Final Fantasy Resonance, the Square Enix JRPG I've wanted for nearly a decade, gets a surprise demo today

Final Fantasy Resonance, the first Final Fantasy game presented in Square Enix's HD-2D style, is getting a demo later today, September 3.

Though announced at today's PlayStation State of Play live show, the Final Fantasy Resonance demo is expected on all platforms, which also includes Xbox, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC (Steam).

The demo is unavailable and unlisted at the time of writing. A PlayStation trailer confirms that the demo covers "the entire first chapter" of the game, with progress carrying over to the full game if you decide to buy in.

The trailer gives us a look at Sephiroth as he appears in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy – and, more importantly, Resonance's giant, pixel art, boss fight Sephiroth.

Sephiroth is the latest Final Fantasy icon to get the HD-2D treatment courtesy of Resonance. A suite of characters make combat cameos in summon-like Resonance attacks, with the likes of Final Fantasy 10's Tidus and Final Fantasy 7's Cloud already shown.

The HD-2D style was pioneered by Octopath Traveler then refined in the likes of the Dragon Quest remakes and, per our The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales review, some more recent outings. Resonance is both the next Final Fantasy game and the first entry to adopt this art style – and, somewhat confusingly, also technically a remake of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.

Final Fantasy Resonance itself will be released next month on October 22.

Resonance returns to turn-based combat and random encounters, with producer Keisuka Nakashima arguing that the system allows for "truly memorable" battles.

The game exists largely because Nakashima and other Brave Exvius developers felt that the once-gacha-driven game is "too good to become unplayable" after its global end of service in 2025. As someone who's wanted a turn-based, HD-2D Final Fantasy ever since Octopath Traveler was released, I'm excited to see if

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