Square Enix brought us more JRPGs at this year’s edition of Tokyo Game Show.
As we continue our coverage of Tokyo Game Show 2026, we’re now focusing on Square Enix. With a couple of big titles releasing next year- Final Fantasy VII: Revelation, Final Fantasy XIV Evercold, and Kingdom Hearts IV- only FFVII Revelation has a playable demo and is the main attraction at the event booth. Just head to the front side of the booth; you can see the massive meteor logo in the middle, along with a couple of epic photo spots for attendees to take pictures, including the massive hand of the Diamond Weapon, a spot where you can do the iconic Cross Slash skill with the background of a Scorpion Sentinel being obliterated, or reenact how Aerith felt after being stabbed (again) with a ridiculously long sword.
But we went to Square Enix to try out their games, and aside from Final Fantasy VII Revelation, we also got our hands on Final Fantasy Resonance and Romancing SaGa 3: Destinies United. So read on to find out our impressions of these upcoming JRPGs.
Romancing SaGa 3: Destinies United
First off, this is one of the JRPG series that never got enough traction outside of Japan, even with a little push during the PSOne era with the SaGa Frontier games. Romancing SaGa 3 is the third of the SaGa games that was released for the Super Famicom and Destinies United is the remake of that game. The demo that I played has two load states that you can choose from: the first was from an early story quest that involves rescuing a child inside a tower and this is recommended to players who haven’t played the SaGa games; the other was a dungeon that has you fight a boss at the end, which is recommended to those who have already played the original game or the SaGa titles.
I went ahead and tried the first one, since the last SaGa game that I have ever played was SaGa Frontier 2 when I was still in grade school, so my memories of how the game plays have been very vague. Just looking at the presentation and visuals reminds you of the recent Square Enix JRPGs, like the Trials of Mana remake and Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, that are more in the HD anime aesthetic.
Combat is still the turn-based system many will be familiar with, with a timeline that shows when your characters or enemies will act, letting you plan accordingly. The Glimmer system is also present; it is a staple in the SaGa series. What it does is unlock a new skill and replace your selected action with the newly acquired skill instantly, and these can be activated by chance by using skills that have a lightbulb icon beside them, and the best part is that the new skills that you learned are unlocked permanently. And finally, there’s the United Attack that allows you to perform a powerful attack with your party; I guess you can treat this as their Limit Break system.
So far, after 15 minutes of the demo, Romancing SaGa 3: Destinies United feels like a great throwback for JRPG fans who want more turn-based combat with modern visuals. The combat system is very familiar even if you haven’t touched any SaGa games before, so even players who aren’t that familiar with JRPG tropes will be able to get a grasp of this game.
Romancing SaGa 3: Destinies United releases on February 16, 2027.
Final Fantasy VII: Revelation
A lot of people are lining up to try out this anticipated game, so we’re glad that we are able to try it out, even for a couple of minutes at Tokyo Game Show. The demo puts you in the Whirldwind Maze dungeon, where you need to face Sephiroth as you follow the trails of the men in black robes (if you are already familiar with the original) and you have the entire cast joining you in this demo. You now have Cid and Vincent on your team and you can get to try out their abilities and specialties, as well as trying the new FITS system.
Vincent uses his trusty Cerberus pistol to deal a ton of damage at range, and it helps build up stagger on enemies if you keep attacking. His special attack evolves each time you keep putting lead on your enemies. But aside from being a menace at range, his other special ability is transforming into a monster by holding the R1 button. You can deal more damage in this state, but staying in this form for too long will build up his Chaos meter that eventually reduces his maximum HP
Cid is a beast in midair, able to dish out spear attacks that build up until he glows with a blue aura that unlocks new skills that can even deal more damage. He has access to Dragoon skills like Jump that can deal a devastating blow from above, and you can juggle your targets in the air. Using the triangle ability allows him to mark his targets with his spear, and the more marks the target has, the more severe the damage from his skills.
I can see Vincent will be a staple in everyone’s party, especially because of how fast his DPS that makes it easy to stagger enemies, unless later monsters pose a serious threat to him that you may need to swap him out of the party. But now with eight characters at your disposal, it’ll be nice to see how some players will mix and match their preferred team.
New to Revelation is the FITS (or Function-Integrated Tactical Suitwear) System, which is easiest to describe as similar to the Dresspheres from Final Fantasy X-2. You will be able to use certain abilities outside of the usual setup for certain characters, which allows for unique builds for your party. The demo has the Summoner available and it allows you to call out your Summons at any time. It behaves the same way in the other Remake titles, where you summon them into the field and they will assist you in battle until their timer runs and they will unleash a stronger attack, then disappear.
I’m pretty much excited about what we can discover in Revelation, well, aside from the conclusion of the story and whatever new twists to uncover. And with the FITS System, there’s gonna be a ton of mix-matching for the best party builds, and yes, I’ll be putting Vincent in the party for almost the entire playthrough.
Final Fantasy VII: Revelation will be available on April 8, 2027.
Final Fantasy Resonance
Though there is already a game demo available from more than a week ago, the demos at Tokyo Game Show offered 2 new scenarios. I chose the load state where you have to find the Wind Crystal. All my party members are around level 20, still early in the game, but they have Visions from the mainline Final Fantasy series equipped, giving you a sneak peek at how some of the Visions work.
And yes, Resonance has turn-based combat through and through, with added mechanics inspired by other games that make it refreshing to play. There is a stagger meter on every monster, including bosses, that you deplete by dealing more damage, and you can deplete it faster if you’re exploiting their weakness element. Staggered enemies will take more damage and give you a bonus turn
Visions can be equipped to any of your party members; they have specific roles such as Commando, Breaker, Medic, etc., that describe their specialty. Visions can provide stat bonuses and a new set of skills at your disposal. You can unlock more skills and other bonuses the more you use them. When you stagger the entire group of enemies, you can unleash a Resonance Attack from your Visions, which is a limit break-style version of their special attack. FMVs of selected Visions will play to initiate their Resonance Attack, and yes, these FMVs were from the original Brave Exvius mobile game.
Running around the dungeon in my demo session just reminds me how good a classic Final Fantasy game can still be. Keeping it simple but experimenting with mechanics from other games makes it engaging, and some quality-of-life features like the fast-forward option during combat make dungeon crawling less tedious.
Final Fantasy Resonance will be available on October 22