Fantasian

Fantasian (2021) is a role-play adventure about a fantasy world threatened by a deathly mechanical infection that robs humans of their emotions. Play involves exploring the world and talking to inhabitants, using your Warp Device to jump dimensions and save the world. It stands out for drawing on the talent from Final Fantasy, Lost Odyssey and The Last Story games and its handcrafted environments.

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The play Leo, a young man who wakes up in a strange mechanical world with no memory of who you are. You must explore and search for answers across both the machine and organic realms. As you traverse, you take on turn-based battles with enemies. The game differs in its two halves - originally being released like this on Apple Arcade - Part 1 is more linear and story-driven, while Part 2 opens up with a more expansive, quest-driven structure.

As you progress, you uncover more of the story and gain more abilities in battles. A nice touch that keeps the exploration flowing is being able to save up the random encounters and deal with them all at once. This not only offers some control to the player, but adds a clever risk-reward in terms of how long they should wait until dealing the the stacked enemies. Either way, battles require real thought (and preparation) to master.

The result is a visually approachable game that doesn't shy away from a challenge. This is matched by a mature story that touches on themes of memory, identity, and the conflict between technology and nature.

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Our examiner, Jo Robertson, first checked Fantasian 4 years ago. It was re-examined by Ollie Robertson and updated 4 months ago.