Granblue Fantasy: Relink review- An admirable RPG that's gorgeous in every frame

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is an admirable JRPG that combines stunning environments with flashy, over-the-top combat.

Whether you’re the type of player who just wants to blast through a compelling narrative or get lost in a bottomless pile of side content, this RPG will cater to you with a range of options and gameplay mechanics that’ll appeal to the majority of players.

Check out Granblue Fantasy: Relink below

Kicking things off with the story, Granblue Fantasy: Relink tells a simple tale of the player embarking on a skyward expedition with a colourful cast of characters. Once you’ve chosen your preferred gender, you're placed at the helm of your very own ship as you sail through the air on the hunt for adventure, getting into several scrapes along the way.

In my opinion, the characters in an RPG make or break the experience and your crew of adventurers here - in addition to the ones you meet along the way - do not disappoint. They exude that quirky anime vibe you love to see in this kind of story, and the interactions they have with the player and each other really make you feel like you're part of the team.

I won’t go into spoilers but the story is more than serviceable if not a bit plain at times. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good at telling the tale and features all the narrative elements you’d expect in a decent story but I did struggle at times to stay invested. It would seem the game knows this as well, as if you’d rather not sit and listen to the cutscenes and dialogue play out you can press a button to skip the whole thing. If you decide to do this, it'll give you a brief summary of what happened in the scene so you’re not completely lost.

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Once you’ve arrived at your destination though, you can take in the gorgeous landscapes. As soon as I’d landed in the jungle/forest that serves as the starting tutorial area, I was blown away by just how good everything looked. Even disregarding the anime aesthetic, the world, people, and monsters had a shine to them that made just about everything pleasing on the eyes. The lighting in particular stood out to me and when you’re in the heat of battle is when the game performs at its best.

I’d often find myself slowing down to take in the landscapes or venture off the beaten path to see if I could find a better view of the area, and even when the game is at its most dark and desolate, it doesn’t skimp on the visual details.

The same can be said while in combat. Granblue Fantasy: Relink is an action-RPG - not a turn-based one. You’re in the driver’s seat at all times but that isn’t to say it’s challenging. If I was to best describe the game’s combat it’d be that it’s good and serviceable but nothing we haven’t seen before from other RPGs. Players can attack enemies with basic attacks through button mashing with the occasional combo mixed in, as well as cast a variety of magic spells that cause damage or provide healing/buffs to yourself and your team. Your teammates are always alongside you and I found the AI to be quite strategic in where they place themselves. In my experience, they targeted enemies I wasn’t fighting at the time which meant I could focus on taking foes down one by one rather than being swarmed. Incoming attacks can be blocked or dodged, and the spells gain greater power or potency if you let them charge up before using them, which adds a bit of strategy for when you use them.

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Overall, the combat did start to feel a bit old and repetitive after a while, but was improved slightly by special moves you execute with the help of your team. Every now and then, one of your teammates will land a powerful blow on an enemy and a button prompt will let you zoom over to their position and follow-up their attack with one of your own. This keeps you on your toes a bit, especially during boss encounters which I’ll get to in a minute. Your allies will also charge up special moves and when the timing is right, your full team can initiate a combined assault that shreds the healthbars of anything standing in your way. These always felt satisfying to use and the downtime between using them never felt too long or too short.

While fighting the basic enemies felt a bit dull at times, the boss battles were where I found the most enjoyment. They’re often large, powerful, and packing a variety of devastating attacks that can quickly put you down if you take them lightly. While you can chip away at a boss’ health bar until it hits zero, the main goal is build up a stun meter, allowing you to wail on them with as many attacks as you can.

The thing I liked most about the combat is it did feel like a strong balance between action and strategy. Despite being an action-RPG at its core, you’re still given the freedom to hold back and play support for yourself and allies, whether it be healing your party or boosting your attack/defence. Your teammates often do this independently too, meaning it was great to be able to focus on my own fight without worrying about what they were doing around me.

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Of course, you can’t simply rely on your own ability and teammates to progress through the game, eventually you’ll need to put some experience points into your own progression. Upgrading yourself and your allies is incredibly simple - there’s a skill tree for abilities and stat boosts, and a blacksmith for upgrading your weapons. All the points and materials for upgrading are shared across the team, so I did accidentally find myself dumping everything I had into my own progression until slightly later in the game. I liked how easy it was to strengthen the team but once I’d poured an adequate amount of points into my starting characters, I never really felt the need to swap my party around, because then I’d have to upgrade the newbies to be on a similar level. Everything I was doing in combat was working with the team I had currently so there never was a reason to mix things up.

Collecting resources to make yourself stronger was as simple as fighting monsters and engaging inside content, of which there’s plenty. There are a lot of side quests in this game, and while I didn't find myself jumping at each and every one of them the minute I spotted an NPC with a request, I did occasionally dabble in them for diversity and of course, those sweet, sweet resources.

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All in all, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a fine action-RPG and one that takes full advantage of new-gen hardware. While it treads a path we’ve all been down before, the way it sets itself apart is through its world building, characters, a great blend of action and strategy gameplay, and some gorgeous visual detail.

Pros: Stunning world design, great blend of action/strategy gameplay, an abundance of things to see and do

Cons: Combat does get repetitive in time, progression doesn’t lend itself to so many characters, story will be hit or miss for most players

For fans of: Final Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei, JRPGs, Anime

7/10: Very Good

Granblue Fantasy: Relink will launch on 2 February for PlayStation 5 (version tested), PlayStation 4, and PC. Review code was provided by the publisher, Cygames. Read a guide to our review scores here.