In 2004, the creator of the Final Fantasy series, Hironobu Sakaguchi, formed a new game development studio called Mistwalker. The company is known for RPGs like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, and also the upcoming Apple Arcade title Fantasian, a traditional role-playing game with a nontraditional art style and a score composed by Final Fantasy’s Nobuo Uematsu.
First revealed in March 2019 in a sizzle reel of Apple Arcade’s exclusive launch titles, Fantasian ended up being delayed and is now slated for release sometime this year. The game has the distinction of featuring over 150 handcrafted dioramas, which are then photographed and populated with 3D characters. These dioramas are used as backdrops for the game’s dungeons, indoor environments, and the overworld.
The result is a charming and unique visual presentation that combines with more standard RPG mechanics such as talking to NPCs in town to gather information, random enemy encounters, and turn-based combat.
In a world governed by machines, Fantasian’s protagonist Leo is on a search for his missing father but loses his memory after an accidental explosion. His only remaining memory involves Kina, a girl who decides to travel with him through multiple dimensions as he embarks on a quest to recover his memory. Additional characters, each with a unique backstory and personality, join the party on their journey.
While the gameplay and story setup will be familiar to RPG fans, Fantasian also introduces the Dimengeon system, which sends the enemies from random encounters into an alternate dimension to be dealt with later, thereby allowing players to explore hostile locations in peace. Players can then jump into the Dimengeon, a combination of the words dimension and dungeon, whenever they want to deal with these queued-up encounters in one long battle.
This novel feature came about when the developers realized that being interrupted by random encounters in dungeons could hinder the game’s flow and prevent players from enjoying the diorama environments.
Because the game was designed with the touchscreen of Apple devices in mind, combat in the game will be turn-based with action elements, enabling players to aim spells by “drawing” lines or curves in order to hit multiple enemies. This seems reminiscent of the combat system used in Tokyo RPG Factory’s 2018 role-playing game Lost Sphear. Boss fights will require players to use strategy, enabling even underleveled characters to come out victorious with a little planning and tactical use of skills and items.
Fantasian will launch on Apple Arcade for iOS, Apple TV, and Mac in 2021.
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