Final Fantasy Resonance, the first Final Fantasy built in Square Enix’s HD-2D style, unlocks tonight at 9pm Pacific on Xbox Series X|S and PS5 in the US, which is midnight Eastern on its October 22 release date. Steam players get in later, at 9am Pacific on October 22, and the Switch and Switch 2 versions land the same day.
What Final Fantasy Resonance is
If you’ve played Octopath Traveler or the recent Dragon Quest remakes, you know the look: pixel art characters walking through detailed 3D scenery, with a camera that swings around for the big moments. Resonance brings that style to a classic Final Fantasy setup, with crystals, airships, espers, chocobos and moogles all in the mix.
The story is based on the first arc of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, the old mobile game, but Square Enix says it has been rebuilt from the ground up as a full console RPG rather than a straight port. Fights are turn-based. You hit enemy weaknesses to stagger them, which breaks their defenses and earns you extra turns and big Resonance attacks.
The fan service comes through Visions, echoes of familiar Final Fantasy characters who fight alongside your party. Square Enix has shown Cloud, Tidus and the Warrior of Light so far, and each Vision brings its own skills to your setup. Past the main story there’s a lot to chase, including the wandering swordmaster Gilgamesh, a Colosseum full of nasty monsters, legendary weapons with bosses sealed inside them, and a showdown with Ultima Weapon.
When it unlocks on each platform
Square Enix has only announced the date, so the store listings fill in the hours. In the US, the Xbox Store and the PlayStation Store both unlock the game at 9pm PT tonight, Wednesday, October 21, which is midnight Eastern on October 22, so console players across the country start at the same moment. Steam unlocks at 9am PT on Thursday, October 22, the same moment worldwide. Nintendo’s listings for Switch 2 and Switch give October 22 but no hour.
So if you’re on Xbox or PS5 in the US, you can start tonight, while Steam players wait until Thursday morning.
Price, editions and paid extras
The standard edition is $49.99 everywhere, and the Digital Deluxe Edition is $59.99. On Xbox it supports Xbox Play Anywhere, so one purchase covers your console and the Xbox app on Windows. The Switch 2 and original Switch versions are sold separately, and saves don’t move between them, so pick the one that matches your hardware.
The Deluxe Edition adds the Magitek & Grimoire Deluxe Pack. That includes a key that gives your chocobo a Magitek armor look, the Archwitch’s Grimoire, which unlocks a Limit Burst called Fel Meteor for one character, a Mastery Ring, and a stack of starter consumables like Phoenix Downs and Ethers. The pack is also sold on its own, so you can add it later if you change your mind. That’s the only paid add-on on the store pages. Resonance is a one-time purchase, and the store pages list no in-game currency or summons.
Buying early comes with a little extra too. Anyone who buys in the first couple of weeks gets the Squire Kickstart Pack (Steam lists the cutoff as 8:59am PT on November 6), which includes a Blessed Cuirass that boosts the gil you earn. You pick up all of the bonus items from the postbox outside the inn in the Town of Mitra once you’re far enough into the story. For collectors, Square Enix also has a $209.99 Collector’s Edition with an artbook, the soundtrack and a Final Fantasy Trading Card Game promo card.
The game is rated E10+ by the ESRB for fantasy violence, suggestive themes, language and alcohol references.
Where to buy
Final Fantasy Resonance isn’t sold on GOG, so on PC your options are Steam or the Microsoft Store through Xbox Play Anywhere. On consoles it’s on the Xbox Store, the PlayStation Store, and the Nintendo eShop for Switch 2 and Switch.
If you’re still on the fence, there’s a free demo on every platform that covers the whole first chapter, and Steam’s demo listing says your save carries over into the full game. We also have the rest of this week’s releases in our new Xbox games roundup, and more in our Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo and PC hubs.
Final Fantasy has gone big and cinematic for a long time now, so it’s nice to see one that feels this much like the games a lot of us grew up with. If that sounds like your kind of night, the airship is fueled up.