Try the demo and see how World of Final Fantasy stacks up.

If, like me, you’re a JRPG fan, then you very likely have had your eye on World of Final Fantasy. If, like me, you’ve had your eye on World of Final Fantasy, you’ve likely found yourself asking, “What the hell am I looking at?” This is by far the strangest, most adorable, most Japanese Final Fantasy that has ever found its way to Western audiences. For those of you still on the fence, you’ll get a chance to try it for yourself next week. For anyone who has yet to be initiated into this cute oddity, let me clue you in.

Per the official press release, World of Final Fantasy is “…a brand-new title in the FINAL FANTASY franchise, combines classic RPG gameplay mechanics with fresh and imaginative toy-like visuals to welcome both fans and newcomers to the series. Players will lead a pair of twins through varied FINAL FANTASY worlds and capture and raise such adorably familiar beasts as cactuar, chocobo and behemoth to discover alternate forms and learn new abilities.”

So it’s a blend of classic and original characters from the Final Fantasy universe, in various forms, battling and capturing monsters. It’s part Final Fantasy and part Pokemon. Once you’ve acquired various monsters, you’ll form “stacks” to use in combat. These stacks are quite literal. You’ll stack your main characters and monsters on top of each other to form towers and conduct combat that way. Different combinations of monsters with various abilities will give you different advantages and disadvantages in battle. Sounds strange, right?

Well it is weird. It’s definitely weirder than most RPGs that end up making it to the West. The gameplay mechanics and chibi visual style has been a source of division among Final Fantasy players, who can’t make up their minds as to whether or not this is something they’d like to play. Thankfully Square Enix has our back.

A demo was recently announced to release in Japan, and it appears we’re getting the same demo in North America as well. There’s also a good chance that this will make its way to Australia and New Zealand, so don’t fret. It will be available on the PlayStation Store on October 17, and players will get a chance to explore and do battle themselves. That should help everyone make up their own minds about the game. If you complete the demo, you’ll even get the chance to score some sweet Magitek Armor for the full version of the game which arrives October 25. Check it out – you may just discover your game of the year.

Enjoy the opening cinematic below: