Granblue Fantasy: Relink caught my attention mainly because of its particular art style. I was looking for a good action RPG, and this one looked like exactly what I wanted. And honestly, it didn’t disappoint. The game looks beautiful, with colorful environments, floating islands and landscapes that sometimes reminded me of the Avatar movies. But more importantly, the gameplay is really fun.
The combat is fast, satisfying, and there’s a good variety of characters to play with, each with their own weapons, skills and playstyles. I really enjoyed trying different characters and figuring out how to use them. It’s easily my favorite part of the game.
The story, though… I wish I could say the same. It’s not terrible, and I wouldn’t say I was rolling my eyes while playing, but I definitely found myself sighing a little at some of the plot developments. It’s a pretty simple story, with predictable events and characters that are either clearly good or clearly evil. There’s not much character development either, which is a shame because the characters themselves are actually very charismatic. I ended up liking pretty much everyone, from Vyrn to Lyria and the rest of the crew, but I wish the game had given them more room to grow instead of keeping them more or less the same throughout the adventure.
The main story is also quite short, around 10 to 20 hours, but I honestly didn’t mind that much. I was having so much fun with the combat that I enjoyed the journey anyway. And the story is really just a small part of what the game has to offer.
The real surprise for me was the postgame, and I think Cygames knew exactly what they were doing here. There’s a lot of content after the credits: harder missions, new bosses, characters to unlock, equipment to improve, and plenty of reasons to keep playing. I have over 100 hours on Steam, which is pretty funny considering how short the main campaign is. A lot of that time was spent trying different characters, learning their moves and fighting increasingly difficult bosses.
And then there’s the multiplayer, which I had a great time with. It’s nothing particularly complicated: you join a lobby, four players go fight a boss, you beat it, everyone celebrates with a few emotes, and then you move on to the next one. That’s basically it, and somehow it’s really enjoyable. I just wish the game had a bigger player base, because finding people to play with isn’t always easy.
In the end, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a game I genuinely enjoyed. I wish the story had more depth, especially with such a likable cast of characters, but the combat and postgame more than made up for it for me. It’s not a revolutionary RPG, and it doesn’t need to be. Sometimes I just want a game that looks good, feels good to play, and gives me a reason to keep coming back. And that’s exactly what I got here.