With its release just weeks away, we got a chance to chat with some of the key developers of Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok, the upcoming expansion to Relink.
To be exact, we asked a couple of questions to Creative Director Tetsuyo Fukuhara and Narrative Director Sanshiro Hidaka. Most of our burning questions were about Endless Ragnarok’s gameplay additions, especially considering that it features a lot of content that’s aimed at players who want a meatier endgame experience.
One of the biggest additions of Endless Ragnarok is the ability to Summon. As revealed in various promo materials, the Summon mechanic allows players to bring forth a powerful ally that can either output lots of damage or help the party with buffs.
Given how big an addition Summons is, we wanted to know more about how they work. Thus, we asked Fukuhara and Hidaka what players can expect, in terms of how players can unlock this ability, as well as if there are limits to make them balanced.
In response to the first part, Fukuhara said:
“Summons become available for use once the Endless Ragnarok content becomes unlocked, so you can start receiving those summons as Quest Rewards once the Endless Ragnarok content unlocks itself.”
So, players should be able to unlock Summons when they start their Endless Ragnarok adventure quickly. Even with this, players won’t immediately be able to steamroll opponents with this. As Hidaka then explained, the Summon gauge is shared between all party members, limiting the number of summons each member can do:
“One way to think about summons is like a bomb in a shooting game. So if you use a bomb in a shooting game, it completely changes the state of battle in a really quick, temporary fashion, so that’s similar to summons in Endless Ragnarok. Once you use them, they have a powerful effect, which changes things drastically.
So it’s not as if all four people can use their summons at the same time; rather, one person will use a summon, and it’s sort of like their special time, and then others can use their summons after.
Just an example, but during co-op play, if there are four players, each person may only bring one summon into the battle, and that’s because of the four summon loadout systems.
So all four players will share the same summon gauge, so to use summons, it sounds like it would be competitive or create a lot of conflict. However, let’s say I have a really cheap summon that only costs one part of the summons gauge. When I use my cheap summon, it will lower the cost of all the other players’ summons, so if I have a cheap summon, as a one-cost summon, and my ally has a three-cost summon, when I use my one-cost summon, that will lower their three cost to a two cost.”
Summons aren’t the only big addition in Endless Ragnarok, as the expansion will also introduce the Conflux. This is essentially a solo game mode with roguelike elements, where players must go through a series of rooms, with opponents becoming increasingly powerful as the run continues.
To keep things interesting, players will also be able to select a room with a mini-game, which adds more variety to runs. For players who prefer battles, though, these mini-game rooms are very much optional, as Hidaka said:
“So the main idea behind being able to select how you continue through the Conflux, whether through combat or minigames, is that some people don’t really like those minigames. Some people, when choosing between a slime race or a battle, would choose to battle. So it’s about giving players the freedom to choose.”
Given these additions, coupled with the fact that the expansion will add substantial story content, Endless Ragnarok is shaping up to be a must-play for players who enjoyed GBF Relink and are looking for a reason to return to the game.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok will be released on PS5, PS4, Switch 2, and PC on July 9, 2026.