Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles remakes one of the greatest tactics games of all-time, adding to it quality-of-life updates, a new visual style, full VO, and more. When it was revealed in June, I was thrilled – it’s not the easiest game to legally play these days, a challenge emphasized by Square Enix famously losing the game’s source code after rewriting over it when bringing the game to the West after its Japanese release. But I wasn’t necessarily thrilled about some of the changes.
The biggest change is the new visual style, which, while faithful to the original pixel art in a way, doesn’t hold a candle to said original art. I had always dreamed of an HD-2D remake of Tactics, and the reveal of The Ivalice Chronicles in June killed that dream.
After playing the game for about an hour in Cologne, Germany, during Gamescom 2025, I’m still left wishing this was an HD-2D remake – I just don’t think the new visual style does much for me. You can, fortunately, switch to the original visual style of the game, but not without a major caveat: the modern upgrades, quality of life changes, fully voiced characters, and updated UI are part of the enhanced version of Tactics, or in other words, the visually redone version of Tactics. The new cutscene style is incredible, though.
I’m still not sold on the fully voiced characters, either. They sound great at times… and not so great at other times. I’ll admit: I love Tactics and have imagined different characters in my head and perhaps my dissatisfaction stems from VO not matching what’s always played in my head. That said, I hope the cast grows on me more in the full release.
The rest of The Ivalice Chronicles, however, is incredible, and that’s largely because Square Enix has made some smart quality-of-life changes to an already fantastic game. The short of it is that The Ivalice Chronicles plays amazingly (at least in the hour I checked out) and that’s because it’s the Tactics you know and love.
Combat feels great, and navigating the battlefield, planning moves, and solving the various encounters, which feel like mini-puzzles to figure out, is good fun. New features include a “tactical view” that makes scouting the battlefield easier, an easier way to confirm turn order, fast-forward options (similar to Square Enix’s other remastered Final Fantasy releases like Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age), auto-save in battles (a true lifesaver), and more. It’s not hard to see how these features will enhance the game after one hour of trying them out, and they allow you to better focus your time and efforts into things like the job system, party strategy, and more.
Square Enix says The Ivalice Chronicles includes additional conversations and dialogue, but I didn’t notice anything revelatory – a con of just one hour with a game, no doubt. That said, I’m slightly anxious about the new dialogue as Tactics features an excellent story. Does it need more dialogue? Need is a strong word, but if what’s new can match what’s already there, then I’m all for it.
After its reveal in June, The Ivalice Chronicles shot up high on my list of most anticipated games launching in 2025. After playing an hour of the game, it’s still high up on that list. Though I’m not sold on the new visuals and VO, I can’t deny how exciting it is to have a new excuse to jump into one of the genre’s best.
Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch 2, Switch, and PC on September 30.
