FANTASIAN Neo Dimension Gamescom Hands-On Preview – Unmistakable DNA

FANTASIAN Neo Dimension, in some ways, is the closing of a circle that began back in 1986 with the release of the original Final Fantasy. After leaving Square back in 2003 following the launch of the tenth entry in the series that changed JRPGs forever, Hironobu Sakaguchi founded Mistwalker, releasing multiple solid titles over the years, including Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, created in collaboration with Dragon Ball’s Akira Toriyama and Slam Dunk and Vagabond’s Takehiko Inoue respectively. The latest game from the studio is FANTASIAN, which was launched a while back for the Apple Arcade service and is now about to hit PC and consoles thanks to the company the creator of Final Fantasy left over 20 years ago.

During Gamescom 2024, I had the chance to try out FANTASIAN Neo Dimension on Nintendo Switch, playing through a sequence early in the story that allowed me to experience some of the game’s unique mechanics. Even on the little screen of the Nintendo console, it was easy to appreciate the game’s unique visuals, which blend 3D character models and hand-crafted dioramas. These visuals are far from being cutting-edge, but they give the adventure a very peculiar feel and a strong visual identity that is hard to forget.

While exploring the small forest the Gamescom demo was set in together with the main character Leo and his companions, who are on a journey to recover the hero’s memories and solve the mystery of the mechanical infection that is destroying the world, I was able to test the FANTASIAN Neo Dimension combat mechanics, whose twists give an edge to some traditional game systems. The game’s combat system is a straightforward turn-based system, with a turn bar informing players of the turn order, where characters and enemies can use a variety of different attacks and skills, all coming with elemental properties that can deal more damage if a weakness is hit. What sets this simple combat system apart is the skill system itself, which allows players to alter the trajectory of certain skills to hit multiple enemies. This is a mechanic that I’m sure will be used a lot in the full game, as battles against multiple enemies can take a while, especially when using single-target skills.

Thankfully, random battles are never a problem with FANTASIAN Neo Dimension, thanks to the twist to one of the oldest JRPG mechanics introduced by the Dimengeon System. By employing this system, it is possible to send encountered enemies to a dimensional dungeon, and skip the battle altogether. At some point, however, Leo and his companions will have to fight the enemies sent to this dungeon, otherwise the Dimengeon Machine will overflow and force them into a longer battle. To make these battles more manageable, however, players can attack Dimengeon Gimmicks, which grant some welcome buffs, widening the array of available strategic choices to make combat even more engaging.

While 30 minutes or so are too little to provide a proper evaluation of FANTASIAN Neo Dimension as a JRPG due to the little story covered, it is undeniable that the Final Fantasy series DNA is very prominent in the game. As such, it won’t have any trouble finding an audience when it launches on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Nintendo Switch sometime this Winter.