In a surprising move, it was announced at the recent Sony State of Play that Fantasian Neo Dimension is getting a full release on major platforms. Developed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the man behind the creation of the Final Fantasy series, this marks a major leap from its original Apple Arcade exclusive. The game will be available for PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on December 5, 2024 at $49.99.
Hironobu Sakaguchi left Square Enix in the early 2000s and started his own studio, Mistwalker. In addition to Fantasian, Skagachi also released the Terra Battle series for Android and iOS and the Blue Dragon series for Nintendo DS. While he left the Japanese video gaming giant on poor terms, things changed over the years and he reconnected with the company’s people. This connection proved fruitful as Fantasian received its port to major platforms.
Naoki Yoshida, producer of Final Fantasy XIV, and Sakaguchi discussed their collaboration, leading to Square Enix taking on the role of publishing the Fantasian Neo Dimension port. The deal was first announced at Nintendo Direct in June 2024. The collaboration will bring physical editions for PS5 and Nintendo Switch, while other platforms will have only digital versions of the game.
The game tells the story of a clash between humans and machines as the Mechteria infection spreads on humans from machines. The player assumes the role of Leo as he embarks on a multidimensional journey trying to recover his lost memories and save the world.
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Fantasian Neo Dimension is a love letter to old JRPGs and as such it has a turn-based combat system. However, unlike older JRPGs, it comes with a modern twist. It uses a Dimengeon Battle system. The system lets players save random battle encounters in a separate dimension as they continue exploration. However, there’s a limit to how many encounters can be stored. Once the threshold is reached, a player can fight all stored enemies at once in a single battle.
The game will lure players in with beautifully designed hand-crafted dioramas presented in 4k resolution and high frame rate, all thanks to the Square Enix port. The artistic style of JRPGs is there and the quality design is what sets Fantasian Neo Dimension apart from other similar titles. Moreover, the game doesn’t just come with 3D graphics and visual improvements overall than what is seen on mobile but also will have an easier difficulty option, gameplay balances, and voice acting in English and Japanese.
With this collaboration and port, Square Enix is focused on preserving and improving their JRPG library of games. While Fantasian isn’t a new title, it was hidden for several years due to its mobile exclusivity.