We played Final Fantasy Resonance and it delivers classic FF at last

The last nine years have given us two HD-2D Dragon Quest remakes, three Octopath Traveler games, and a new polygonally-challenged hero named Elliot. Yet despite Square squeezing its money’s worth out of its eye-catching (and fully trademarked) HD-2D engine, in almost a decade, its golden boy Final Fantasy has bizarrely never received the same pixel-led treatment—until now.

Announced during June’s Nintendo Direct, Final Fantasy Resonance sees the series going back to basics, dropping FFXVI’s real-time skirmishes to play the hits. Packed with nostalgia-tickling franchise staples like chocobos, airships, and classic turn-based shenanigans, as I put on my headphones and pick up my controller, Resonance immediately transports me to a simpler time.

Dropped right onto your classic world map, my pixel art protagonist walks with purpose while an upbeat orchestral score swells enthusiastically. As I slowly roam the luscious tree-coated map, I suddenly realize that I can pick up the pace. A tap of ‘square’ summons my trusty chocobo – and I’m off.

In Resonance, these once derpy ostriches have been given a notable sense of speed. Galloping around the overworld, with my ride sprinting like a coked-up Big Bird from Sesame Street, I follow the cracked road before me, taking in the classic sights of sprawling towns and hillside paths littered with jagged-rock faces until I’m rudely interrupted by an enemy encounter.

Combat in Resonance is largely what you’d expect from an old-school Final Fantasy. Your four-member party can use standard commands, Summons, and abilities, and enemies can be staggered. While combat could easily feel dull, each familiar element is so slickly stylized that it consistently satisfies throughout my 45-minute demo.

A clear highlight is Resonance’s screen-filling Limit Burst attacks. Always a bit of an FF showstopper, these special moves are delivered through elaborate pixel art animations that transform special attacks into a dazzling spectacle. Whether it’s bombarding enemies with a never-ending sea of chocobos or launching a blazing inferno at the unlucky soldiers on the other side.

Much like Resonance’s blend of HD with 2D, this is an FF that merges the early series’ classic fantasy tropes with later entries’ flirtations with modernity. This is a setting that blends old-school temples with modern, chic cities. It’s a visual duality reflected in the lead character designs, too, where cast members wield ancient swords while wearing leather jackets adorned with enough chains and charms to make Nomura proud.

After accidentally wandering into some areas that I’m sadly not allowed to write about, I turned Big Bird around and sped towards my main objective: an eerie-looking tower. As I enter what I soon learn is the Wind Shrine—a towering temple containing a giant green crystal—my party races towards it in a bid to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, kicking off some classic multi-floor dungeon exploration.

“Much like Resonance’s blend of HD with 2D, this is an FF that merges the early series’ classic fantasy tropes with later entries’ flirtations with modernity.”

While the wider details of the story are being kept tightly under wraps, hardcore FF fans will already likely recognize Resonance’s core cast. My party consists of Rain, Lasswell, Fina, and Lid —the heroes of mobile game Brave Exvius—who seek to protect this world’s crystals. It turns out, Resonance is something of a reimagining of the aforementioned hit mobile game, completely removing Exvius’ gacha mechanics, vastly improving its once basic visuals, and rewriting its first major story arc into a full 30- 40-hour adventure. All caught up? Back to the adventure!

As a barrage of random battles continue to ambush me, I soon discover that I have one deadly trick up my sleeve—weaponised nostalgia. Resonance’s big new combat innovation comes in the form of “Visions,” crystallized essences of legendary heroes from Final Fantasy’s past. In my demo, I’m joined by Cloud, FFIX’s Zidane, and FF1’s Warrior of Light. In a nice touch, these lovable legends aren’t just sealed away in your Pokeball-esque crystals; instead, these Visions stand directly alongside your main squad in the heat of battle, making their presence feel more tangible than I expected.

In another bid to make these Visions less gimmicky, your famous friends even level up independently to your core party members with their own Mastery Rank. The best part of having Cloud and Zidane by your side? They can use the titular Resonance abilities to trigger cinematic mega-attacks that bring their selected Vision to life in full, glorious 3D.

With the rest of your party resigned to a life of battling in two dimensions, these pivotal attacks never cease to dazzle. Watching a fully 3D FFVII Remake-era Cloud perform a screen-filling Braver on a pixel art boss never failed to elicit a smile, with the Warrior of Light and Zidane’s over-the-top finishers feeling similarly spectacular.

As I climb my way to the tower’s peak, I race toward the temple’s Wind Crystal, pursued by a sulking, undead-looking knight—the intimidating Aether. Where the previous fights were a cakewalk, this boss regularly KOs a slew of my party members, requiring me to exploit the ancient foes’ elemental weakness, regularly heal my team and unleash every big attack going. You know, classic Final Fantasy goodness.

While the majority of my demo is played on PS5, after I defeat the cackling boss, I have a quick go on the impressive Switch 2 version. It runs expectedly well, looking sharper than the disappointingly blurry Adventures of Elliot did on Switch 2, and it’s here that Resonance makes the most sense. When exploring the classic overworld or battling with my pixel-art party directly under my nose, this cosy adventure begins to click.

All in all, I came away pleased—if not wowed—by my time with Resonance. This is an old-school RPG that finally delivers on the “FF greatest hits” promise many fans hoped for from 2016’s rather crappy series-spanning adventure World of Final Fantasy. Where Clair Obscur and FF Revelation seek to push the genre forward, Resonance then, is a fan-pleasing love letter to Final Fantasy’s storied past.

While it seems unlikely to win any awards for innovation, it’s looking to offer a soothing balm during turbulent times—the kind of cozy-feeling adventure begging to be played while curled up on the sofa after gorging yourself over the Christmas holidays. We’ll see how the whole adventure holds up when Final Fantasy Resonance launches on PS5, Xbox, Switch 2, and PC on October 22nd.