Following today's reveals about Granblue Fantasy: Relink and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, Cygames sent press releases to provide new screenshots, artwork, and details.
We start with Relink, for which we get screenshots from gameplay and cutscenes on top of artwork for the new antagonist Id and the popular heroine Narmaya, who has been revealed as playable for the first time.
Here's how Id is officially described:
Foreboding Blade
This mysterious swordsman stands in your way at every turn. Always calm and collected, nothing seems to faze him.
He's one of the three generals of the "Church of Avia" that appears to be the enemy that we'll have to fight during our adventure in the Zegagrande skydom. He's voiced by Robert Daymond in English and Kenjiro Tsuda in Japanese. Tsuda-san is a star in the Japanese voice acting scene with a ton of famous roles under his belt, including Seto Kaiba in the Yu-Gi-Oh! series, Zeke in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the Japanese voice of Sam Porter Bridges in Death Stranding, and Zaveid in Tales of Zestiria. Recently, he played Jack Garland in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
In case you're unfamiliar with Narmaya (which means you likely haven't played the original Granblue Fantasy), here's a brief official blurb for her.
Ephemeral Blade
Born to a clan renowned for their mastery of all forms of martial arts, this swordswoman trains every day in order to reach even greater heights.
She's one of Granblue's most beloved characters and she's voiced by Brianna Knickerbocker in English and M・A・O in Japanese. M・A・O is another popular voice actress who has played roles like Ashera in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Arnice in the Nights of Azure series, Shion in That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, and many more.
You can check out the images below, including extremely high-resolution artwork for Id.
Moving on to Versus: Rising, besides the details we got this morning, we hear more about the minigames part of the "Grand Bruise Legends" feature. Rising Royale (titled Rising Dash in Japanese) is an obstacle race in which you reach the goal while conquering various attractions. You can use items to hinder your opponents and enjoy crazy battles in which anything goes.
Gold Brick Hoarder (titled Hihirokane Party in Japanese) splits players into two teams that compete to collect the most gold ingots and bring them back to their base within the time limit.Like in Rising Royale you can sabotage your enemies, so teamwork is important.
We also hear more about how the new Story Mode is simplified and revamped compared to the RPG mode in the original game. By removing item collection, growth elements, and some of the quest battles, the developers aim to make the story more enjoyable and less tedious.
Another interesting detail is that the first new character that will be added to the new game will be announced during the final of the GBVS Cygames Cup Special 2023 on Saturday, February 25, 2023. There will be "multiple" new characters.
You can check out all the screenshots below.
Both Granblue Fantasy: Relink and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising are releasing worldwide for PS5, PS4, and PC in 2023. Quite evidently, Cygames plans to deliver them as a one-two punch to boost the IP's popularity among console and PC gamers. If you want to learn more, you can check out brand-new gameplay of Relink and our review of the original Versus.
