The upcoming release of the massive Granblue Fantasy: Relink expansion, Endless Ragnarok, is drawing ever closer and has honestly got me so excited to come back to this game that had me so hooked.
It did get me thinking about how I wish more people played this game. The DLC promises so much new content and additions to what Relink already offers that it practically breathes new life into the game, so now it’s really just all about letting people know why Relink deserved a much brighter spotlight than it got during its initial launch.
Because if I were to sum it up, I think Granblue Fantasy: Relink is one of the most fun Action RPG titles out there that features amazingly flashy combat and is a blast to play with friends. So, if, for one reason or another, you weren’t able to give this game a try, allow me to try to make the case for it and touch on why I think Granblue Fantasy: Relink is one of the most criminally slept-on games of our time.
What Exactly is Granblue Fantasy: Relink
Let’s start this off by getting the basics out of the way. Granblue Fantasy: Relink is NOT a gacha game. There were many who had this misconception, and, for some, it instantly barred them from giving the game a try. Yes, Granblue Fantasy is indeed a mobile gacha game, but Granblue Fantasy: RELINK is not. Most of the upgrades are grindable within the game, while there are purchases (which are actually quite affordable DLCs with a lot of them being 3 USD or less), none of them deal with the chance-to-get system.
Relink takes the lore and characters from the mobile game and provides an action RPG experience that one can simplify as “Anime Monster Hunter” because it is indeed comparable to the Monster Hunter combat experience, where you will usually face off with one big boss with a massive HP bar that you will try to take down. Both do share that same premise, but the difference between the two lies in their approach to combat. Monster Hunter takes on a slower and more methodical pace when it comes to their battles, which would be kind of like how Dark Souls’ combat would be – find a safe angle/point of attack, do an attack string, avoid the enemy’s moves, then do a punish.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink, on the other hand, embraces its anime nature and has characters that mostly do flashy and fast-paced moves. Yes, there are characters with slower and more calculated movesets like those that focus on parries/counters, but fights in this game, in general, are almost like scenes out of your favorite action anime shows.
A Top Tier Anime Action Experience
In terms of combat, let me do a deeper dive into what I mentioned earlier. Yes, the action is fast-paced, and the moves are flashy, but this game, in my opinion, perfectly captures that very same vibe of how epic anime combat scenes are done.
Both you and your foes have access to spectacular movesets. Narmaya, a character who wields a weapon that is akin to a samurai sword, will nimbly slash through enemies in rapid succession and even end certain attack sequences by sheathing her sword, which is perfectly timed to the slashes appearing in her surrounding area. Sandalphon, an angel-like character, will cast divine spells and rush in to attack by swooping in with his wings. You also have enemies like the Furycane that enters battle against you as an armored wind elemental with a centaur-like body, but midway will transform into a more ferocious form.
You even get to do ultimate attacks called Skybound Arts that, if chained together with the ultimates of your party members, can combine to create a devastating Full Burst attack – all while being done with short cutscenes of the attacks. You’ll have to see it for yourself to really know, but all of these together just create such a wonderfully Anime scene.
As with most anime-style games, I do recommend playing this with the Japanese dub as the JP voice acting really shines through. In-battle, you get awesome moments where they call out their attacks and even react to the situations around the fight. But then you also get these nice little moments when you’re moving along the story, and you get taken aback with how interesting the characters are.
When you pay close attention to the designs of each character and their own individual fate episodes (side stories that center on the specific character, which you also have to do because doing them unlocks stats and bonuses), you get treated to nice little moments and story beats.
For example, Charlotta is the captain of the Holy Knights. However, you probably wouldn’t have guessed that because she is such a physically tiny character. Soon, you find out more about her backstory, where it’s revealed that she has devoted herself so much to becoming a knight by training endlessly to better herself, but she also has complicated feelings about her size and how it affects the way people see and treat her. Seeing her story through, you get to see her journey of how she tries to overcome that issue while clinging to the values that she genuinely believes in.
Almost every character in the game has a nuanced story like that, or even deeper, which is just such a treat for players who delve more into the characters they use in their party.
Lastly (but I won’t say much to not spoil), you even have in-fight moments where epic exchanges between characters and cool moments happen.
If you love anime, I promise you that the Relink experience will not disappoint, especially when you reach the later parts of the game.
A Rich Late Game Experience Made Even Better with Endless Ragnarok
Yes, the late-game experience of Relink is the shining star of the game. Quite similar to Monster Hunter, where the late-game hunt is the star of their show, Granblue Fantasy Relink has some really great fights in its late game that are just visual spectacles done at a frenetic pace, with some accompanied by epic soundtracks.
These fights tested the strength of your build and skill, and it was one of those experiences that I absolutely loved sharing with my friends as we would go multiple sessions to overcome them.
Note that, to get yourself as prepared as possible for the big endgame fights, you’ll need to do a bit of grinding. Soon, with Endless Ragnarok, grinding won’t be as necessary, as this expansion comes with a nice solo mode called “The Conflux,” where you can get the upgrade materials you need AND even specifically choose the rewards you want, which takes away from the annoying parts of grinding stages while praying to RNG that the material you specifically want drops. When it comes to fights, yes. They added a LOT of nice bosses with some having very interesting in-fight mechanics for you to figure out and overcome.
They even added new systems for character development, one of which is the Master Trait system. Master traits let you sort of customize the build of your character even more, as some traits will uniquely augment the skills and combat style of your character. Best of all, you’ll be picking which ones to use so you can try to create your own unique build that better suits your playstyle.
And these are just SOME of the changes that you can look forward to. You can check out this first impressions article to find out more about the DLC.
The Best Time to Hop into Relink is NOW
With the expansion almost here, there’s just so much content you can discover and enjoy to add to the overall epicness that the base game already had in the first place. Granblue Fantasy: Relink and the Endless Ragnarok DLC has so much to offer that I just want to get more people to try the game out, as getting more players into it will also make the online coop stuff even MORE fun.
I can’t say this enough, but Granblue Fantasy: Relink was truly a game that deserved a lot more attention than it got in its initial launch. The quality of this game is so good that I sincerely believe that this is one of the all-time Action RPG greats within this generation of video games. I hope that you can check it out more. I’d love to see you in-game when the DLC launches on July 9, 2026, for PC, PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch 2.