Square Enix announced that the beloved strategy game Final Fantasy Tactics is getting a lavish enhanced version called Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. Square Enix revealed a breathtaking teaser trailer at Sony’s State of Play showcase on Wednesday.
The game’s visuals offered a look into a polished and refined version of Ivalice, an updated look for our hero, Ramza Beoulve, and a glimpse at the game’s deep customization and strategic combat, revamped for a modern audience. Additionally, the game offers two different versions to fans: an enhanced version and a classic version of the game.
The enhanced edition adds fully voiced dialogue, an optimized UI, graphical refinements, and other quality-of-life features, while the classic version preserves the OG feel of the PlayStation title plus the translation incorporated into the PSP port, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is scheduled to launch in Sept. 30, 2025 for PlayStation 5, with pre-orders opening today.
The original Final Fantasy Tactics was released for PlayStation in Japan in 1997 and then in 1998 in North America. Serving as a spin-off of the main FF series, the game focused on strategy-based combat for its turn-based battles and was met with critical acclaim upon release.
This success eventually led to more games in the Tactics franchise, including 2003’s Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the Game Boy Advance, 2007’s Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift on the Nintendo DS, and an enhanced version of the original game for the PSP with Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. Various ports of Final Fantasy Tactics were released years after, including a port to iOS and Android in 2013, Mobage in 2014, and then the Nintendo Wii U virtual console in 2016.
While Tactics is commemorated for many reasons, one of the franchise’s most defining features included the robust job system, which saw players customizing their characters with different classes and unique abilities, injecting a new concept into the FF mythos.
Fans have been begging Square Enix to revisit the Tactics franchise for years but to no avail. But the wait and longing are finally over; Final Fantasy Tactics has officially returned.