Final Fantasy Creator’s Fantasian RPG Coming to Apple Arcade

The Apple Arcade game subscription service has been expanded with over thirty new games, with Fantasian probably being the most eye-catching title. This is an RPG from Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy games.

Fantasian, according to its official description, is an RPG that uses more than 150 hand-crafted 3D miniature models or dioramas to shape the virtual world. These are dioramas made by artists from the Japanese Tokusatsu industry, an industry involved in the development of special effects. For example, some of these artists contributed to the films Godzilla, Attack on Titan and Ultraman.

The story revolves around a multidimensional realm where machines rule. Players take on the role of Leo, who wakes up in a strange land after a massive explosion with only a single memory left. In his quest to recover his memories, it also becomes clearer about the “mechanical infection” that is taking over humanity. This story was written by Sakaguchi and the soundtrack was created by Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu.

The story is told by introducing the different memories as small in-game stories, each with its own style, music and sound effects. The gameplay adheres to the elements of the classic Japanese RPG genre, although a so-called Dimengeon Battle mechanism has been added. This allows players to send previously encountered enemies to a separate dungeon to improve their combat skills, for example.

In addition to the Apple Arcade Originals, games that were only released on this service, Apple has now added two new categories: Timeless Classics and App Store Greats. This first category includes titles such as Good Sudoku by Zach Gage and Chess – Play & Learn, while games such as Threes, Mini Metro and Fruit Ninja Classic fall under the second category. New Originals games such as NBA 2K21 Arcade Edition, Star Trek: Legends and The Oregon Trail have also been added. With all the new additions, the total number of games in the catalog comes to more than 180. The games from the two new categories, unlike the Originals, are only playable on the iPad and iPhone.

Apple Arcade has been around since September 2019. It is a subscription service for games that can only be played on iOS, iPadOS, tvOS and macOS. The games are therefore playable on smartphones, tablets, PCs and laptops, and TVs. Users pay $5 per month to access the games, which contain no ads or in-app purchases.