The world of Granblue Fantasy is returning, but without taking up too much of the game for mobile and PC with over 35 million registered users. But never arrived in the West. The wait has been long, with multiple postponements, but in the end the new chapter of Cygames is arriving on Sony consoles (next-gen and PS4) and PC, Granblue Fantasy Relink, which has little to do with the aforementioned title from years and years ago. Available both in single player and online co-op (not available at the time of our test), between a main campaign with a rich narrative and over a hundred quests, we will tell you in our review what this new title had in store for us, tested on PlayStation 5.
Granblue Fantasy Relink, the arrival of the fantasy RPG in the West
Granblue Fantasy sees the threads of its story unfold in the so-called Skydom, a world where myriads of islands float in the sky, and which we will visit as the captain of one of the fleets that sail there, always accompanied by a sort of mascot, the little dragon Vyrn, and a mysterious young woman, Lyria.
Together with a large company, including blue-blooded characters and others who are a little more “flashy”, we sail towards Estalucia, an island beyond the end of the sky. Thus in the kingdom of heaven of Zegagrande we will discover that the islands are defended by powerful creatures, very powerful beasts, as well as the presence of a fearsome organization, the Church of Avia.
So all we have to do is gradually reveal a web of intrigue to go well beyond the borders of Zegagrande and encounter increasingly challenging battles for the fate of the Sky Realm itself.
A truly… celestial adventure?
Available both in single player mode and in online multiplayer cooperative mode, there will be many details to discover and learn as we explore the celestial lands of this action RPG. However, let’s start with the clarification of some points: as can be seen from the incipit, Granblue Fantasy Relink does not tell the beginning of the protagonist’s journey. We will not witness his transformation from aspiring warrior to captain of the crew of navigators of the skies: in fact, here, paradoxically, we are experiencing the sequel to a game that, in fact, does not exist and that we have never seen.
A choice that is not fully appreciated, that of introducing the players in medias res, as the party presented to us has already experienced adventures, but the neophyte of the game cannot know them, especially those who have not approached the original Granblue Fantasy of 2014, never arrived in the West as mentioned above.
So it remains the explanation of the reasons why the protagonist wants to get to Estalucia has been postponed, and that’s not Granblue Fantasy Relink’s only weakness. There The very structure of the experience is very linear and repetitive, without a large fantasy world to freely explore and discover. If on the one hand we have Folca as a hub city, on the other there is a shortage of areas rich in content (but aesthetically pleasing).
Between a too linear story and frenetic combat
Granblue Fantasy Relink is therefore not the great open-world JRPG that you might expect, but “just” an action RPG with a relatively short story (we’re still talking about 30 hours of gameplay) which poses heavy emphasis on combat and narrative contentalso endgame, but with a slow pace, sometimes too much.
It is also true, on the one hand, that there are several stylistic and plot references to other great stories of the fantasy world RPG, starting from Square Enix’s Final Fantasy franchise. These details can be found in some tracks of the soundtrack and in the names of some characters, very similar or identical to those found in the aforementioned saga. Even the gameplay style clearly follows the classic one of the action RPG genre.
Two strong points but we found them. The first is in the aforementioned fighting, thanks to the characteristics of each of the playable characters, equipped with ever-changing weapons and showing off unique abilities. If changing character means radically changing the approach to battles, each hero will entertain us, showing aimportant variety in clashes. The second strong point (but only half) lies in the graphicsdove the video sequences are very pleasant and scenicwhile i moments of pure gameplay show some flaws not only in the response of the game engine during loading, but also some small glitches and graphics rendering that are not entirely clean.
The Granblue Fantasy Relink review
Overall, Granblue Fantasy Relink is an RPG that could count on greater longevity and complexity in contentwhen the Cygames title in question bet everything on the fight. And less about the graphics. The game is definitely enjoyable and pleasant, however understanding what is happening will be slow, even by a lot, to arrive. Not easy therefore for those who don’t know the saga, but indifferent for those who approach it with a view to having in their hands a good action RPG that perhaps doesn’t aim to impress the gaming public. In essence, a title that does its part, but does not aim for the stars, also looking for references to the genre with obvious winks to video games and famous sagas of this genre. In short, a game that doesn’t do too much… “flying”.
