I reviewed the original Phantom Brave back when it was a part of NIS Classics Vol. 1, and was rather fond of the game. It was a pleasant surprise when Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero was recently announced, and even more pleasant when I secured an appointment to preview the game at PAX West. I had a wonderful time with the upcoming sequel, as it builds upon the original with all the charm you’d expect from Nippon Ichi Software.
This time around, the spectral Ash has gone missing, leading a more experienced Marona to go and find him. She teams up with a spirit named Apricot who’s looking for her pirate captain father, leading to what is thus far a delightful new adventure. Throughout my time with the demo, there were lots of goofy lines of dialogue that made me smile as Apricot and Marona confronted a giant wolf that was pretending to be Apricot’s father. By now, I expect this kind of charm from Nippon Ichi, but it’s just as refreshing to run into the irreverent comedy as it ever is.
Credit: NIS America
The ability to run freely around a set space instead of a grid continues to give Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero a different feel than other tactical games, with this aspect even improving through small QoL changes. You can now hold down a button to move while viewing your attack range, cutting down on the amount of menus you have to navigate during combat. Small touches like this are always appreciated, especially so many years after the original game.
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero lets you possess gadgets
A new mechanic lets you confine spirits into gadgets instead of just regular objects, with the demo allowing me to put one inside of an enormous cannon. This meant I could do huge AOE cannon attacks against the enemy pirates that were swarming my squad, which was a massive help as more and more foes arrived.
Credit: NIS America
Another interesting addition in Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero lets you send units out on passive salvage missions that run in real-time to get goodies to use in chapters, which is only one of the different functions you can unlock by making units of different classes in between stages. It seems like there will be quite a few things to unlock, which certainly piques my interest.
“I can tell there will be a ton of options in each stage for both confinement and weapon usability, which should prove to be a lot of silly fun.“
Being able to use anything as a weapon is another fun little aspect of Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, as I accidentally had one of my units pick up a whole tree instead of her dagger, leading her to have some wild abilities that used the tree more or less as a big club. One enemy used a large fish as a weapon, and the most surprising part was that it was incredibly powerful. I can tell there will be a ton of options in each stage for both confinement and weapon usability, which should prove to be a lot of silly fun.
Credit: NIS America
I was also pleasantly surprised with how Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero translates the game from pixel art to 3D. I love pixel art the most, but the art style present in Phantom Brave works well with these 3D models, as they haven’t lost any of the appeal that came from their original 2D presentation.
All-in-all, Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero stands out as an exciting follow-up to one of Nippon Ichi’s less talked about titles. The possession mechanic remains neat and has even been built upon, and there are already some promising QoL updates. I’ll absolutely be checking it out when it releases next year on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC, as it feels like a sequel I never expected but can’t wait for.
