Final Fantasy Resonance Review, Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Top Features

Final Fantasy Resonance from developers Square Enix and Lancarse is a first for the fabled series. 

Resonance is the first Final Fantasy game to roll out the HD-2D format while adapting a portion of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, originally a mobile game from 2015. 

Adapting a mobile game with gacha elements will elicit a no-thanks from some, but there was a heartfelt memorable story there. That Square Enix wants to surgically remove that and give it an almost Octopath Traveler-style treatment is pretty telling. 

Granted, it's brutally difficult to stand out in a golden era for the RPG scene right now. Resonance will need to resonate (sorry) quite a bit to live up to the hype its series namesake usually generates. 

Graphics and Gameplay

Stunning would be the right word for Resonance. 

There have been other recent HD-2D attempts in gaming. But this feels like the first to really nail it, with the character sprites really looking like they belong in the world and popping off the screen. 

The surrounding, varied detail is a treat and holds attention, of course. The fine detail and even draw distances in the background of fights are impressive. So, as always, are the particle effects and other goodies in battle. It's just an overall sense of heart pumped into this one that really creates some immersion. 

Credit goes to another fantastic Final Fantasy soundtrack and overall sound design, too. That includes the fully-voiced cutscenes to crank up the production quality to top-tier levels. 

The twist on traditional RPG turn-based combat, if one could even call it that, is the presence of a timeline at the top of the screen. It's a fun way to see the exact order of a battle in digestible format, permitting deeper-than-expected strategizing. 

It's not just seeing and prepping for a big enemy attack, either. The stagger system is one way this is quite a bit more engaging than it probably should be. Planning around enemies' attacks or other types of moves by plotting how and when to fully deplete a foe's stagger gauge (elemental weaknesses play a role) removes their turn and quickly becomes a key to battle. 

That stagger system plays into the game's namesake, too. Players can weave "Visions" into their combat as summons and triggering a stagger of the entire enemy team at once will trigger a "Resonance" super attack alongside one of the visions. 

There are real summons, too, called espers. Once called into battle, they assist players for three turns before executing a finishing move. As expected, it's a huge investment to get these summons on the field, but totally worth it. 

It's all just different-feeling enough to stand out on its own and, short of just being simply fun, it's a cool idea to see some iconic cast members of the series return to help out via those visions. 

Story and More 

The story here is as Final Fantasy as it gets. Rain, the protagonist, commands an airship squadron alongside his best friend tasked with investigating a shrine that houses a magical barrier. A crystal within the shrine gets shattered by a baddie and off things go. 

Players romping through the world to defend crystals from an evil army while mysteries unravel and rosterable companions pop up isn't anything new in the RPG sphere. It's just all about execution. 

And it's great. The pacing feels good and this isn't just nostalgia fodder via those visions. The cast is easy to care about and memorable, even if the background foundation of the story is pretty standard. 

There are lots of little small things to find out in the world. It's not just completionist fodder, either, as exploration will turn up new Visions to use in combat, esper summons, and other notables. As a locale, the setting is a character in its own right. 

Hitting on the same themes again, overall progression hits the expected stuff with some small interesting twists. Leveling up and managing the inventory is one thing. But the scale of how things change by simply equipping different visions to each party member is pretty wild. It's the same story for summons, too. Kitting out a party for a specific elemental weakness of a boss looks quite a bit different on a per-player basis and the overall strategizing that goes into party construction is deep. 

Resonance arrives with a long list of options in the menus, from difficulty customization to the always-appreciated ability to tweak the battle speed to get things moving faster.

Conclusion

The eyes can gloss over a bit at all the RPG remakes and reimaginings and sheer quantity of the genre coming out these days. 

Resonance isn't one to overlook. 

There are tried and true staples of Final Fantasy here when it comes to story, characters, worlds and combat. But the small layerings atop especially the battle formula really make it stand out. So much so, in fact, it's worth wondering if the mainline series, never mind competitors, don't take inspiration from just how good this all feels together. 

It's all enough to make Resonance a splendid time and, frankly, one of the better RPG releases in a stacked 2026 lineup.