Part Two of Massive Apple Arcade Hit Game ‘Fantasian’ Arrives This Week

If you’ve spent the past couple of months wandering around the Chaos Fields of Fantasian wondering what to do next, you’ll be happy to know that the second and final chapter of the game is now right around the corner.

There’s little doubt that Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s Fantasian is the biggest game title ever to land on Apple Arcade, but frustratingly for many fans, the release was broken into two parts. The first part arrived on April 5 as part of a big Apple Arcade expansion, but there was no indication of when the second one would arrive, which left many fans hanging.

To be clear, the first part of Fantasian was an astonishing feat by itself, with dozens of handcrafted physical diorama models, a massive world to explore, and easily 50+ hours of gameplay to enjoy.

It’s fair to say that even the most hardcore players would have had weeks of enjoyment before finding themselves waiting in the Chaos World Lab for the amazing things to come when the rest of the story unfolds.

Fortunately, we won’t be waiting much longer, as Fantasian developer Mistwalker has just rather suddenly announced that the conclusion will be released this Friday, August 13, as part of the weekly Arcade update.

According to The Verge, which spoke with Sakaguchi, the second half won’t disappoint either, as it looks like it will be every bit as epic and expansive as part 1 — and probably even more so. This isn’t simply a conclusion or epilogue, but almost a sequel on its own — complete with entirely new vistas and even a whole new soundtrack.

The music for Fantasian was composed by another legendary icon of the Final Fantasy series, Nobuo Uematsu, who is also credited with work in other games such as Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon. For the second instalment of Fantasian, Uematsu has composed 34 entirely new songs, broadening the world acoustically to accompany the 50 new handcrafted dioramas.

In fact, Uematsu’s Fantasian soundtrack is already so beautiful and compelling that it’s been published on Apple Music as a “three-disc” album.

Further, while Fantasian had a somewhat linear opening in part 1, that later expands into more open-ended gameplay that allows the player to jump between worlds and explore different areas. This will continue into part 2, which will expand the adventures into entirely new realms, adding 40–60 hours of additional gameplay.

The release of Part 2 of Fantasian marks the completion of the saga. It ended up being, rather unexpectedly, about twice the volume of Part 1 and is more quest-driven, giving players the ability to progress through the world at their own pace. Boss encounters are even more unique than before.

Hironobu Sakaguchi

Fantasian is notable for being one of the most high-profile games to be developed exclusively for Apple Arcade. While it obviously follows in the Japanese RPG (JRPG) style of the Final Fantasy series, it’s an entirely unique game in its own right, and it was built exclusively for Apple Arcade, and it was a labour of love by Sakaguchi, Uematsu, and the rest of the team, who saw it as a chance to go back to their roots of the earlier Final Fantasy games.

On behalf of all the dev team members, diorama artisans, and musical talent including Uematsu-san — I think we can safely say that we left nothing on the table. We have carefully sculpted the experience, preserving the ‘warmth’ of the dioramas with every attention to detail. I encourage everyone to experience this mysterious ‘emotional’ energy, which is at the very heart of Fantasian.

Hironobu Sakaguchi

There’s also a good chance that Fantasian could be Sakaguchi’s swan song. Earlier this year, he told The Verge that he sees himself in “the latter chapters” of his game development career, and since games of this scope can “take years to go from conception to release” he’s become much more selective, tackling on those projects that bring him “genuine joy.”

Let’s be honest, I’m in the latter chapters of my game development career, and each game can take years to go from conception to release. I personally enjoy playing these types of games, and that is what brings me back to it.

Hironobu Sakaguchi

Unlike the expansive universes like Final Fantasy that have become Sakaguchi’s stock-in-trade, Fantasian is intended to be a standalone game. This latest update marks the conclusion of the story, and there are no plans for a sequel. In fact, it’s unclear if the storyline will even leave room for one.

If you’ve been waiting to jump into Fantasian, there’s no better time to do so than now, since you’ll be able to smoothly sail right into part 2 without even needing to take a break.

As with every other Apple Arcade title, Fantasian is included with a $4.99/month Apple Arcade subscription, or as part of an Apple One bundle, which starts at $14.99/month and also includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, and 50GB of iCloud Storage.

You can start playing Fantasian as soon as you sign up, if you haven’t already, and part 2 should be available by the time you’re ready for it.