Developer – Cygames

Publisher – Cygames

Platforms – PC (reviewed), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

Review copy given by publisher

Cygames’ latest game has been in development hell since 2016, and it’s nothing short of a miracle to see it finally releasing after all these years. The title was originally planned as a collaboration project with Bayonetta’s PlatinumGames until they dropped out in 2019 and left the game to be fully finished by Cygames. Since then, the game has suffered from numerous delays before finally getting a February 2024 launch date. Despite all that, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a fundamentally sound 3D action role playing game that features a colorful cast of characters, a rich fantasy world, and a fast-paced combat system.

You play as Gran or Djeeta, depending on if you choose the male or female main character. The game follows you and your crew of Skyfarers in search of a mysterious island called Eustalucia. Things go awry and a cult-like organization captures a young girl named Lyria and it’s up to you and your friends to rescue her. The Granblue series started off as a mobile game but has now spanned across multiple mediums, including an anime adaptation and fighting game spinoff series. Relink is Cygames’ attempt at bringing their franchise onto console platforms, after originally being an exclusively mobile title.

The vast roster of recruitable characters is impressive as Relink features 19 different party members to play as, with more to be added in the future. Every hero is a blast to play as, with each boasting a unique playstyle and mastery tree to max out. Combat is executed in real time in a hack-and-slash fashion with each character having 4 unique skills and a signature attack. Every character also has access to Skybound Arts (kind of like an ultimate move) after filling a meter, which can then be linked with other party members to trigger devastating chain attacks. It’s a shame that you can’t switch between any of your 4 party members on the fly during combat. 

For those unaware, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is split into 2 major portions: a single player story campaign and a cooperative multiplayer MMO-lite experience. The main narrative is quite short compared to most JRPGs, as it clocks in at around 15 to 20 hours. It should be noted that this is not an open world game but it does feature open zone areas for you to explore.

This brings us to the game’s main weakness: story and overall content. The writing itself isn’t very original or deep, and mostly follows the same plot as the mobile game, and there isn’t enough time for character development and plot motivations. There are side quests and other optional content, such as exploration and collecting items, but they’re all pretty basic. You’ll also be missing a lot of context and background details if you’re jumping into the Granblue series for the first time, despite Relink being advertised as a spin-off title. However, I do appreciate the short stories called Fate Episodes that showcase each character and the history of how they joined the group, which alleviates some of the aforementioned issues.

On the other hand, Relink opens up substantially after the credits roll. It’s almost as if the campaign is a tutorial for the game’s end-game content. This is where the aforementioned MMO-lite comes in, as the post-game content here is simply a grind of various objectives to forge the best weapons and max out all your characters. Mission structures range from point defense, wave control, and boss battles, all of which can be done with AI companions (that work exceptionally well) or other online players. Think Monster Hunter style missions and you got the right idea. I can see this being fun with a group of friends who are also keen on grinding it out, but I can also see the repetition settle in quickly.

Without a doubt, one of Relink’s strongest points is its visual presentation. The graphics are stunning, with detailed environments, fluid animations, and gorgeous effects. The character models look like they were lifted from the anime series, and their expressions and voices convey their personalities well. All the battle animations are flashy and aesthetic, with great audio feedback as well. The music is also excellent, composed by veterans such as Nobuo Uematsu and Tsutomu Narita. The game has a lot of cinematic moments that make you feel like you are watching an epic adventure unfold. Voice acting is offered both in English and Japanese and I found both performances to be top-tier.

Gameplay feels extremely responsive and smooth, and the game is technically sound on all fronts. This review is done on the Steam PC version, so the default controls are, of course, with mouse and keyboard. The game works surprisingly well with them, but the menus can be annoying to navigate since you can’t use your mouse there.I recommend you connect a controller and play with that instead if you have the means to. Performance wise, Relink runs at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second on an RTX 3080.

On the accessibility side of things, Relink features a robust suite of settings on PC. All the standard options are there, including subtitle toggles and configuring the max frame rate. Graphical settings can be set to custom, standard, high, and ultra, and the game supports colorblind mode. Some may argue that this game is way too easy overall, but I applaud the developers for offering a multitude of difficulty modes: story, action, and hard. There’s even a special feature known as Assist Mode and Full Assist Mode that enables auto-battle. 

Despite being in development hell for almost 8 years, Granblue Fantasy: Relink surpassed my initial troubled expectations. With its beautiful animations, addicting combat, and varied character roster, Relink is undoubtedly an experience that will appeal to fans of the series and the action RPG genre in general, especially the end-game multiplayer content. However, as a standalone solo player JRPG experience, it’s a generic and bland affair.