Final Fantasy Resonance wins early acclaim; Persona 4 Revival raises questions

Final Fantasy Resonance is Square Enix's first Final Fantasy game rendered in the HD-2D style used by Octopath Traveler. Both Engadget and TechRadar's James Pickard spent about an hour with the game and came away impressed. Although the story is loosely based on the 2015 mobile title Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, the production borrows the structure of a full traditional Final Fantasy, complete with towns, side quests, Chocobos, airships and hand-drawn portraits for major characters. Engadget said the visuals make the game look fresh even in 2026, despite evoking 1990s and early 2000s sprite RPGs.

The biggest praise went to the combat. Resonance uses a turn-based battle system rather than the real-time action of recent mainline entries. It keeps elemental weaknesses and buffs, while adding a stagger system and a Vision mechanic that lets party members channel classic heroes such as Cloud, Tidus and Zidane. Using those Visions grants signature moves, and staggering all enemy units opens the door to special Ascension attacks. Engadget wrote that the game passes with flying colors as a turn-based battle system; TechRadar's preview described a satisfying rhythm between exploiting weaknesses, earning bonus turns and unleashing cinematic attacks. Both sources noted familiar summons and Limit Burst-style attacks.

Engadget had two small complaints: random encounters mean enemies cannot be seen on the overworld, which can make the world feel empty, and the writer would have preferred an original story to the Brave Exvius-inspired fan-service framework. Those caveats did not prevent the outlet from calling Resonance one of its most anticipated games for the rest of 2026. TechRadar said players looking for old-school Final Fantasy would find a lot to love beyond the large cast of familiar faces. The game launches for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch and PC on October 22, and a playable demo is available now.

Persona 4 Revival, previewed by TechRadar at Gamescom 2026, is a more complicated case. The demonstration was split into story, dungeon battle and calendar segments, and the remake follows the approach of Persona 3 Reload: characters and environments are heavily upgraded, dialogue close-ups make cutscenes more engaging, and the voice cast and soundtrack have been completely re-recorded, with a few new tracks. Some localization touches were also adjusted; the previewer noticed Yosuke now addresses classmates such as Chie and Yukiko by their family names, closer to real Japanese social distance. Dungeons include breakable objects and a subtle wayfinder to make them less tedious.

TechRadar nevertheless questioned whether the $70 remake is essential when Persona 4 Golden, the expanded version that added a large amount of content, remains playable on all current platforms. The story seems to play out beat-for-beat like the original, and though improvements were appreciated, the writer was not convinced that Revival is a necessary retelling. The report also suggested that Sega could be using the release to fill time before Persona 6, which was only briefly announced this year. No release date for Persona 4 Revival was included in the preview.