It’s finally here. After being first announced all the way back in 2016, a whopping seven years ago, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is finally released on Playstation and Steam. There’s a lot that’s changed within these seven years, with the release of fighting game Granblue Fantasy Versus, then the sequel Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, to various updates to the original Granblue Fantasy mobile browser game itself, soon approaching its 10th anniversary in March 2024.
But it’s clear that what’s changed the most is Relink itself, as the game has gone through several versions over the years, with Cygames showing off different iterations to the public over the course of its development. From changes to the initial story, the main character, the game’s visuals, and the gameplay itself, has the long wait made the final product well worth it?
The answer is a resounding “yes”. Granblue Fantasy: Relink is the best showcase of everything that the series has to offer, and might just also be one of the best action RPG game in years.
To Unknown Skies
Relink starts off with the game assuming player familiarity with the series’ premise and cast of characters, but will run you through the basics. You play as either Gran or Djeeta, the male & female version of the protagonist respectively, Captain to a crew of Skyfarers in a world of floating islands. You’re on a quest to reach your missing father in the fabled land of Estalucia said to lie at the end of the skies, along with the crewmates you’ve assembled along the way. The crew finds themselves on a new adventure in the Zegagrande Skydom, a new setting original to Relink, with a brand-new story, cast of supporting characters, and antagonists to come along with it.
Being a brand-new adventure, the main story itself doesn’t require you to be familiar with either the Granblue Fantasy browser game or Versus, so you can jump right in without having to worry about losing the plot. Even if you do find yourself lost, the game offers a glossary of terms you can access at any point during in-game dialogue, as well as character-focused Fate Episodes that delve deeper into the backstories of your crewmates, and Lyria’s Journal, which acts as an in-game encyclopedia chronicling everything you need to know about the game’s lore.
The game’s dialogue does a great job of introducing you to the story’s players without taking too much of your time. Each of your established crew members’ personalities gets a moment to shine, from the dependable airship helmsman Rackam, to the knightly Katalina, to seasoned veteran Eugen, all of whom the game manages to make you feel familiar with even if it’s the first time you’re actually meeting them. There’s also Lyria, a girl with blue hair with the mysterious power to summon powerful creatures known as Primal Beasts, and the heroine of Granblue Fantasy. The game quickly establishes why you would want to root for and care for these characters, making you fully invested in the story by the time Lyria is entangled in a certain incident which kicks off the plot to full gear.
Though the main storyline levels are pretty linear, they offer a variety of fun and interesting challenges for players willing to go off the beaten path. If you’re looking for distractions, there are optional combat challenges accessed through Omen Stones, platforming minigames to unlock Shrouded Treasure chests, and Wee Pincer crabs to hunt for as collectibles. You’ll find yourself facing more than one gargantuan enemy as the story progresses, but each encounter and set piece feels unique, from lush forests to icy mountains to scorched deserts. A particular highlight early into the game features an airship-to-airship combat requiring you to shoot at and board enemy airships, culminating in a fight against one of the enemy forces’ generals. It’s something that would make perfect sense to happen given Granblue‘s setting, yet doesn’t exist in the browser game and can only be realized now within the framework of Relink‘s 3D action gameplay.
A constant throughout my playthrough was the joy of seeing so many elements from the original Granblue Fantasy reimagined in 3D. Longtime fans of Granblue would already be familiar with the series’ stunning 2D art from its characters to its environments, but seeing the usual villager NPCs as walking 3D models, and familiar-looking vistas as areas you can actually explore and walk through, was an absolute treat. It’s great that they’ve also managed to keep the original game’s painterly & illustrative feel, a detail you can spot in the illustration-like shading lines of the character’s textures. And for a game set in a world called the Sky Realm, they could do so much worse than to make the game’s sky absolutely beautiful to look at.
The game’s main story by itself won’t take too long to complete, needing about 20 hours or so to clear. I personally wish the main story was a bit longer, but the plot beats and levels are enough “quality over quantity” that it should leave players satisfied by the time the end credits roll.
It’s only after clearing all the story content that the game truly opens up.
Next page: Enthralling action gameplay
