In 2008, Square Enix released Dissidia Final Fantasy, a game to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Final Fantasy franchise. It included cross over of characters from many of the games fighting on the side of Cosmos or Chaos. Since then, the IP has also seen a prequel, Dissidia 012, and follow up Dissidia Final Fantasy NT. Now, we see Dissidia once again rising but not exactly in a place where people had hoped.
Today, more information was made available including the official title, Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy. If you’re still following after the alliterative title, we can dive slightly into the story of this 2026 release. DDFF takes place in modern Tokyo where a large blue crystal appears. After seeing this crystal in Tokyo each day it just becomes a part of life. As someone from a big city, I think I would always be suspicious of a giant crystal but not these citizens of Tokyo. However, it wouldn’t be a game if there wasn’t some drama. So of course, the crystal becomes a bit of an issue (this is why you never trust a mysterious crystal).
After a time of peace, monsters come out the crystal, humanity despairs, and in time, warriors appear to save the day. These warriors are known as ghosts. Players of the Final Fantasy franchise will very quickly recognize some of these ghosts as beloved (or not) characters from previous Final Fantasy installments.
If you still happen to be following, Square Enix premiered their trailer for the new game earlier today. The following trailer gives players a few glimpses into the characters in action. We also see that characters have a few different outfits to choose from and that battles will be 3v3 battles against rival teams. You’ll also be able to have two teams go up against the monsters in what they advertise as exhilarating battles. Have you already watched the announcement trailer? If so, does this make you want to dive into mobile games or will you be skipping this one?
Even as someone who loves Final Fantasy, it’s hard to invest in a mobile game. Especially when one of the aspects advertised in the trailer is that it will be ever-expanding. If this is anything like most mobile games, this means this is where the game can quickly go from free to play to “freemium” causing you to spend money to gain more characters. Towards the end of the trailer, the game does advertise that there will be more “ghosts” in the future and shows us silhouettes of characters that may appear later. Here we see gacha elements creeping further and further into the Final Fantasy series.
It’s worth noting that this also doesn’t appear to be an action-fighting game like those that came before. Instead, it appears to be based on command based challenges between rivals or monsters. Of course for some players this may be just fine, especially for a mobile game. The game comes with Japanese voice acting and based on the trailer, the voice acting does seem to be pretty great. Is it enough to save a gacha game though?
For those who want to dive in, applications for the closed beta are now open. The closed beta test which will take place November 7th – November 14th. Recruitment for the closed beta is open until October 28th so interested players should get their name in as soon as possible. Square Enix have shared this will be capped at 20,000 players. If there are over 20,000 entries, players will be chosen at random. As a note, this is only open to Android users, sorry Apple users.
Will you be signing up for the closed beta? Or will this be an entry into the Final Fantasy franchise that you’ll be skipping? If you need to sink your teeth into a Final Fantasy game in the meantime, check out our review of Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. Don’t forget to keep checking back for all of your gaming news and reviews here at GSC.
