To the already long list of Android games based on the Final Fantasy saga we can now add a new title to the list. Final Fantasy Awakening has already been around for years in Asia, first under the name Final Fantasy Agito and later as Type-0 Online, as a sequel to a PSP game focused on the Nebula Chrisallys subsaga, which is also part of Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels. If we’ve already lost you by this point in the paragraph, probably best to pick a different game. If not, you might just have discovered one of the best games for mobiles set in the fantasy world of Square Enix.
***UPDATE: (02/05/2018)*** Newly launched for international markets, the game is now available to play from anywhere without restrictions or geolocking. That said, this time around it’s only officially released in Australia, New Zealand, The Philippines, India, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. But, we’re looking at an identical version to the one published months ago, with slight changes in its package name. So, basically this isn’t technically an ‘update’ given that it’s a completely independently functioning app, separate from the original, previously released one.
Unlike similar titles with a more classic approach to their gameplay – like Brave Exvius or Mobius – what Awakening brings for practical purposes is a real-time action game where you have to beat levels by directly controlling your character with the virtual stick and buttons. Besides the standard attacks you have special skills with a cooldown and the iconic invocations of giant creatures that’s the trademark of this saga.
There’s a big MMO component in terms of enjoying the game over the long term: on top of the standard story mode where you have to beat short, sequential levels, there are other activities like an arena where you do battle either solo or in teams against other players online. The looping schematics are simply an excuse to level up your characters and craft the materials needed to upgrade your equipment. (And yes, I could almost copy-paste this paragraph for nearly any other title knocking around in this genre. It is what it is.)
In terms of the setting, you already know what you’re going to find here, especially if you’ve checked out the aforementioned Type-0 on PSP, more recently reedited in HD for the main consoles: battles between teens with varying skills in a four-way civil war starring characters ranging from mechanized militant monsters and powerful battle wizards to classmates decked out in school uniforms and brandishing swords and firearms. Standard enough, no?
Final Fantasy Awakening has initially soft launched just in Indonesia, but the menus as well as the dialogues are in English. The game isn’t out yet on Google Play but you can download it from Uptodown with no geographical restrictions.
