Final Fantasy Director Wants Fantasian To Be An “Especially Long-Standing Title”

Nintendo’s latest Direct showcase announced a boatload of content for Mario fans, including a new Mario & Luigi game titled Brothership that our own Matt Anderson predicted. A fresh look at Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was also shown to close the feature and an exciting new port of Fantasian: Neo Dimension was announced for the Switch and consoles.

The Final Fantasy franchise is flourishing in the industry, with the acclaimed Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth harboring a shoo-in for Game of the Year and the MMORPG, Final Fantasy 14, preparing to release its Dawntrail expansion – a game Yoshi-P has built to “theme park” levels of grandeur since its relaunch. However, FF director Hironobu Sakaguchi’s passion project Fantasian may be the lead’s last hurrah.

Hironobu Sakaguchi Notes Fantasian: New Dimension As A Possible Swan Song Project

In a statement posted on X, Fantasian’s story lead and producer, Sakaguchi, noted the game’s Neo Dimension upgraded port from Apple Arcade to the Nintendo Switch after yesterday’s Direct. Teaming up with legendary Final Fantasy composer, Nobuo Uematsu, Fantasian is close to the director’s heart.

Previously released in 2021 exclusively for iOS, macOS, and tvOS through Apple Arcade, the Mistwalker RPG project followed Leo into the “Machine Realm” while recovering from amnesia and pitting himself and his party against Vam the Malevolent. The game’s “Dimengeon” system was widely praised, alongside the diorama sets and soundtrack, and now Square Enix is bringing the Neo Dimension upgraded port to consoles.

Within the X post, Sakaguchi highlighted “the strength of a digital title is that it can continue existing without deteriorating” and the director stated that he wanted Fantasian to become an “especially long-standing title” – similar to the long-running Final Fantasy series that doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Sakaguchi also revealed that he developed Fantasian “thinking that it could become my final work before retiring” and therefore considered the project to have “a special place in my heart”. The director continued to call the opportunity to rebuild Fantasian with Square Enix a “blessing”, which will ultimately expose the IP to a wider audience in the long run.

Finally, Sakaguchi rounded off the post by stating the fantasy title was “an amalgamation of the souls of the diorama craftsmen, Uematsu compositions, and of course, the game developers”. Fantasian certainly feels like Sakaguchi’s love letter to the craft and would be a wonderful project for the director to close his career with.

Fantasian: Neo Dimension is due to release on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Steam, and Xbox Series X|S this Winter 2024.

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