Almost a decade in the works, two generations of consoles and two developers later, the mega titan of a mobile game with the most dedicated fanbase in the world finally gets their Action RPG game that helps convey its main source material pretty well in a neatly tied bow that is Granblue Fantasy Relink.
On the outside, it may look like a typical fantasy anime affair, but with a robust combat and engaging story that has even the veterans of the mobile game shocked at the reveals, GBFR has quite a game to showcase to new and old fans alike.
Presentation
The look and feel of Granblue Fantasy is either vibrant or even dark when it needs to be, which fits how it was originally and that helps to sell the experience of being a part of the Skyfairer family, your rag-tag team that you’ll guide throughout the game.
Performance-wise, it’s a pretty solid 30fps on our PS4, with PS5 having the now standard “Quality” and “Performance” modes so it will be smooth gameplay for either consoles or PC, and the game will show it, with how they transition from cutscene to gameplay without a fade to black, and that even during a major boss battle, which I wholeheartedly approve because nothing is more hyped than immediately jumping back to your character after the main boss reveal.
The UI design does feel like a hit-and-miss in my opinion. Like Cygames Osaka does have nailed down the same aesthetic feel of the mobile counterpart (much like Arc Systems did) but some elements make the game you’re seeing on-screen feel a bit too cluttered, especially if you hold onto a Link Attack move percentages which will show itself on the right side of the screen at all times, and can be distracting if you’re trying to focus on the attacks on hand.
Voice acting and music are pretty top-notch, considering Cygames also have a pretty good selection of artists working under them, with the likes of Kira Buckland (2B from NieR Automata) headlining the English cast, while the Japanese cast also consisting of Yukari Tamura and Nao Toyama, “seiyuus” that are quite simply legendary in their field. All of them reprising their roles from their previous console debut in Granblue Fantasy Versus.
The characters themselves all have pretty good backstories, even if you haven’t played the mobile or fighting games. They have dedicated side-episodes that not only let you catch up with what your favorite main is up to before the start of the game, it also help flesh them out more as the story progresses with updated chapters as you go through the game. A pretty nifty way to make the side content feel impactful as you learn to love your Skyfarers.
Gameplay
Relink is an interesting sort of game that blends together character-action games with RPG elements that fit the party members quite well, with a simple two-button combat that couples with a selection of moves that can deal damage or even buff your other party members to keep the fight going.
The combat itself feels quite alright, kinda like Wild Hearts sort of combat and the set-pieces do take inspiration from the likes of Bayonetta in the way that “cool moves get highlighted” more often in both cutscenes and in-game, even during the game’s Full Burst combo where everyone in the party huddle together to unleashed a devastating attack.
And what’s fun, is that the AI companions that you bring along in your adventures not only level up as you do, but can also deal a hefty amount of damage and/or healing that you might need during an intense combat encounter, which does blow out most of it’s competition in how adaptable the companions sometimes are, which you can also help pick and choose their skills during the downtime.
The quest that you shall partake in within your time with Granblue ranges from finding items to boss battles that you might have faced during the story questline, but with the ability to co-opt them with 4 players and the difficulty going up toward Merciless, it might rival the chaos that you see in the likes of their rivals in Shibuya with how the AOE some of these bosses in harder difficulty.
My only complaint is that perhaps an in-game map could add some help in navigating some of the hub towns because though the town hubs are pretty nicely designed, it does feel maze-like at times.
Content
Granblue Fantasy Relink has two sides, one is the story campaign that nets you up to 10 to 15 hours from start to finish, which some players might consider as the tutorial before the actual game’s side content kicks in, where bosses, raids, and more awaits your favorite characters in solo or in co-op. And it does increase in difficulty upwards towards Merciless, where it becomes super hard, which some hardcore GBF players would love.
With Cygames committed to adding harder challenges and even more of the Skyfarers members on a monthly basis, it does land Creedence with similarities with their more popular peers like Monster Hunter World and Phantasy Star Online, so I reckon the content side will be getting more stuff along the line, just like it’s GBF Versus did.
Personal Enjoyment
Granblue Fantasy has been quite an interesting topic around my side of the internet for the majority of the time, with me just hopping on and off it during certain collab events and doing the main storyline at the start of the chapters, which does help introduce the cast here in Relink quite well, with this one adding like an additional chapter to the main game that fleshes out what you might have imagined during playing the original.
And it is quite refreshing to be playing a game that knows the fanbase wants its bombastic fights and set-pieces that make up the writing, to become a reality by providing us fans the true chaotic experience.
Plus, I do like some Action RPGs that do their system well.
Verdict
Granblue Fantasy Relink is one of those games that gets its audience well, with engaging gameplay and storyline, polished mechanics that make replaying it over and over enjoyable as you better your characters towards higher levels. Cygames knew what needed to be done and they have made one of the most interesting ARPGs of the year before a certain Cloud joins the fray once again.
Played on PS4, Review copy provided by the publisher.
Granblue Fantasy Relink
A game that gets its audience well, with engaging gameplay and storyline, polished mechanics that make replaying it over and over enjoyable as you better your characters towards higher levels.
- Presentation 8.5
- Gameplay 9
- Content 9
- Personal Enjoyment 9