Final Fantasy series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi has returned to Square Enix, over two decades after he left the company in 2003, not long after the debut of Final Fantasy X-2. In the years since—aside from his work on Final Fantasy 14—Sakaguchi has been developing games through his studio, Mistwalker, producing projects such as Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and the standout Apple Arcade original, Fantasian.
That said, it’s no longer locked behind a single storefront. Square Enix plans to release Fantasian Neo Dimension, a new version of the game coming to PC and consoles. Even before you press start, it’s steeped in Final Fantasy connections: Sakaguchi designed it as a natural extension of what he contributed to the franchise, with music by Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu. On top of that, the updated version refines the experience with a battle music selector, letting players choose tracks from different chapters of the series.
In this release, Fantasian’s heroes can take on enemies to the familiar melodies from the pixel remasters, or opt for newer themes from Final Fantasy 14, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, or Final Fantasy 16, among other entries. It’s a delightful touch that helps Fantasian feel closely tied to the wider Final Fantasy legacy.
Even so, despite these nods to RPG tradition, I’m still not sure this port is the best route to enjoy Fantasian. At Gamescom, I tested the Switch edition in handheld mode—arguably the closest console equivalent to the original mobile experience. But since this game was built for Apple Arcade and touch input, I can’t help feeling that the conversion leaves something important behind.
If you haven’t come across Fantasian—understandably, given it was previously available only through Apple Arcade—it’s essentially a straightforward Japanese role-playing game. It features turn-based battles, random encounters, and characters with an anime-inspired look, all presented through a story that weighs magic against technology. That instantly brings Final Fantasy to mind, particularly with Uematsu’s memorable, nostalgic soundtrack, but Sakaguchi has also woven in fresh ideas meant to update the classic formula.
One standout mechanic is the Dimengeon system. It lets players gather and save random battles, then lets them tackle them all together whenever they choose—an inventive way to smooth out the grind and the uneven pacing you can get from more typical gameplay loops. It also gives you direct control over how tough you want the experience to be, whether you prefer smaller skirmishes more often or you assemble a bigger roster of enemies for a longer fight. Worth noting, too, is that Fantasian doesn’t pull punches: bosses frequently feel like mini puzzle challenges, testing character skills and sensitivity to elemental weaknesses.
Then there’s the presentation. A lot of Final Fantasy fans look back fondly on the PlayStation 1 era, when wide and imaginative worlds were built using 2D backdrops that let those characterful polygon models stand out. With Fantasian, Sakaguchi achieves a similar mood by using real dioramas.
All of this shapes Fantasian’s standout visual character. The development team created hand-built models of the spaces, scanned them, and recreated them inside the game. The greenery—trees and shrubs—sits against gravel paths and carefully rendered stonework, and every region is populated with digital characters. The effect feels like moving through a tabletop diorama, only you’re holding it in your hands—vividly alive in a way that even the most convincing photoreal graphics can struggle to imitate.
This world also invites interaction. On mobile devices, the character controls come from tapping the screen, menu movement is handled through swipes, and during fights, aiming and the arc of spells are managed with your finger. Those details add a level of responsiveness that mobile games can uniquely deliver.
Unfortunately, that sense of touch doesn’t carry over cleanly to consoles. Even on the Switch, there’s no touchscreen support. Instead, character motion and spell targeting are done with the joystick, and menus behave like those in any standard console title. Without the original tactile feel, exploring the world can come across as awkward. For example, there’s a reason the Resident Evil franchise—using similarly fixed backgrounds—relied on tank controls, where going forward always means going forward no matter how the camera is angled. In Fantasian, to highlight the dioramas, Sakaguchi lets you rotate the viewpoint to see from different angles; however, in the original, a quick tap was enough for characters to reach their destination, while here, direct control can leave you disoriented every time the camera shifts. The result isn’t quite as smooth or natural.
Still, moving to a bigger screen does make the craftsmanship behind those dioramas easier to appreciate. Even when shown on the Switch display, the environments can feel a bit sparse compared with how lively they seem on mobile. That said, the hundreds of hours poured into these models are absolutely worth recognizing.
A key benefit of this new release is that it expands who can play the game, and I genuinely hope more players will get to experience it. Fantasian has developed into a cult favorite that was previously tied to a mobile subscription service, and it deserves broader visibility. For RPG fans, it stands as a modern take on the genre from a major creative force—and if this port is the only way you can play, I’d strongly suggest giving it a try when it launches. As for me, I plan to continue my current mobile playthrough to stay as close to the original experience as possible.