Final Fantasy creator's dioramic RPG Fantasian could be headed to PC soon

Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator and grand-daddy of the famed Final Fantasy series, previously expressed the desire to bring his newest RPG Fantasian over to PC. The game has been locked on subscription service Apple Arcade since 2021, but that might change soon. Maybe. Hopefully. That's according to an apparent listing for the game on SteamDB, suggesting that a PC port could be on the table.

Fantasian’s escape from Apple Arcade lockdown wouldn’t be unprecedented either. Slapstick comedy thingamajig What The Golf?, chill village management game Outlanders, and Lego Brawls have all made their way over to other systems after their Apple Arcade exclusivity periods were done. And I’m crossing all fingers and toes that Fantasian makes the same jump.

Fantasian is a turn-based RPG that harks back to the PSX Final Fantasy games, all while throwing in some very smart contemporary twists for good measure. All the nostalgic bits and bobs are there, making anyone who grew up with those older games warm and fuzzy inside. Part of that charm comes from Fantasian’s dioramic world - built in real life and then scanned into the game - which captures the beauty of the detailed backgrounds from Final Fantasies VII through to IX. Legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu was back with some of his best musical moments, too, making the game an audiovisual feast despite its small screen limits.

I also enjoyed Fantasian’s combat from the little I played of it. To avoid the grind seen in similar RPGs, Fantasian lets you send randomly-encountered monsters into an alternate dimension so you could tackle waves of baddies all in one go. That’s great for procrastinators but the combat was so moreish, I usually saved up several interdimensional beasties to binge battles on purpose.

Hironobu Sakaguchi split from publisher Square Enix in 2003 to set up his own studio Mistwalker, who have been responsible for other turn-based gems such as Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon. PC folks haven’t been able to play any Mistwalker games yet, but hopefully Fantasian changes that.