Granblue Fantasy Relink review: A great action RPG you should not sleep on

Seven years after its initial announcement, Granblue Fantasy Relink is finally here. Despite major developmental hurdles, Cygames has managed to deliver what is mostly a refined, addictive hack-and-slash experience. It blends together the combat of Final Fantasy XVI with the scale, awe, and monster-hunting experience of the Monster Hunter series.

Jumping into the behemoth that is Granblue Fantasy can be quite challenging, especially for newcomers to the franchise. Thankfully, Relink’s story is standalone and requires no introduction to its characters (although it would provide a lot of additional context). So much so that even I, a complete stranger to the series, had no trouble investing in the story and ultimately loving these characters.

It’s not without its faults, however, but Granblue Fantasy Relink is a great RPG that should get stronger with time - thanks to the slew of content updates that are scheduled by developer Cygames.

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The single-player campaign for Granblue Fantasy Relink is enjoyable but short

Characters were likable, including the antagonists (Image via Cygames)

Relink’s campaign kicks off with a conundrum - picking a playable protagonist. Naturally, I picked Gran over Djeeta. Thankfully, through my course of the game, it did not seem that the Captain’s gender mattered much when it came to story-based choices. The standalone campaign was full of engaging moments with a cinematic spectacle that kept me glued to the edge of my seat.

However, the premise of the campaign can be considered to be a bit “basic” as far as RPGs go. The true strength of Relink’s campaign lies in its characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the little banter between teammates, especially during the cutscenes. The voice acting was stellar as well, bringing characters to life in both the English and Japanese dubs of the game.

This strong showcase extends into Relink’s antagonists as well, with characters such as Gallanza and Id being my favorites.

Curiously, a major part of the game’s lore can be found locked within Lyria’s in-game journal, in addition to the Character Fate episodes that offer a great deal of supplementary information.

However, clocking in at around 14 hours (including major side content), the campaign of Granblue Fantasy Relink is short, judging by JRPG standards. This is quite a shame, as the campaign had me hooked throughout, and I was sad to see it end so soon. I did, however, enjoy the ending, as it wrapped up many loose ends and provided much-needed closure.

The gameplay loop of Granblue Fantasy Relink is addictive and satisfying

Granblue Fantasy Relink has amazing combat (Image via Cygames)

The gameplay loop for Relink reminded me a lot of Final Fantasy XVI, especially in its use of flashy combos and fast-paced hack-and-slash combat. You can dodge, parry, and defend against attacks from enemies while simultaneously delivering a barrage of physical and magical attacks in retaliation.

A unique addition to Relink is the Link system. In short, stacking attacks build up a Link gauge that can trigger a Link Attack. As a result, your party can chain attacks together on a foe, triggering a global slowdown in the process. Link Attacks are a fun way to chip in some extra damage at the press of a button.

In terms of gameplay accessibility, the game offers an easy mode of sorts, with the ability to enable full or partial assist during quests. While I would much rather play the game without any assists, it is nice to see that Cygames has included the option for players wanting a more streamlined experience. To this extent, the AI companions are also quite competent, more than capable of holding their own against the toughest of foes.

The gameplay loop is entirely unchanged from the PlayStation 5 demo. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of hard content that was available in the game - something that was sorely lacking in the demo. Challenging bosses online or with an AI-controlled party is insanely fun and rewarding, especially when aiming for the rather difficult S++ ranked clears.

Relink’s strength is in its diverse roster of playable characters

Relink has a strong, varied character roster (Image via Cygames)

Relink also possesses a wide roster of playable characters outside the starter crew you are handed control of. Each character felt unique and covered different playstyles and niches. Relink delivers splendidly on its variety, with a clear division of buffers, defenders, and attackers in-game. I particularly enjoyed using Zeta and Seigfried in the second half of the game, although I was rather tempted to try out Vaseraga for his all-or-nothing approach to battle.

Thankfully, unlocking characters was a breeze and did not require a tedious amount of grinding. Cygames has also taken the smart move of auto-leveling these characters as you acquire them (with respect to your own character level), unlocking Mastery Points in the process. This is especially useful considering how difficult micromanaging Mastery Points can be later.

The Mastery Trees for each individual character also possessed a good amount of complexity, and I always found myself experimenting with the numerous unlockable abilities post-campaign.

Unfortunately, the combat can get very busy at times, with so many effects and monsters overlapping that it makes it hard to coordinate battles. This is a rather minor annoyance that does not detract from the overall experience.

The PC port of Granblue Fantasy Relink is decent but could use some additional features

In-game screenshot of PC graphics settings (Image via Cygames)

I am happy to report that the PC port for Granblue Fantasy Relink is rather solid and well-optimized. The game looks absolutely stellar, especially on the Ultra preset, with its reliance on cel-shaded visual techniques and high-quality 3D models. It performed admirably on my rather midrange setup of a RX 6700 GPU and a Ryzen 5600g CPU, delivering a rock solid 60 frames per second even in the worst-case scenario. My rig hit over 100 frames per second in a good chunk of the game.

However, I would have liked to see additional scaling options such as FSR, DLSS, or anti-aliasing/anisotropic filtering sliders. A complete absence of upscaling techniques is unfortunate for users with lower-end systems. The game, however, supports a maximum of 120 frames per second (provided you have a capable GPU), which was nice to see.

The game was rock solid in terms of stability as well, with minimal technical issues other than an unfortunate crash mid-boss-battle. The PC version of Granblue Fantasy Relink is definitely the way to go for most players.

Endgame content

It would seem that the main focus of Granblue Fantasy Relink is in its endgame content, with a plethora of bosses and game modes to choose from. The endgame content consisted of raiding various dungeons with a party of four (either AI-controlled or with actual human co-op members). Each dungeon had its own unique bosses and/or objectives and was a blast to play through.

My concerns about the game being too easy were thankfully unfounded, as the Hard and Very Hard quests did pose quite the challenge for my admittedly ill-equipped AI-controlled party. These Very Hard quests required me to build and level up unique weapons for each party member, along with enhancing and equipping certain Sigils for added bonuses.

On the topic of AI companions, they were surprisingly competent and never let me down. I completed the entirety of the game using AI companions and faced no issues. As such, the game can be soloed - although I would imagine it to be a lot more engaging when raiding bosses with friends.

Unlocking and micromanaging my Mastery Points across each party member was something I also enjoyed, as I was spoilt for choice between a plethora of unlockable skills. Between this and the Weapon upgrade paths, I really enjoyed Granblue Fantasy Relink’s character progression system.

In conclusion

Despite its faults, Granblue Fantasy Relink does deliver (Image via Cygames)

Granblue Fantasy Relink is an addictive RPG with a heavy focus on endgame dungeons. The game looks phenomenal, is incredibly polished, and runs beautifully on the PC. I found myself invested in the story and characters despite having no prior knowledge of the franchise and enjoyed the entirety of its single-player campaign in addition to the endgame content on offer.

Unfortunately, while I did enjoy the campaign for Relink, it felt a bit too short, at least by RPG standards. It did have its moments, however, with its core strength lying in its individual characters. Additionally, while the PC port is well-rounded and, for the most part, optimized, it could use a set of additional options to further fine-tune the experience.

All in all, Granblue Fantasy Relink is a solid, addictive RPG that delivers. You should definitely not sleep on this game, despite it releasing in a month jam-packed with strong contenders.