Those who played World of Final Fantasy would have found it a fun homage to the series, one that doesn’t try too hard but provides enough fan service. An “upgrade” of the game will be coming in November with World of Final Fantasy Maxima. However, it’s interesting to hear what director Hiroki Chiba had to say about it in an interview with Weekly Famitsu (via Ryokutya 2089).

Speaking about the Switch version of World of Final Fantasy Maxima, Chiba revealed that that the overall budget for the title was “low”. “With the Switch port, we took the opportunity to enhance the game,” Chiba said. “To be completely honest, our budget was low, so what we could do was limited, but we used our time carefully and did what we could!”

Chiba also revealed that a story for a sequel had been fully written, but is yet to be approved by Square Enix. “While there are no plans for a sequel, I have fully written the story. If Square Enix gives us its approval, we can start development right away.” While we don’t know the exact budget for the upgrade, especially in comparison to the base game, it’s kind of strange to hear how limited the development team was.

Nevertheless, World of Final Fantasy Maxima includes new Champions and monsters to battle. There’s also the Avatar Change system, which lets Reynn and Lann, the protagonists, transform into any classic Final Fantasy character a.k.a. Champion that they wish. Look for the enhanced version of the game to release on November 6th for Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

One of the best announcements of the Nintendo Direct held in September was that of multiple Final Fantasy games coming to Nintendo Switch over the next year. And while it was the announcement of games such as Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 9, Final Fantasy 10, and Final Fantasy 12 coming to the Switch that stole the limelight, one must not forget World of Final Fantasy Maxima.

World of Final Fantasy Maxima is an enhanced port of the game that hit PS Vita and PS4 in 2016 and PC in 2017. The oddly charming and old school monster collection Final Fantasy game garnered a cult following, and gains a second chance at success once it launches on the Switch (and Xbox One alongside it too).

If you’re looking forward to playing this game on your Switch, you’ll probably want to clear some space for it. The file size for the digital version of the game, according to its Japanese eShop listing, is 10.7 GB. The game itself launches on November 6 for Switch and Xbox One, so make sure to check it out if you’re interested. It’s out now on PS4, PS Vita, and PC, if you don’t want to wait that long. Check out our review of the game to see whether or not you should jump in.

In 1996, Square decided to jump ship from a cartridge based Nintendo console to the CD based PlayStation for their then-upcoming Final Fantasy 7, changing the trajectory of PlayStation, Nintendo, and the series itself dramatically. Now, more than 20 years later, in what has to be the ultimate symbolic victory, Final Fantasy 7 is returning to Nintendo, on their newest cartridge based console. It was announced today during the Nintendo Direct stream that Final Fantasy 7 is coming to Nintendo Switch.

That’s not the only Final Fantasy game making the jump, either. Final Fantasy 9, 10 HD, 10-2 HD, and 12: The Zodiac Age are all making the jump to the Nintendo Switch as well. This marks their very first appearance ever on a Nintendo system (until now, no Final Fantasy game beyond 6 has been on Nintendo hardware). All of these games will also be coming to Xbox One, Square announced, breaking their two decade long PlayStation exclusivity at last.

That’s not all. 15 Pocket Edition is out now on Switch, following its PS4 and Xbox One launch recently, for an introductory price. Crystal Chronicles Remastered was also shown off some more on the Switch, and World of Final Fantasy was confirmed to be coming over to the Switch as well. Additionally, Chocobo Mystery Dungeon is also coming to Switch as well. Square is going all in with Final Fantasy on Switch, it looks like.

All these games will be available in 2019.

#FINALFANTASY is coming to #NintendoSwitch, kupo! Many titles from the legendary RPG series are coming soon, including FINAL FANTASY VII, FINAL FANTASY XII THE ZODIAC AGE and FINAL FANTASY XV POCKET EDITION HD. #NintendoDirect pic.twitter.com/qZPHknqZIw

— Nintendo of Europe (@NintendoEurope) September 13, 2018

A whole host of legendary #FinalFantasy titles are being released on #NintendoSwitch, #Xbox One, #PlayStation 4 & #Steam! pic.twitter.com/lYojPy1Ebu

— FINAL FANTASY (@FinalFantasy) September 13, 2018

If you ask a long time fan of the Final Fantasy series, they will tell you that the best Final Fantasy game released last year wasn’t the long in the coming Final Fantasy 15, but rather, something else entirely. They will point to the humble and unassuming World of Final Fantasy, a charming and cute spin off of the franchise made in the vein of Pokemon, and tell you that it was actually the secret best Final Fantasy game of the year.

Well, if you are a PC gamer, you get to now verify its merits for yourself, because Square Enix has announced that the game is coming to PC; in fact, it is available right now on Steam. You can go buy it today! Whoo.

If you need any more convincing, you can always check out the trailer for it below. Conversely, you could pick it up on PS4 and Vita.

Whether it’s too much competition or not enough interest, Respawn Entertainment’s Titanfall 2 saw first week sales that were lower than the first game in the UK according to Gfk Chart-Track. Releasing on October 28th, the FPS managed to debut in fourth place for the overall best-sellers list across all platforms.

Meanwhile, Battlefield 1 stayed at first place despite sales dropping 39 percent. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition arrived in second place while third place belonged to FIFA 17.

Farming Simulator 17 released last Tuesday and debuted at fifth place with sales up by 54 percent for PS4 and 32 percent for Xbox One over Farming Simulator 15. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 was at seventh place with Grand Theft Auto 5 at ninth and Forza Horizon 3 at tenth place. World of Final Fantasy also debuted last week but it’s at eleventh place.

What are your thoughts on the success of Titanfall 2 thus far despite it being early days yet? Let us know in the comments.

World of Final Fantasy is out now in North America, and to celebrate the release, Square Enix have released a brand new trailer to showcase the charming, charming game. The new game is a monster collection spin off for the series, with a spin on the series’ long standing active time based battle system.

“Players will lead twin siblings, Reynn and Lann, on their journey through the mysterious world of Grymoire,” Square Enix’s own description for the game reads. “On a search to rediscover their lost memories, the heroes will encounter over 200 unique and wonderful creatures, known as Mirages, and a whole host of legendary Final Fantasy characters. Players can capture, customize and evolve their Mirages – strategically stacking to defeat even the most ferocious of foes.”

World of Final Fantasy is a gorgeous and charming game, and one that promises to even potentially be the best game in the series to release this year- that is, unless Final Fantasy 15 proves to be far better than expected at this point. It is available now on PS4 and PS Vita. You can check out the trailer for the game below, and let us know what you think in the comments section.

World of Final Fantasy ultimately is a giant love letter to the massive legacy of this series and all that spun off from it, but thankfully Square wasn’t content to rest of their laurels. While there are a legion of callbacks and fan favourite characters within, it was smartly all built on top of a classically inspired, solid gameplay foundation.

We’re introduced to the brother-sister pair of Lann and Reynn, who wake up to find a totally abandoned town, save for one mysterious woman calling herself Enna Kros. She opens the world of Grymoire, a place the twins have apparently forgotten all about yet were big players within. The Mirages of Grymoire were at their beck and call before, monsters that roam throughout that world and can be captured by a tamer. Set on the path to recovering their memory by retrieving their Mirages, the world of Grymoire is theirs to explore. Along the path they’ll awaken cameos of famous characters from the series whom I won’t spoil, champions that unlock their own side stories you can follow.

"World of Final Fantasy didn’t give me much to latch onto with the unlikable characters and cliche story, however the artistic design of the world itself is simply gorgeous."

In typical fashion for a Square RPG, the narrative gets rather dense really quickly. Grymoire, Mirages, Imprisming, Lilikin, there were certainly times I felt I needed a quick glossary to keep up. The one saving grace is that the writing gives the player many kinds of winks that it’s not trying to take itself super seriously and you probably shouldn’t either. There were a few monster descriptions such as a two headed lizard that rap-battles itself and scenes where Reynn scolds her brother for breaking the fourth wall that made me chuckle, and brings the tone back to something lighter and more fun.

They could have done more to balance the tone however, in many places it went a little too far in the other direction and was too simple. Unfortunately the main trio of the twins and the obligatory cute sidekick character often got on my nerves and was the weaker part of the presentation.

World of Final Fantasy didn’t give me much to latch onto with the unlikable characters and cliche story, however the artistic design of the world itself is simply gorgeous. Colours and animations, though occasionally over the top, are quite fluid. The two almost conflicting art-styles on display are meshed together really well, and blend with the game mechanics I’ll touch on in a moment. One side is very reminiscent of the Kingdom Hearts games, while the chibi style that dominates the game is super adorable. Importantly though, they don’t clash. It’s not strange to see the Kingdom Hearts proportioned “Jiants” standing beside the super deformed “Lilikin”.

"The battles take on a fusion of classic Final Fantasy, complete with a modernized active time battle system, and Shin Megami Tensei with the Mirage capturing."

The battles take on a fusion of classic Final Fantasy, complete with a modernized active time battle system, and Shin Megami Tensei with the Mirage capturing. All participants of a battle have to wait for their turn to come up on the universal ATB bar, with images overlaid on the side, a little like Digimon Story, so you can see at a glance what moves are coming up and build your strategy. As a modern concession, the bars progress will freeze upon reaching one of your moves. While classically trained players can change the option for constant motion, I appreciated the additional time.

The additional wrinkle of the Mirages and the stacking system is the most interesting addition to RPG combat that I’ve seen in a long time. Mirages take the forms of a wide variety of monsters and figures from throughout the Final Fantasy mythos, and during your battles with wild ones, you can attempt to capture, or imprison them for your personal use. Taking more inspiration from Shin Megami Tensei than Pokemon, each mirage has a unique condition that must be met before you’ll have the chance.

Some just need to be hit. Some need to be hit with a specific element. Some need to be deliberately healed by you. The conditions add to the tension of the situation, as the actual act of capturing them behaves like Pokemon, where you need to get them weak so they won’t break free. You’re giving up a precious turn by trying to catch a Mirage, who will likely get to act next. Delay too long and the opportunity will be gone, but if you aren’t careful you’ll knock out the monster and lose it anyway.

"Taking more inspiration from Shin Megami Tensei than Pokemon, each mirage has a unique condition that must be met before you’ll have the chance."

Once you’ve wrangled a few Mirages, you’ll become best friends with the game’s Stack system. Instead of just having a hoard of monsters at your command as you enter battle, you’ll be positioned in a humorous totem pole. Mirages come in Small, Medium and Large sizes, which dictate where they can sit within a stack, and the twins can swap freely between the large Jiant form and the medium Lilikin form. You’ll form these stacks pre-battle within the menu, able to create a set for both sizes for each twin. As a tower you’ll act as a single unit, combining stats and creating new powers, but also sharing weakness too.

It expands the gameplay options a ton when you need to consider not just how powerful you are together, but whether these mirages have synergy with each other and how many weaknesses they open you up to. Within battle you can decide to unstack, which divides your strength but opens up each of the three from the stack to act individually. Whether to divide and conquer or stand together becomes yet another strategic decision, which makes combat feel all the more deep.

World of Final Fantasy doesn’t just satisfy itself with bringing up a bunch of old faces and going “Hey remember that thing Tifa did?!”. The world and callbacks are easier to invest in than the characters you actually play as, but if you barely know your Fire from your Firaga and think Cloud Strife is a nimbus who lost his job, you’ll still get a rock solid RPG.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Final Fantasy 15 may be the big Final Fantasy game that everyone is looking forward to, but World of Final Fantasy, the monster catching PlayStation exclusive spin off for the series, is out this month, too. And if you want to see what this game is like, and whether or not it is up your alley, well the good news is, a demo for it is available to download now.

The demo is available on both, PS4 and PS Vita. The PS4 version of the game weighs in at a hefty 1.2GB, while the Vita version is a far smaller 565MB. The Vita version of the demo is not compatible with the PlayStation TV, however, and is only available in Europe (because it would kill SCEA to actually acknowledge that the Vita is a thing, even with demos).

Completing the demo will let you battle and capture Magitek Armor P at the coliseum in the full version of the game, which is out on October 25- so there’s enough incentive for you to give the demo a try, too. Hey, it’s free.

Final Fantasy 15 may be the game that all fans have their eyes on, but World of Final Fantasy, a chibi themed Pokemon style spin off for Final Fantasy, is due to launch on PS4 and PS Vita later this month. To ensure that Final Fantasy fans at least give the game a chance, in spite of its chibi look, Square Enix have announced that they will be making a demo version for the game available.

“The playable demo will allow players to experience heroes Reynn and Lann in their Lilikin and Jiant forms, meet various different Mirages and encounter a selection of iconic Final Fantasy characters along the way, including Cloud, Lightning and Squall,” Square Enix explained. “Completing the demo allows players to battle and capture “Magitek Armor P” at the coliseum in the full version of the game.”

In addition, Square have also released a new video for the game, showcasing its cinematic opening cutscene. You can watch it below for yourself.

World of Final Fantasy will be available on October 25 for PS4 and PS Vita.

Mafia 3

Between Nam, losing his surrogate family and swearing vengeance on the Italian mob, Lincoln Clay is quite the busy killer in Mafia 3. Set in New Bordeaux, inspired by late 1960s New Orleans, Mafia 3 features a large open world full of rackets to break up, vehicles to hijack and criminal dens to infiltrate. With its GTA 5-esque cover system and huge assortment of weapons, Mafia 3 promises a compelling criminal caper – one that could see you entertain or exterminate your fellow partners. It’s out on October 7th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Gears of War 4

Fenix is back but it’s JD instead of Marcus that’s the focus. Gears of War 4 takes place several years after the third game and between an oppressive government and The Swarm, the world has seen better days. The set piece heavy moments of the series return along with new weapons and characters. Multiplayer brings free-ish DLC and Gear Packs for various benefits but all you should know is that Horde mode is back and that’s all that matters. Gears of War 4 is out on October 11th for Xbox One and Windows 10.

WWE 2K17

While the WWE 2K games fall somewhere between entertainingly hilarious and shockingly poor, we’re still looking forward to WWE 2K17 when it releases on October 11th for PS3, PS4, Xbox One and Xbox 360. MyCareer mode has seen some major revamps, introducing Brock Lesnar as a major part of the story, while promos can now be cut during various interludes. There’s even a meter to indicate how well your promo engages the crowd. Gameplay additions include a new secondary submission system and the return of backstage brawls.

Shadow Warrior 2

Lo Wang is now Cyber Wang. Up to four players can decimate a future overrun by demons with quick movement, chainsaw katanas and akimbo-style gun wielding in Shadow Warrior 2. Customization, abilities, loot, random generation, increased movement possibilities – there’s a lot to unpack in the sequel. Thankfully, it still features procedural limb chopping. Who doesn’t love that? Shadow Warrior 2 arrives on October 13th for PC.

Battlefield 1

War is hell and in Battlefield 1, war has gotten a lot more…sandy. World War 1 is the newest setting as players control different factions across brand new maps. Head to Sinai Desert and lockdown various control points while avoiding sandstorms and armoured trains. Battle in the new Operations and War Pigeon mode, the former acting as a multi-round match and the latter involving pigeons (it’s cooler than that, we promise). Battlefield 1 is out on October 21st for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Civilization 6

It’s a new Civilization and people already hate it. What’s new, right? Civilization 6 has garnered quite the backlash already for its art style but we’re not complaining. The 4X title will introduce city “unstacking” as you manage various districts within your metropolis. A Civics tree is also being introduced to allow different paths to victory to be more viable. Watch out for it on October 21st for PC.

Titanfall 2

The tech test may have been mixed but Titanfall 2 just looks better and better the more we see it. Attrition will be making its return while comprehensive looks at the cosmetics and weapons make us even more excited for the possibilities. Titanfall 2‘s movement has also been further sped up, more intriguing maps (including the return of Angel City) have been showcased and the wait till October 28th is slowly becoming torturous. It will be out on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim — Special Edition

The Dragonborn rises again in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition. Don’t expect new content as Skyrim Special Edition packs together the base game, Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn into one comprehensive, graphically updated package. Improved textures and effects can be expected but Skyrim Special Edition will also bring mods to the Xbox One version (sorry PS4 fans). PC players will receive a free upgrade for owning all previous content which offers even more incentive to revisit Skyrim on October 28th.

World of Final Fantasy

Look, we get it – chibi characters aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. But there are plenty of reasons to be excited. Aside from mixing together several signature Final Fantasy worlds, cameos from characters like Lightning, Tidus, Vivi, Squall, Cloud and many more can be expected. World of Final Fantasy at this stage seems more like a celebratory title but if the Active Time Battle and Mirage mechanics hold up, it could be a dark horse when it arrives on October 21st for PS4 and PS Vita.

Rez Infinite

Of the many VR titles releasing with PlayStation VR, we have to go with recommending Rez Infinite. Besides its eclectic music and gameplay style that look made for VR, Rez Infinite is one of the more underrated games of the Dreamcast/PS2 era. We may not get a full body feedback suit but we’re more than happy to dive into Rez Infinite when it releases on October 13th.