- Release
- 22 October 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC through Steam and the Microsoft Store — the same date on every platform (Square Enix's own Steam and Nintendo eShop listings). Steam unlocks once worldwide, at 16:00 UTC on 22 October, which is already 23 October in East Asia; that is why Square Enix's Asia news portal footnotes Steam as 23 October. North American consoles unlocked at midnight Eastern, 9 pm on 21 October on the west coast.
- What it is
- Not a numbered entry. An adaptation of Lapis, the first story arc of the 2015 mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, and the first Final Fantasy built in Square Enix's HD-2D style.
- Combat
- Turn-based, explicitly not the ATB of earlier entries: a visible turn timeline, stagger gauges fed by elemental weaknesses, and Resonance attacks from equipped Visions (Square Enix's PlayStation Blog post, 3 September 2026).
- Length
- 30 to 40 hours for the main story and 60 to 80 to finish everything — figures Square Enix gave in July 2026, reported on 16 July. Launch reviews land inside that range: reviewers report about 40 to 55 hours, side quests included.
- Players
- Single-player on every storefront listing we read (Steam: "Single-player"; Nintendo eShop: "Single system (1)"). No multiplayer or co-op mode has been announced.
- Price
- 49.99 US dollars for the standard edition and 59.99 for the Digital Deluxe; in euros the standard edition is 59.99 on consoles and 49.99 on Steam, and the Digital Deluxe 69.99 on consoles and 59.99 on Steam; 209.99 dollars for the Square Enix Store Collector's Edition.
Stated by Square Enix
One date, five platforms
22 October 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store. Square Enix's own Steam and Nintendo eShop listings both carry the date. The date is the same everywhere; the hour is not. Steam opens worldwide at 16:00 UTC, and North American consoles opened at midnight Eastern.
An adaptation, not a numbered entry
An adaptation of the first story arc, "Lapis", of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, the mobile game Wikipedia dates to 2015 and CGMagazine to 2016. It is the first Final Fantasy in the HD-2D line — that is what Square Enix's own announcement release was headlined on, on 9 June 2026. Nothing calls it Final Fantasy XVII.
Who made it
Co-developed by Square Enix and LANCARSE Ltd. and published by Square Enix; the Steam page credits both studios. Hiroto Furuya is the director, Kei Hirono and Keisuke Nakashima the producers, Yukinori Kitajima the writer and Noriyasu Agematsu the composer, and the engine is Unreal Engine 5.
Turn-based, and said so plainly
Combat is traditional turn-based, rather than the ATB system of earlier entries. Square Enix's PlayStation Blog post of 3 September 2026, written by Senior Marketing Manager Mel Gordon, sets out the three parts: a timeline showing the order allies and enemies will act, a Stagger Gauge that stops an enemy acting and drops its defence when emptied, and Resonance moves tied to each Vision.
26 Visions at launch
Producer Keisuke Nakashima said in a September 2026 interview that "there are a total of 26 Visions in FF Resonance". Visions are past Final Fantasy heroes carried as equipment. Brave Exvius had over two thousand characters, and 26 make the move.
Single-player, no gacha
Steam lists the game as Single-player; the US Nintendo eShop listing says "Single system (1)". Furuya and Nakashima have said in interview that the removal of gacha means rarity no longer decides how strong a character is, and Nakashima has said the demo was put out partly to answer "voices of concern or uncertainty" about gacha mechanics.
A free demo, since 3 September
Announced and released during a PlayStation State of Play on 3 September 2026 on all five platforms. It covers the opening through the end of chapter one, runs roughly three to five hours, and its save data carries into the full game (Square Enix's PlayStation Blog post).
How long Square Enix says it is
30 to 40 hours for the main story and 60 to 80 hours to complete everything — numbers Square Enix gave, reported on 16 July 2026. Launch reviews fall inside that range: reviewers report about 40 to 55 hours, side quests included.
No extra Visions planned as DLC
Nakashima in an interview reported 7 September 2026: "As of now, there are currently no plans for additional Visions. We wanted to make sure our focus and all our resources were allocated towards ensuring a satisfying and fun main game experience." He added that commercial success "does open up possibilities".
A complete story, no sequel announced
Nakashima has said the team is treating this as "a complete standalone game" with no sequel currently in development, and that development ran roughly five years with time and resources comparable to making a new title.
What each hands-on actually played
| Source | Where and when | What they played |
|---|---|---|
| CGMagazine | gamescom 2026, about one hour | A chapter-two section at the Wind Shrine, with Noctis as an equipped Vision and random encounters on the way. |
| TheGamer | gamescom 2026 | World map with random encounters and a dungeon with enemies, puzzles and hidden chests; Noctis recruitable as a Vision. |
| Player2 | A Square Enix event, about one hour | The same chapter-two Wind Shrine section, with Cloud, Zidane and Terra named among the Visions. |
| RPGFan | Preview published 3 September 2026 | A section beginning after Lid joins Rain, Lasswell and Fina: the overworld and the Wind Shrine, hunting the wind crystal, with Terra as a levelled Vision and Siren as an Esper. |
| GosuGamers | Tokyo Game Show 2026 | Rain, Lasswell and Fina on crystal-powered underground platforms, meeting a corrupted dragoon-like antagonist connected to Cid; Cloud, Terra, Noctis and Lightning appeared as assist abilities. |
| RPG Site | The public demo, on hardware | Chapter one run on Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Steam Deck and ROG Ally for a version comparison. |
Open before launch: what is answered now, and what is not
Console resolution and frame rate
Square Enix has published no resolution or frame-rate target for any console. The only figures are outlets' observations: one from the demo build, and a launch review that found the Switch 2 version running at a smooth 60 fps in handheld, which matches it. They are observations, not commitments. The Platforms and Performance page keeps them labelled as such.
Subscription services
The game launched outside Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online. It is on Xbox from day one, which is a different thing.
What beating Sephiroth unlocks
Square Enix's PlayStation Blog post and press release, describing the game: "Players will be able to find and challenge Sephiroth in hopes of winning and unlocking a special reward." Before launch Nakashima would not say whether he could be recruited. Guides published at launch answer it: the reward is Sephiroth himself, as a Vision, from an optional fight later in the story.
The 26 Visions
The producer gave the number before launch, and guides published at launch list all 26: 17 heroes from the mainline series and 9 from Brave Exvius. The Gameplay page lists the ones with a source attached.
The Switch 2 physical copy
The boxed Switch 2 copy is a Game-Key Card: the box holds a key that downloads the game, not the game itself. Launch coverage and retailer listings say so, and nothing we read says otherwise; the physical Switch 2 edition on the Square Enix Store is that card. The Switch 1 and PS5 boxes hold the full game. There is no upgrade path or save transfer between the Switch and Switch 2 versions. Nintendo's eShop gives the Switch 2 download at 11.9 GB. Neither Square Enix nor Nintendo has said it in a source we could read.
How many side quests
A figure of roughly 30 to 40 side quests circulates, but we could not trace it to a source we are willing to cite — it did not appear in the July report of Square Enix's details or in the interviews we read. So it is not on these pages. What is sourced: Nakashima has said in interview that Rain, Lasswell, Nichol, Jake and Lid have side quests that fill in their pasts and relationships.
Reviews
Launch reviews went up from 20 October, two days before release, and the critic aggregate averages 86 from 47 reviews. They praise the HD-2D presentation and the turn-based combat; three of the four we read found the story the weak part, and one praised it. The other impressions on this page come from timed hands-ons and the free chapter-one demo.
Where the sources disagree
| On | One side | The other |
|---|---|---|
| When Brave Exvius launched | Wikipedia calls it "the 2015 mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius". | CGMagazine's preview calls it "a mobile game released in 2016". Both agree it shut down in 2024. |
| Supported languages | The Steam page lists eight: English, French, German, Spanish (Spain), Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean. | The US Nintendo eShop listing names five: Japanese, French, German, Spanish and American English. The listings are for different storefronts and we did not find a statement reconciling them. |
| Steam's recommended GPU | The minimum tier lists AMD Radeon RX 6400 / Intel Arc A580 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650. | The recommended tier lists AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT / Intel Arc A580 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 — the same NVIDIA and Intel parts as the minimum. That is how Square Enix's page reads; we have not corrected it. |
Cross-checked
Cross-checked on 22 September 2026 against Square Enix's own material — the Steam, Nintendo eShop and Square Enix Store pages and the PlayStation Blog — and the reporting of Wikipedia, Gematsu, RPG Site, VICE, Kotaku, Noisy Pixel, Final Weapon, RPGFan, GameSpot, Game Informer, CGMagazine, TheGamer, Player2 and GosuGamers, and re-checked on 1 October 2026 against Vandal, Eurogamer.es and the European Square Enix Store, and on 3 October 2026 against Square Enix's Asia news portal, which names the Microsoft Store on Windows. Re-checked on 22 October 2026, launch day, against the Steam store, the launch reviews of IGN, GameSpot, Nintendo Life and RPG Site, the Metacritic aggregate, VICE's report of launch times, and the launch guides of Game8, Game Rant and ffresonance.wiki (Visions, Sephiroth, Steam unlock time). The Switch 2 Game-Key Card: Game8's editions page, RPG Site's editions guide and its 20 October launch test, and ffresonance.wiki, which agrees; the no-upgrade, no-save-transfer point is RPG Site's 13 September round-up; the 11.9 GB size is Nintendo's US and UK eShop listings (the 12.7 GB given earlier was the same size in decimal units). Not from a playthrough: checked against the sources above. Still to confirm in-game.