Developer Cygames has dropped the opening cinematic, which effectively reveals how humanity is forced to take refuge in the mysterious World Tree after cataclysmic events, the conflicts that ensued, and the rise of the Blight and Fell Children. The latter two acted as a unifying force that ended a cycle of perpetual conflict, but, as always, mankind’s tactics to protect itself seem quite extreme.

That’s an interesting way to begin any journey (especially one where you’re seemingly opposed to your own kind at the start), and it’s exacerbated when you think about how you’re expected to jump between the World Tree’s branches, where one false move could send you plummeting to the surface. We’re intrigued, and that $9.99 price tag is an equally compelling reason to pick up a copy despite its relatively short length. However, you can try the free demo if you’re still not convinced.

The story of a soldier who looks to escape the World Tree with a Fell Child, a being supposed to be a portent of Doom but who happens to look just like his daughter, is certainly alluring. However, the world’s melancholic vibe and unique art style intrigue us, almost like ICO’s ethereal nature meeting The Last of Us‘s bonding , and facing hostiles aggressively or with a quieter approach is something we can’t wait to experience firsthand. Alongside the PS5, Where the Seeds Fall is also coming to PC and Nintendo Switch 2.

What’s more, a playable demo is out now on Steam for those who want to try its jumping mechanics without spoiling too much of the story. Whether it launches on other platforms after its November 5th release date remains unknown, but we’ll certainly dive in when it does, so stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.

The developers describe Where the Seeds Fall as an action-adventure game with a focus on verticality and risk-taking. Its story revolves around the branches of the World Tree, which happens to be the last refuge for humanity after the Earth got corrupted by an unknown affliction known only as the Blight. Players take on the role of a grieving soldier who comes across a “Fell Child” that looks a lot like his dead daughter.

Ignoring whatever orders were given to him, the soldier instead decides to embark on a journey to descend the World Tree. The trailer then gives us a look at gameplay, which revolves around the soldier and the Fell Child slowly making their way down the mountain by making risky jumps. Along with shaky surfaces, players will also have to deal with other environmental hazards, like strong winds that might throw them off their jumps, and even crumbling structures.

The overall gameplay structure of Where the Seeds Fall also seems to encourage repeated playthroughs, since each level is also graded across a variety of factors, including how long it took the players to reach the goal.

"The story of Endless Ragnarok, taking place after the Captain and his crew have already made a name for themselves thanks to their exploits throughout the base game’s campaign, introduces a new antagonist."

The general assumption with Endless Ragnarok is that you’ve basically done everything you’ve otherwise wanted to do with Granblue Fantasy: Relink, and have conquered just about every challenge and encounter it presents. With that in mind, Endless Ragnarok brings in quite a bit of new endgame content for players to tackle. Chief among these are entirely new tiers of quest difficulty, and a new roguelite game mode that largely focuses on solo play, called the Conflux.

The story of Endless Ragnarok, taking place after the Captain and his crew have already made a name for themselves thanks to their exploits throughout the base game’s campaign, introduces a new antagonist. Some strange new beasts have started popping up all over the Zegagrande Skydom. Dubbed Ragnalia, these beasts are superpowered versions of foes you’ve already fought before, and can range from demons to large animals. Coinciding with the enemy’s plot is the opening of mysterious portals to the realm of chaos, where our heroes have to deal with entirely separate threats.

Much like with the base game, there’s nothing really mind-blowing going on with the story of Endless Ragnarok. You don’t get any new interesting character arcs, and the core crew that you’ve already spent dozens, if not hundreds of hours with at this point also doesn’t get much in the way of character development or interpersonal conflicts. Rather, the expansion hangs on to what made the base game enjoyable, and focuses purely on offering engaging core gameplay.

Speaking of which, there are a few new additions on the gameplay side of things as well. Along with a host of new playable characters with their own unique styles and abilities, Endless Ragnarok also brings in the ability for players to break their weapons’ previous power limits through a new system called Transcendence. Much like you’ve done in the past, you’ll have to spend plenty of materials to upgrade your gear, and you’re going to need just about every ounce of power you can muster if you want any hope of taking on the new Chaos difficulty quests.

"You don’t get any new interesting character arcs"

Many of the expansion’s quests are set to Chaos, with more seasoned players also getting access to even harder versions of the same quests. Throughout Chaos quests, you will have to take on a host of Ragnalia enemies, and while they might look familiar on the outset, just about every single one of them has entirely new moves that will put your character loadouts and coordination to the test. Along with being engaging when played solo, the Chaos difficulty quests can also be taken on with some buddies through online co-op, bringing in an even greater layer of strategy to some of the more complex fights.

The Chaos difficulty also puts its best foot forward when you’re introduced to the new difficulty, since before you can actually take on the Ragnalia beasts, you first have to pass an assessment quest, which involves taking on Tweyen and Sandalphon in a dual boss fight, where they come at you with devastating new abilities, frequently tagging in and out depending on how well (or badly) you’ve been doing in the fights. Despite having fairly high-leveled characters in my group, this fight was an incredible challenge, and was the first time I personally had fun with Granblue Fantasy: Relink in a while, since both of the bosses kept me on my toes throughout the harrowing battle.

Continuing through the story of Endless Ragnarok also introduces one of the bigger features of the expansion: summons. Over the course of the long and challenging Chaos difficulty battles, Lyria will start saving up energy, allowing her to eventually summon large creatures that can help you out. Rather than these summons being temporary party members, however, you actually take control of them, and have to dish out as much damage as possible before their timer runs out. Lyria can also join in on your full-team attacks with her own summon-based one, dealing a massive amount of damage with an animation that, while not out of place for something like Granblue Fantasy, definitely feels over-the-top in the best possible ways.

While the core quests might be a fantastic step up in terms of difficulty, Conflux, on the other hand, feels like it was made to be played with your eyes closed. The roguelite mode pits you in a series of challenges, largely revolving around combat, where you have to take on either a single group of enemies, continuous hordes, or a miniboss. All of these encounters eventually culminate in a boss fight, winning which clears out the current Conflux run.

"While the core quests might be a fantastic step up in terms of difficulty, Conflux, on the other hand, feels like it was made to be played with your eyes closed."

Conflux is where some of Granblue Fantasy: Relink’s worst impulses start showing up again, since you’re often showered with a variety of currency as a reward, which has the tendency to turn the whole thing quite boring. The fact that it isn’t particularly difficult doesn’t help either; several combat rooms got cleared out before I could even get to the enemies since my team mates were strong enough to wipe them out quickly.

In many ways, Endless Ragnarok feels like a victory lap of sorts. Developer Cygames definitely seems to be aware that it has something special here: an entirely new way to bring Granblue Fantasy to an even wider audience. With Endless Ragnarok, the studio has seemingly hoped to tackle one of the core criticisms of the base game: the fact that it could often feel too easy. While the presence of Conflux means that players who prefer the easiest battles won’t feel too out of place, the inclusion of Chaos difficulty quests is certainly a welcome one.

The studio has also been improving its boss fight designs in interesting ways. Taking a cue from endgame raid bosses from MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, the Ragnalia beasts in Endless Ragnarok also tend to feature moves that require active coordination between a player and their team mates to avoid. Thankfully, none of the fights in the expansion can completely wipe your team out in a single hit (assuming you’re not egregiously underleveled for the quests). However, I would like to see Cygames take the core idea of Chaos difficulty even further in the future.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is at its best when it isn’t just a mindless button-mashing action RPG, and Endless Ragnarok provides further evidence of this fact. The Chaos difficulty quests and new progression paths do a lot to breathe in new life to a game that’s well over two years old at this point, and the expansion has also made the base game feel a lot more complete just by existing. This is essentially the game in its best form yet.

This game was reviewed on PC.

“We’re now at a stage where production will really accelerate,” they said when asked about the status of Project Awakening (translation via WCCFTech). “The development team consists of staff who have been involved from the beginning, as well as staff who joined after finishing the development of ‘Relink.’ It’s a major project with Tokyo and Osaka working together as one.”

Kimihiro went on to confirm that Cygames has decided to move development of Project Awakening over from its in-house Cyllista engine to Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5. This decision was made to help the studio achieve its goals for “hyper-photorealism” with the title. When it comes to gameplay, the developer confirmed that Project Awakening will have a slower tempo than Granblue Fantasy: Relink. This also means that attacks will carry weight and momentum, making the gameplay more tactical than Cygames’ recent outing.

“Since this game is set in a photorealistic human world, the tempo of the action itself is slower compared to ‘Relink’,” explained Kimihiro. “We have slowed it down to a tempo where players can enjoy making decisions such as ‘dodging’ or ‘blocking’ when they see an enemy’s attack, and while ensuring responsiveness to the controls, we have created a weighty motion that gives a sense of ‘lingering effect’ to the movement.”

“Furthermore, in order to express a sense of realism, we are designing it in a direction that increases the variety of motions. For example, even if you repeatedly press a button to perform the same combo, the behavior will change if there is a difference in terrain. As for the enemies, when they are knocked down, they do not just fall with a fixed motion, but will try to attack the player while lying down, aiming for behavior that conveys the ‘sense of life’ of the monsters.”

The last time Cygames spoke about Project Awakening was back in April 2024, following the release of Granblue Fantasy: Relink. At the time, the studio said that work was continuing. However, no further details were revealed at the time. The last real look we got at the game was a gameplay trailer in 2018.

The trailer clocked in at over a minute and a half in length, and Cygames’ emphasis on “hyper photorealism” could be seen even then. While details like the core gameplay loop were lacking, we saw how a medieval knight could take on a gigantic reptilian beast, with every movement carrying a sense of momentum.

More recently, Cygames released the Endless Ragnarok expansion for Granblue Fantasy: Relink, which brought in quite a bit of new content, including a solo-focused rogue-lite mode and an entirely new difficulty tier for quests.

There’s also new gameplay delving deeper into Summons, which can now be temporarily controlled by the player, to The Conflux, a solo-only mode that promises greater challenges. What’s interesting is the pricing. If you pick up the Standard Edition, then you’ll receive the base game and Endless Ragnarok for $59.99 (with the latter available as an Upgrade Kit).

The Special Edition costs $79.99 and throws in the Endless Ragnarok Special Pack, which lets you unlock heavy hitters like Seofon, Tweyen and Sandalphon. It also includes alternate colors for Gran/Djeeta, Id and Sandalphon, alongside all previously released DLC for the base game.

If you already own the latter, then you only need to purchase the Upgrade Kit for $29.99. The Deluxe Edition of this, which also includes the Special Pack, will cost $54.99.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok launches on July 9th for PS4, PS5, and PC while marking the title’s debut on Nintendo Switch 2. Check out other playable characters such as Eustace, Beatrix, Gallanza and Maglielle in the meantime.

First up is Gallanza, who wields his spear with devastating precision as he pulls off some crowd control combos that can send even the most vicious hordes of enemies flying – as if they weighed nothing more than pebbles to the gargantuan hero. His immense strength allows him to get up close and personal with his opponents, making him a perfect partner for the likes of Beatrix.

Maglielle, on the other hand, seems more comfortable with keeping her distance, which immediately makes pairing her with Eustace a good choice for some incredible ranged control. Of course, that doesn’t mean that she isn’t going to be a great supporting character for some of the melee-focused party members. You get to see her work pretty well with Gallanza in the character trailer showcased below.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok launches on July 9th for PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC. While we’re always happy to learn more, it only makes the wait for launch feel that much longer.

Summons allow players to call on mighty beings to wreak havoc on those foolish enough to stand in their way. Alongside a mission to try them out, the open beta will have the same three missions from the closed beta. Progress from the latter will carry over, although you may want to revisit your gear and party composition before you dive in. The open beta’s also going to allow you to test out Lyria’s Primal Burst, a new addition with specific conditions and a devastating payoff that could let you gain an advantage against Beelzebub.

This one’s free for all players on PS4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2, with pre-loading beginning on April 23rd. There’s even a new trailer, showcased below, to get you hyped up to join in on the fun and revisit a title that has been quite successful even without the upcoming expansion.

After giving us a look at Beatrix’s special brand of destructive melee combat, the upcoming expansion now turns our attention to Eustace, who prefers to keep his enemies at a distance with some incredibly cool ranged attacks that make good use of raw damage and AoE traps to keep his enemies guessing. He’s clearly going to be a valuable asset against Beelzebub and all of the new enemies that the game is bringing your way.

If you somehow missed this one, the upcoming expansion to the impressive fantasy RPG is bringing a whole lot of new additions to the table. There are two more new characters for it to show off ahead of its July 9, 2026, release alongside new game modes, bosses, a new Primal Burst mechanic, and an interesting option for those of you who prefer to play solo to test your limits.

That’s a lot of fun to be had in a game where the base version was already quite entertaining. The trailer below is going to be a lovely dose of copium for those of you who share our impatience for its release.

While Beelzebub and a host of new threats have risen to create problems for our favorite characters, they are joined by new characters with unique abilities to help them take on the serious threats they’re about to face.

The showcase puts Beatrix front and center, and she relishes the spotlight, displaying her ability to absolutely devastate enemy frontlines with her attacks while remaining charismatic with her fearless attitude throughout. She’s joined by Lyria, who brings her expertise with primal creatures to the table, unlocking summons that you get to control on the battlefield.

While cross-platform play is being added to the mix, solo players can dive into the Conflux, a new single-player mode that thrusts you into dangerous, randomized maps that are sure to push your skills to the limit. Survive, however, and you’ll be handsomely rewarded.

All in all, it’s looking like Endless Ragnarok is going to give Granblue fans a lot of reasons to return to the Zegagrande Skydom. Good luck trying to leave with all of the new activities on offer, when it launches on July 9th for PS4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2.