getting a second life as a full-scale console RPG. Final Fantasy Resonance, arriving this October, takes the narrative foundation of the shuttered mobile game and rebuilds it from the ground up with turn-based combat and HD-2D pixel art.
The game is not a port or remake. Instead, it uses Brave Exvius' first season story as a springboard for a completely new experience, complete with fresh combat mechanics, an expansive overworld, and all the familiar Final Fantasy iconography: airships, chocobos, summons, and a visual style that pushes the HD-2D format further than before.
A three-hour hands-on session with the game revealed a colorful, lighthearted adventure following Rain, a knight from the Kingdom of Grandshelt. He's joined by childhood friend Lasswell, engineer Lid, and Fina, a summoner bound to the world's magic crystals. Together they're tasked with protecting those crystals from destruction by the Veritas of the Dark. The tone feels closer to recent Dragon Quest remakes than traditional, darker Final Fantasy fare, at least early on.
The demo included overworld exploration across multiple continents, a visit to the cheerful Dwarves Forge town, and a story dungeon at the Mobliz Shipyard where players track down a kidnapped engineer. The dungeon climaxes with a boss battle against a massive motorbike equipped with laser cannons, all while riding atop a speeding freight train. Puzzles and timed escape sequences break up the action throughout.
Combat Built on Stagger and Strategy
Rather than adopting an ATB system, Resonance displays a clear turn order at the top of the screen. Enemies possess a stagger meter that fills with each hit, and they take increased stagger damage when struck with their elemental weakness. The system echoes mechanics seen in Final Fantasy XIII or the remake of Final Fantasy VII, but with a turn-based framework.
Party composition matters significantly. Rather than swapping characters to cover elemental needs, players equip Visions, essentially personas or stands that grant each character additional skillsets. While some Visions are original, a major draw involves recruiting star characters from every mainline Final Fantasy entry. Y'shtola from Final Fantasy XIV provides water and healing spells as an equippable Vision. Cloud from Final Fantasy VII brings thunder magic and heavy physical damage. These don't replace core movesets; they deepen what characters can do.
When players stagger an enemy, the character who delivered the blow gets a bonus extra turn. If all enemies are staggered simultaneously, the party can trigger a Resonance ability using one of four equipped Visions, unleashing massive damage or crucial support. Properly executing these chains creates snowballing damage output that can steamroll encounters.
Visions level individually as you use them, unlocking new spells, attacks, and passive buffs. Any Vision can equip to any character, but smart pairings amplify effectiveness. The system draws inspiration from Final Fantasy V's beloved Job system, offering flexibility in party building that rewards experimentation.
Cinematic CGI animations accompany Vision calls, mimicking the summon sequences of older Final Fantasy titles, though they can feel visually jarring against the surrounding pixel art. Most players will likely skip them after the first viewing. The in-engine pixel art for Visions themselves, however, looks striking, bringing new life to characters from their original appearances.
Fina stands as the game's true summoner, the only character capable of calling Espers into battle. Players unlock these creatures by discovering optional dungeons scattered across the overworld and defeating them in challenging boss fights. Starting with Siren, a healing-focused songstress, players can recruit others like Ramuh, the lightning god, to expand Fina's combat toolkit.
Recruiting Visions from past Final Fantasy games involves visiting shrines and experiencing dream-like montages of scenes from those titles. Players then answer trivia questions about each character's story before unlocking them. It's a neat homage to the series, though spoiler-heavy for anyone unfamiliar with those games.
The demo represented roughly three hours of what Square Enix estimates as a 30 to 40-hour campaign, with completionists potentially doubling that. Resonance launches October 22 on PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Nintendo Switch platforms.
Author Emily Chen: "Turn-based Final Fantasy with this level of visual polish has been overdue, and Resonance nails what the series needed right now."
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