The release of Fantasian on Apple Arcade in 2021 was meant to be an end to the illustrious career of Hironobu Sakaguchi — but it seems like he can’t stay away.
Fantasian was a return to Sakaguchi’s roots, a throwback roleplaying game from the creator of the Final Fantasy series, which added some innovative gameplay ideas and an incredibly charming world made of handcrafted dioramas. And in December, his Mistwalker studio released a new version dubbed Neo Dimension, which brought the game to more platforms and added new features like voice acting. It was even published by Final Fantasy company Square Enix. While Sakaguchi says he “intended Fantasian to be my final project before I retired,” he now wants to make another game in the same mold, one he hopes can be seen as “a successor to Final Fantasy VI.” The sixth Final Fantasy game is particularly notable as the last to feature pixel art before the series shifted to 3D.
Following the launch of Neo Dimension, I had the chance to ask Sakaguchi a few questions about making Fantasian, the enduring popularity of turn-based RPGs, and what comes next.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
There have obviously been a…
