Final Fantasy Resonance Launches October 22: Price, Platforms and What's New
Square Enix launches Final Fantasy Resonance on October 22, rebuilding the mobile RPG Brave Exvius into a standalone HD-2D adventure with Stagger combat, guest Visions like Cloud and Sephiroth, and three purchase editions.
Veritas of the Dark's knights line the throne room stairs early in the story. Image: Square Enix.
Square Enix puts Final Fantasy Resonance on sale October 22 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Switch 2 and PC. It is the first mainline-adjacent Final Fantasy built in the HD-2D style the studio has used for Octopath Traveler and the Live A Live remake, and it is not a new story from scratch: it is a from-the-ground-up rebuild of the opening arc of the mobile gacha game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, stripped of gacha systems and reassembled as a standalone, premium console RPG. A free demo has been live since early September, so anyone curious can try before the 22nd.
A console RPG built from a mobile game
Resonance is developed by Lancarse with Square Enix, the studio behind several Dragon Quest spin-offs and support work on past Final Fantasy ports. Brave Exvius ran for years as a mobile gacha title with a loyal following, and its first story arc is the basis for Resonance's plot, cast and world. None of the gacha pulls, stamina timers or banner rotations carry over. What's left is a turn-based RPG you buy once, built around the Kingdom of Grandshelt and the eight elemental Crystals that protect it.
Rain, Lasswell and the fall of Grandshelt's crystals
The story opens with Rain, a young airship squadron commander, sent to investigate a weakened Earth Shrine alongside his childhood friend Lasswell. Both are beaten by Veritas of the Dark, an armored stranger who shatters the Earth Crystal on the spot. Veritas then marches on Grandshelt itself. Rain and Lasswell manage to get the king to safety but lose a second fight to Veritas before setting out properly to chase him down and protect the remaining Crystals. They are joined early on by Fina, an amnesiac girl who emerged from the broken Earth Crystal and has no memory of who she is or why Veritas wants her. The rest of the main cast, Charlotte, Leah and Tronn, join as the party's airship opens up the wider world.
- Setting: the Kingdom of Grandshelt, built around eight elemental Crystals
- Opening party: Rain, Lasswell and the amnesiac Fina
- Villain: Veritas of the Dark, who shatters the Earth Crystal in the prologue
- Traversal: a player-controlled airship unlocks ocean crossings and hidden areas
Stagger gauges, Visions and borrowed legends
Combat runs on a visible turn order timeline shared by allies and enemies, so you can see several moves ahead before committing an action. Hitting an elemental weakness fills a Stagger Gauge; stagger an enemy and your party gets a bonus phase of extra actions against it. Stagger every enemy on the field at once and the whole party gets an extra turn together, which unlocks a one-time Resonance attack per character, ranging from single-target nukes to party-wide buffs.
Progression runs through Visions, which are crystallized character essences rather than a traditional job list. Equip one Vision per character for a stat boost and a kit of abilities, then mix learned abilities across different Visions within a cost cap, so a character built around one Vision can still carry a spell or skill pulled from another. Some Visions are series guest stars rather than Resonance originals: Warrior of Light, Terra, Cloud and Y'shtola are confirmed as obtainable Visions found at vision crystal sanctums scattered around the world, alongside Espers like Siren and Ramuh that fight for three turns and unleash a finishing move before leaving the field. Series veterans should also budget time for the postgame superboss list, which includes Gilgamesh, a Colosseum ladder, the Chamber of Arms and an optional fight against Sephiroth for players who track him down.
Editions, pricing and the demo already live
Square Enix is selling three tiers. The Standard Edition runs $49.99 and includes a Magitek Airship and Squire Starter Pack as a pre-order bonus plus a Squire Kickstart Pack for early purchase. The Digital Deluxe Edition is $59.99 and adds a Magitek and Grimoire Deluxe Pack on top of the same bonuses. A $209.99 Collector's Edition, sold only through the Square Enix Store, bundles a physical Standard copy, a Digital Deluxe upgrade code, an acrylic block set, a pixel art book and a 120-track soundtrack CD. The Steam listing shows Steam Deck Verified support, so handheld PC players aren't an afterthought. The free demo, covering the opening through the end of the first chapter, is already downloadable on every platform the full game ships on, and its save file transfers straight into the main campaign.
Where to start
If you already finished Octopath Traveler or Live A Live and liked the pixel-and-light visual style, Resonance is an easy recommendation at launch; the Brave Exvius roots show mostly in the cast and world-building, not in anything that feels mobile-first. If you're on the fence, the demo is the right call before spending anything. Readers who want the guest-Vision angle covered first can check our Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix Sephiroth boss guide for how Square Enix has handled the character's secret-boss fights elsewhere, and Square Enix's own official Resonance site and the Final Fantasy portal's launch page for the current demo build and any pre-order changes between now and the 22nd. The ESRB has the game rated E10+ for fantasy violence, language and suggestive themes, and the Wikipedia entry is already tracking review scores as they land ahead of release.