No matter how modern and visually stunning Final Fantasy gets, there’s something so endearing and comforting about games that channel the early years of the franchise. Nostalgia is a big part of it, but it’s also because Square Enix usually manages to create a game that looks like a charming retro adventure but is actually so much more than that.

Final Fantasy Resonance is exactly this, and playing through the single-player adventure didn’t just make us reminisce about titles like Final Fantasy 1-6; it made us also look forward to upcoming games like Final Fantasy VII Revelation and whatever FF17 ends up being.

The game is a retelling of the first season of the 2015 mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, but this time, it’s presented like a typical retro Final Fantasy experience, and without all the trappings of a live-service mobile game – and Resonance is better for it.

The story is the usual old-school Final Fantasy fare. You’re a cocky knight with a close but sullen friend; the kingdom is under threat because bad guys are after a crystal, so you and your gang of mismatched heroes go on a quest to retrieve it.

If you’ve played FF1-5, you’ll know the drill. But that didn’t stop us from falling in love with the characters and the world. Exploration and side quests were all well and good, but as pretty as the world map is, we didn’t feel the urge to head out and explore every little cave like we would in a more modern title.

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