Do you know that the creator and composer of Closing Fantasy teamed up once more in 2021 to launch a beautiful retro-inspired RPG? You in all probability didn’t—that’s as a result of Fantasian was launched completely on Apple Arcade and was rapidly forgotten. However now it’s coming to Nintendo Swap, as introduced in the course of the June 2024 Nintendo Direct, and also you shouldn’t miss it a second time.
Regardless of being relegated to Apple Arcade, Fantasian is definitely a unbelievable RPG that blends trendy and old-school sensibilities. That shouldn’t be too shocking given developer Mistwalker’s staff: as talked about, Closing Fantasy sequence creator Hironbu Sakaguchi produced and wrote the sport, whereas long-time Closing Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu offered the music. Their involvement alone sufficient to get avid gamers excited, and Fantasian does have a sure high quality about it that makes it really feel like Closing Fantasy in every little thing however title. Actually, you would put Fantasian subsequent to Mistwalker’s Misplaced Odyssey, The Final Story, and Blue Dragon and have your self somewhat off-brand Closing Fantasy assortment.
However past creator pedigree, Fantasian provides one thing recent to the method. Essentially the most gorgeous a part of the sport is its distinctive visible aesthetic. As an homage to the pre-rendered environments of old-school RPGS, Fantasian’s environments have been made with real-world dioramas. It offers the sport world a dreamlike texture and really feel when the computer-rendered enemies and characters wander round. Mechanically, the large gimmick of Fantasian is its barely tweaked conventional turn-based fight. Characters can solid spells or launch assaults at single enemies, however in the event you curve the trail of an assault with the touchscreen, you would assault a number of enemies.
One in every of my favourite options in Fantasian is the Dimengeon, which addresses the annoyance of grinding and random encounters. When exploring the world, you may lure encountered enemies within the Dimengeon and proceed exploring with out combating. As soon as the Dimengeon is full you then begin one lengthy battle in opposition to all of the enemies you could have trapped. It’s a neat system that lets gamers have extra freedom and selection of their exploration.
Whereas all the visible and mechanical options of Fantasian really feel like ingenious iterations of basic RPGs, the narrative isn’t a lot to jot down house about. You might be an amnesiac protagonist despatched to save lots of the world and every little thing goes about as you’d anticipate. However for many who are uninterested in replaying all of the classics and need a style of one thing new, Fantasian’s dazzling environments and ingenious fight make it a pleasant journey. I can’t look ahead to extra folks to play it when it launches this Vacation season on Nintendo Swap.
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