Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is an amazing experience and story that rides the experience from the first game well. There can be some technical hiccups with the free movement features, but it doesn’t lessen the experience in combat.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a superb SRPG that every fan of the genre needs to play. Its complex battle system and engaging story make this an absolute blast to play through!

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a challenging and fun strategy RPG that delivers a satisfying blend of nostalgia and innovation. With an accessible, easy mode, engaging combat, and a great sense of humor, it's a must-play for fans of the genre.

I never thought we'd get a sequel to the highly underrated 2004 SRPG gem but here's Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero and it's great.

Tactical RPGs are always a hit and miss with gamers but Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a fun and accessible title for anyone looking to get into the genre and those who already enjoy it. With a fun cast of characters and entertaining, if somewhat simplistic combat, I found myself addicted and had a hard time putting it down.

The 3D models look good and serve as a suitable translation from the pixel art of the original Phantom Brave, and The Lost Hero does have a lot of fun special attack animations. The Confriend ones stand out in particular, with the designs of Marona’s fusions looking cool. The voice acting and music are stellar, with a few tracks immediately getting stuck in my head.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is tough to recommend. This is a deep, difficult strategy RPG with a long campaign, tons of characters, and satisfying mechanics. Unless you’re coming here from the Disgaea series. Then it’s a shallow imitation of a superior franchise with an even more inconsequential storyline. On the other hand, if you’ve never played Disgaea, it’s unlikely you’ll encounter this game at all. If you’ve somehow gotten here with no Disgaea in your history and a love of complex strategy RPGs, The Lost Hero will be an excellent adventure. Otherwise, I’m simply not so sure.

If you like Nippon Ichi's strategy JRPGs, check out DualShocker's Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero review.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a clumsy-feeling game, but its scatterbrained energy comes from an admirable place of bucking standardized gameplay conventions in a genre that doesn’t budge often. The first game had some interesting ideas back 20 years ago, and those ideas are streamlined and expanded upon, without losing that experimental feeling. Its systems are as grindy as they are weird though, and the writing mostly being on the happy-go-lucky side isn’t going out of its way to yank you along. Instead it wants you to relax and tackle things at a slower pace, which feels good until it sta...

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a good sequel to a beloved series that introduces a lot of good ideas. Still, it's a game that falls flat in its storytelling, going a bit too over the top, resulting in something that is hard to get engaged with.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero can scratch that SPRG itch if you have it, but it is unlikely to be intriguing to those without an interest in the genre.

It's been just over twenty years since the original Phantom Brave released on the PlayStation 2, becoming a cult classic among fans of turn-based strategy games and JRPGs, as well as admirers of the game's now-iconic developer, Nippon Ichi Software. The game brought a blend of unique and quirky approaches to turn-based combat, as well as a surprisingly bleak and dark story, with themes of death and the afterlife spread across the entire campaign. Cut to now and the game has finally received a full-blown sequel in the form of Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, and while the newest installment does s...