RE-REVIEW: Granblue Fantasy: Versus


Title	Granblue Fantasy: Versus
Developer	Cy Games / Arc System Works
Publisher	XSEED Games
Release Date	March 3rd, 2020
Genre	Fighting
Platform	PlayStation 4, Steam (coming soon)
Age Rating	Teen
Official Website

A little while ago I took a look at Granblue Fantasy: Versus for the PlayStation 4. I had an absolute blast with it. The simple yet deep fighting mechanics and overall presentation of the game just won me over. Throw in some amazing characters, a robust online or offline experience and you have yourself one of the best fighters in a long time. I’ve had an opportunity spend some time with the Steam version of the game, so let’s see how the port of one my favorite titles this year turned out.

This review is mostly going to focus on the quality of the Steam port. If you want a full review of all the game’s ins and outs, check out my review of the PlayStation 4 version. Now that that’s out of the way here is a quick story recap. The story begins with Gran fighting off imperials that are after Lyria, as always. They chase her because of her ability to control the primal beasts of this world. Lyria escapes imperial imprisonment with the help of Katalina and then meets Gran. Some life-threatening events took place that forced Gran and Lyria to join their life forces. The trio now travel the skies together, but for some reason Katalina has rejoined the imperial ranks and is now seeking to capture Lyria. They soon discover that creatures from the boundary called Exia are taking control of people and making them lose their memories. Gran helps Katalina remember who she was, and they once again set out to stop the imperials that are now on the move. Will they run into more friends that have lost their memories? Who is behind all of this? Time will tell!

Granblue Fantasy: Versus on Steam looks and performs very well, but you have to put in a little effort to achieve this. The game supports resolutions up to 4K via Supersampling, but you will have to use a guide and add a line or two to an .ini file in order to enable anything past 1080p. The game lacks a Vsync option of any kind as well, but this can easily be enabled in your video card’s control panel. You can find some easy to follow guides over in the Steam forums to get this up and running.

I personally never used a keyboard for a fighting game, but this is something PC gamers are very adamant about. The last patch fixed the issues with the keyboard controls and I had no issues using any of my controllers or my fight stick with this title. The only real issue with this port is the netcode for online matches can be a bit wonky at times. I had some good matches, but they could certainly improve the game in this area going forward.

Aside from the netcode issues this is as good of a PC port as anyone could ask for. The game runs at a smooth framerate and the load times are much better than the PlayStation 4 version. I spent 9 hours with the Steam release and completed RPG Mode just to make sure everything was running correctly, and not all just to unlock the original costume Metera! This will set you back $59.99 and if you’re a fan of Granblue Fantasy or fighters in general I would highly recommend checking it out. I feel like fans of either will be very pleased with their purchase.