It’s 1996. I’m happily traversing via chocobo and airship a magical world full of moogles, espers, crystals and magitek. I’m dazzled by the vibrant pixel art.

It’s 2026. I’m happily traversing via chocobo and airship a magical world full of moogles, espers, crystals and magitek. I’m dazzled by the vibrant pixel art.

FINAL FANTASY RESONANCE is the first time that Square Enix has applied its trademarked “HD-2D” style to its flagship franchise. Like in Triangle Strategy and the Octopath Traveler games, it combines expressive 2D pixel art sprites with 3D environments, cinematic cameras, dynamic lighting, particle effects, and depth of field into a compelling, hybrid aesthetic.

Several RPGs experimented with a similar look back on the PS1 (including Square’s own Xenogears), and the HD-2D games aren’t so much a throwback as they are emissaries from a parallel universe where pixel art was never supplanted by full 3D and instead evolved. With nearly a decade of practice in the style, FINAL FANTASY RESONANCE might be the best and most pushed it’s looked yet.

The story is an adaptation of FINAL FANTASY BRAVE EXVIUS , a free-to-play mobile gacha RPG that ran from 2015 to 2025, but this is no simple port or visual upgrade. Developers Square Enix and LANCARSE have built and balanced the combat/progression systems and world anew on top of that original story into a fully featured, single-player, single-purchase RPG. It’s a love letter to the series and a nostalgic return to its foundational roots with a modern upgrade, much like FINAL FANTASY IX did over 26 years ago.

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