Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: There’s this guy named Cloud, and this other guy named Sephiroth, and these objects of power they’re both after. Sounds familiar, right? But much like Sora will allegedly be doing in Quadratum in Kingdom Hearts IV, this time the Warriors of Light have touched down in our world. For an unexplained reason, they become Ghosts and conceal their identities while dealing with invading monsters. Welcome to Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy.
Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy Is a Wild New Take on the Series
As the fifth game in the Dissidia lineage in a series of games that went from fighting games to team-based arena combat and RPGs, you may wonder what’s in store for you this time around. While Square Enix’s recent push looked to engage the esports crowd, the upcoming Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy does have you competing with another team, but with a twist: it’s PvPvE. Your trio of Ghosts has around five minutes to purify crystals guarded by some familiar-but-hostile faces to ultimately take down some of Final Fantasy’s most recognizable foes, like Iron Giants or Behemoths. This monster hunt isn’t just that straightforward, however – to do that, you must contend with another trio of heroes who want to take down the quarry as much as you do. Additionally, you’ll find your strikes, magic, and other means of combat ineffective against the boss creature until you’ve maxed out your Bravery by purifying crystals.
There are four roles: melee, support, ranged, and agile. Each of these roles has a special ability, like agile characters moving rapidly out of the way of danger, or a ranged character summoning a giant maelstrom. As with many gacha games, you can look forward to min-maxing to a fault, with plenty of abilities with art from popular artists like the venerable Yoshitaka Amano. Gacha also comes into play when unlocking new characters, but you must pull for abilities first. This could cause some tension for players, as spending so many in-game resources and only being offered an alternate outfit for Prompto instead of a new Ghost Zack Fair could be deflating. You read that right, though – because they are “Ghosts”, they’ve gone incognito, wearing what you’d expect to see in a major city like Akihabara. Players may also want to set expectations for upcoming characters, as, unlike previous Dissidia entries, it seems that, with the starting roster, there will be no playable villains, given the story and the fact that Sephiroth is opposing the players.
I decided to finally play as the character I share a name with, Terra Branford. As a ranged character, I didn’t have much trouble understanding how to use a spell to get other players or NPCs off me, or haste my team to move faster towards the objective. I only had limited time periods to play, however. If Square Enix doesn’t already have controller compatibility in mind, they may need to, as it can be tough to both move and tactically use your abilities. I felt bad when more than once an enemy player ran toward me, only for me to send a fully charged Firaga to melt them to ashes – I imagine with a better control scheme it would be a little less one-sided.
Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy is scheduled to release in 2026 for iPhone and Android platforms with a free-to-play model.
