- Publisher: NIS America
- Release Date: Jan 30, 2025
- Also On: PC, PlayStation 4, Switch
- Critic score
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Feb 10, 2025Fans of the first Phantom Brave know just what to expect with the sequel, and it delivers on those grounds. Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero brings the best gameplay mechanics from the first title and lightly refreshes them for a new era, with crisp graphical updates and slight improvements that are sure to delight fans of the genre or developer. While the story lacks the narrative depth of its predecessor, Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a sequel that knows what it is good at, and leans into it, delivering a sharper and more refined experience.
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Jan 24, 2025Some parts of the game are undeniably charming, such as the story, the character art and the bright colours. However, reusing a dated system really shows a lot of its age. Along with design choices that are simply confusing, it drags down the experience along with the 3D models. While there is certainly a level of 'too much' going on, this also applies to battles in a good way if a player is ready for it. The craziness is part of the charm and many of the battles are surprisingly hard, short of power leveling.
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Jan 23, 2025Any game receiving a sequel after 20 years is an achievement, especially one from a company's niche portfolio. Phantom Brave has always seemed more like a Disgaea spinoff than a major Nippon Ichi Software title. Still, the game had its unique identity, unusual features, and heartfelt characters. The sequel, Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, expands on the original's mechanics. It introduces new ways to employ the phantoms and their quirks in strategic combat and also adds fresh methods to strengthen and progress characters. However, a lackluster and overly childish story might turn off players uninterested in grinding to astronomical levels, potentially putting the series back into a long hiatus or even ending it for good in favor of NIS's more acclaimed tactical RPGs.
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Jan 23, 2025Phantom Brave is sure to be a fun, but possibly underwhelming, return to the franchise for fans of the original title, as well as of other NIS titles like the Disgaea series. For newcomers, however, the game has failed most of its attempts to make gameplay accessible to even well-versed veterans of the turn-based strategy genre. The end result is a niche-interest title that will likely be hit-or-miss with hardcore fans, due to the rough and messy assembly of its multitude of interesting parts.