The Free Demo

1. The Opening

The demo begins before the story does. It reportedly opens on an explosive look at a historical war between magic and machines, told as a pixel-art cinematic, and works the tutorial into that action. Only then does it jump to the present.

• 1

  The opening movie — 3D rendered as pixels

  Square Enix's PlayStation Blog post says the opening movie and the game's other cinematics are made by rendering 3D CG in pixel form, for dynamic shots that keep the look of pixel art. Director Hiroto Furuya, interviewed the day after the demo came out, picked the opening cutscene — an armoured man and a mysterious mage fighting each other — as one of the most representative battle sequences in the game and one of the hardest to build: the pixels were re-placed and re-angled for the moments the weapons clash, and the effects, the sound and the background were synced down to the millisecond.

• 2

  The tutorial is woven into the opening

  The opening teaches you while it plays, and the demo as a whole introduces its mechanics one at a time, which hands-on reports credit for keeping the learning curve smooth. The PlayStation Store listing for the demo counts tutorial reminders among its twelve accessibility features. No source we read lists the tutorials in order, so this page does not either; section 4 sets out what the demo teaches, system by system, as Square Enix describes each one.

2. Grandshelt and the Earth Shrine

The present day, and the premise of the whole game. Square Enix frames the demo as a head start on the journey through the Kingdom of Grandshelt (press release). Every account agrees on where Rain and Lasswell are sent and what happens when they get there.

• 1

  Rain, Lasswell and their orders

  The story snaps to the present in Grandshelt and introduces Rain, an airship commander, as the protagonist: he commands the airship squadron of Grandshelt, the Kingdom of Knights, a land blessed by the power of the crystals. Lasswell goes with him: his childhood best friend, who, as the Story page notes, was orphaned and raised by Rain's family. The errand is a royal decree to investigate the waning barrier of the Earth Shrine.

  • Where you are going: the Earth Shrine.
  • Why: a royal decree to investigate its waning barrier.
• 2

  The Earth Shrine — the first dungeon

  An interviewer who had played the demo put the change to the director: in Brave Exvius the starting dungeon was also the Earth Shrine, and there it was a series of fights leading up to a boss called Belmodar; in Resonance it is an area to explore, with random encounters and treasure chests to find. Furuya answered that there was no earlier reference to work from and that the level design was built from scratch, because progressing through dungeons and finding hidden paths to treasure chests is part of what makes an RPG fun. Whether Belmodar still waits at the end of the Resonance version, the interview does not say, and no other source we read does either.

  • What is in it: random encounters and treasure chests. A room-by-room layout has not been published by any source we cite.
• 3

  The Earth Crystal — and Fina

  This is the premise: at the shrine the pair run into Veritas of the Dark, a mysterious warrior in pitch-black armour, who shatters the Earth Crystal. Fina is a girl who emerges from the Earth Crystal with no memory, skilled in white magic and archery; the party rescues her, and she is described as able to summon Espers into battle. The attack on the shrine is reportedly the work of the Sworn Six of Paladia, and the trio's goal from then on is to track the Sworn Six down and stop them.

3. The Rest of Chapter One

After the shrine the sources thin out. What they do describe: the story going back to Grandshelt, a map that opens up, side quests with real weight, and the end of the chapter, which is the end of the demo. The optional Sephiroth fight belongs here too, with a caveat that matters.

• 1

  Back to Grandshelt

  Rain returns to find Grandshelt under attack by the same man, manages to rescue the king, and then sets out to protect the remaining crystals; he and Lasswell have failed to protect their home kingdom, their allies and the crystal that protected them. No source says at which point of chapter one this happens.

• 2

  The map opens up

  The opening chapter's map is described as sprawling and full of hidden routes, with overworld travel between towns on chocobo-back and dungeons packed with treasure. Only one source we read describes chapter one's map at all, and it names no towns, so neither does this page.

• 3

  The side quests

  Producer Keisuke Nakashima has said that players of the demo may have seen the side quests for Rain and Lasswell, and that the full game has the same kind for Nichol, Jake and Lid, telling their pasts and how their relationships change — things the mobile game never showed. One hands-on report singles out two more from the demo as tearjerkers: the airship engineer Scott deciding to step away from the airship squadron, and Emma, who longs for her mother. Side quests and extra exploration take one to two hours on top of three to four of main story. Square Enix's PlayStation Blog post names side quests as one of the ways Espers are unlocked; no source says whether any chapter-one side quest does.

  • Rain's and Lasswell's side quests: in the demo, per Nakashima.
  • Scott's and Emma's stories: in the demo, per one hands-on report.
• 4

  Sephiroth — the optional fight, and what is not known about it

  Square Enix's own announcements — the press release and the PlayStation Blog post — say players will be able to find and challenge Sephiroth in the hope of unlocking a special reward, and they say it of the game: neither places the fight in the demo. RPGFan's demo report is the one source that does, describing him in its demo paragraph as an optional challenge that earns a special item, which it presumes is unique to that encounter. No source we read describes finding him in chapter one, how the fight goes, or what the reward is. What he is beyond a fight is disputed: GameRant writes that Square Enix revealed him as both a boss and a Vision, Game8 calls him an unlockable Vision boss and Wikipedia a super-boss — but when RPG Site asked Nakashima directly whether he can be recruited as a Vision, the producer said the team has been avoiding saying either way and wants players to find out for themselves.

• 5

  The end of chapter one — and of the demo

  The demo runs to the end of the first chapter. The trophy list, as published on 9 September, counts eight chapters, each with a trophy for clearing it; the one for the chapter the demo covers is A Journey Begins. No source says whether it can be earned in the demo, or whether it unlocks when the save is loaded into the full game. Most of the hands-on previews before the demo were set further on: one was in chapter two, named there as Eternal Blue, at the Wind Shrine, with Lid in the party.

4. What the Demo Teaches

Square Enix's PlayStation Blog post sums the demo up as the opening chapter of the story together with the evolved turn-based command battle system, and sets that system out part by part. This is its list, with what the people who played add to it. The Gameplay page covers the parts the demo does not reach.

• 1

  The timeline

  A bar across the top of the screen showing who acts next — allies and enemies alike — through the next turn, with characters taking their turns from left to right (PlayStation Blog). Everything else hangs off it: the same post says the key to battle strategy is watching the timeline to know when to stagger.

• 2

  The stagger gauge

  It sits under every enemy's HP bar. Empty it and the enemy is staggered: it loses its turn and its defence drops (PlayStation Blog). One preview adds that every attack command carries its own health damage and stagger damage, and that striking a weakness amplifies both. Square Enix's feature list puts the aim in one line: exploit weaknesses to stagger, which breaks defences and wins extra turns.

• 3

  Sweeping Stagger, the Extra Phase and Resonance

  Stagger every enemy and you get a Sweeping Stagger; at the end of the Extra Phase that follows, you can unleash a Resonance, a special move unique to one of your Visions (PlayStation Blog). Resonances are not only damage: the post lists area attacks and additional effects, and a preview mentions support Resonances that buff or heal the party. The same preview also describes the smaller version of the reward — staggering a single enemy gives a character an extra action at the end of the turn.

• 4

  Visions, and the abilities you keep

  Visions are items, the crystallised essence of a character. You get them by completing events with characters you meet in the story, and the heroes of earlier Final Fantasy games come from vision crystal sanctums around the world; equip one and win battles to unlock its abilities (PlayStation Blog). The part worth understanding early: an ability learned from one Vision stays equippable while a different Vision is active, as long as it fits the cost limit, which is how abilities from several Visions end up on one character. Square Enix calls this a more accessible take on the series' job system. Collecting a Vision reportedly replays iconic scenes from that hero's original game and ends with a short compatibility quiz. Which Visions chapter one hands out, no source we read lists.

• 5

  Espers

  Summons that fight beside the party for three turns and deliver a finishing move on the last one before they leave, unlocked by progressing through the story and by completing side quests (PlayStation Blog). Fina is described as able to summon Espers into battle. The demo gives you one: Siren, the first Esper, who joins once you beat her in a boss fight.

• 6

  Difficulty, tutorials and the level restriction

  The demo's PlayStation Store listing includes an adjustable difficulty — a lower preset you can choose to reduce the challenge — and tutorial reminders among its twelve accessibility features, and marks its subtitles as covering the main story and main characters only. Square Enix's July details, on the Gameplay page, name three difficulties: Casual, Normal and Expert. The full trophy list has no difficulty-related trophies. And Steam's demo listing says some level restrictions apply; none of the sources gives the cap.

5. What Carries Over

The point of the demo, in Square Enix's words on every storefront: play chapter one now and continue from that save when the game comes out. What is promised is short, and what is not promised matters as much.

• 1

  What Square Enix promises

  Save data carries over to the full game when it launches on 22 October 2026. The press release, the PlayStation Blog post and the Steam listing all say it. In practice, you continue your journey without replaying the opening. Steam's listing adds that the chapter you play is the first chapter exactly as it appears in the full version.

• 2

  What nobody has spelled out

  No source we read says whether a save moves between platforms — a PS5 demo into a Steam copy, say; what exactly comes across, item by item; what happens to the demo's level restriction once you are in the full game; whether the reward for the optional Sephiroth fight is part of it; or whether the chapter-one trophy unlocks from an imported save. Square Enix's wording is only that save data carries over.

• 3

  Switch and Switch 2 are separate versions

  A 13 September round-up of Square Enix's cross-generation releases reports that the Australian and Japanese eShop pages confirm the Switch and Switch 2 versions are separate, with no save transfer from Switch to Switch 2 or back, and its table lists no upgrade path; its demo comparison says the same about upgrading. Nintendo's US eShop lists a demo on both the Switch and the Switch 2 product pages. None of this is about demo saves in particular, but these are the only statements about the two versions, and they say the saves do not cross.

• 4

  Edition bonuses are a separate matter

  The pre-order, early purchase and Digital Deluxe items are claimed from the postbox in front of the inn in the Town of Mitra once you have progressed past a certain point in the game. No source we read says where that point is, or whether it can be reached in the demo. What each pack contains is on the Editions page.

6. Platforms and Sizes

The demo went out on all five platforms at once, which made it the first chance anyone had to compare versions before buying one. The sizes below are the storefronts' and the outlets' own figures, and they do not all agree.

• 1

  Where to download it

  Square Enix's press release lists PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC via Steam and Xbox on PC; on PC the storefronts are Steam and the Microsoft Store. The PlayStation Store listing marks the demo free, one player and playable offline, with cloud streaming to PS5 and PlayStation Portal only on a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription. The Microsoft Store listing names Xbox Series X|S, PC and handheld. On Steam the demo is offered from the game's own store page, and on Nintendo's eShop from each version's page.

• 2

  How big it is

  Push Square gives the PS5 demo as about 4.8 GB. GameRant says the demo needs at least 5.4 GB of free space, without naming a platform. The Microsoft Store listing's data gives a maximum install size of 6,063,591,424 bytes, a little over 6 GB. We found no demo size for Switch, Switch 2 or Steam. For the full game, Nintendo's US eShop gives 8.8 GB on Switch and 12.7 GB on Switch 2, Nintendo's UK store gives the Switch 2 download as 11.9 GB, and Steam asks for 15 GB of storage.

  • Demo, PS5: about 4.8 GB.
  • Demo, Xbox and PC through the Microsoft Store: up to 6,063,591,424 bytes installed (the listing's data).
  • Demo, platform not named: at least 5.4 GB free.
  • Demo, Switch, Switch 2 and Steam: no figure found.
  • Full game: 8.8 GB on Switch and 12.7 GB on Switch 2 (Nintendo US) or 11.9 GB on Switch 2 (Nintendo UK); 15 GB on PC (Steam).
• 3

  On PC

  Steam lists one set of requirements on the store page the demo is downloaded from: Windows 11, 8 GB of RAM, an AMD Radeon RX 6400, Intel Arc A580 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, 15 GB of storage, and 1920 by 1080 at 30 fps on the Low preset as the minimum; the Platforms page has the full table. The Microsoft Store's listing for the demo gives the same processors, graphics cards and memory, adds 4 GB of video memory, and asks for Windows 10 version 18362.0 or later rather than Windows 11. The game is already Steam Deck Verified.

• 4

  How it ran, in one outlet's hands-on

  Mikhail Madnani ran the demo on Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Steam Deck and ROG Ally on 4 September, warning that the full game may change. On Switch 2 it targets 60 fps handheld, he saw no major performance issues in the hour he played, and he called it the most polished HD-2D game on Switch 2 yet, its one real issue being dithering in parts of the environment. The Switch version holds up docked and handheld but targets 30 fps and drops below it in places; played on a Switch 2 it is steadier but still 30. The PS5 version, captured on a PS5 Pro although no Pro enhancements are listed, ran flawlessly with almost no load times. On Steam Deck the High preset stays above 60 fps almost always and dips into the 50s under heavy spell effects; the ROG Ally ran at around 100 fps at 1080p in its 25 W mode. His one general complaint was the font, which he found stale. He could not test the Xbox app on PC, and the Xbox Series X version is not covered; he promises both for the full game.

7. Before the Full Game

✅ Before the Full Game...