Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster Review

Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is such a radically unassuming Switch 2 launch title. A relatively minimal remaster of the 2012 3DS game Bravely Default, it’s the kind of game that gets a particular kind of person rabidly excited but doesn’t exactly hit the back of the room in a line-up of new console hype trailers. But Square Enix’s ambitious little remix of its house style RPGs, now modernised by developer Cattle Call, is something of a historical text for the genre and subsequently one of the more interesting choices to offer the millions of new Switch 2 owners on their way out the door with the unit.

A take I did not have on it following its unveiling at the Switch 2 Direct back in April. Essentially, I think I’m becoming a Tomoya Asano guy. A name that had only registered on the edges of my genre knowledge as RPG sickos rallied for Octopath Traveler II back in 2023, Asano is so ubiquitous with progressive and considered works that his internal Square Enix production unit affectionately goes by Team Asano. By all accounts, the dude takes swings, poking at the edges of system and narrative expectations within the genre to produce works that feel reverent and radical at the same time.

Bravely Default Flying Fairy getting its wings back on the Switch 2 is, then, something of a cultural win. Emerging at the time of release as both balm to, and celebration of, genre trends, Bravely Default is every bit the spiritual and systemic successor to the Final Fantasy series. Taking core genre narrative tenets (a fantastical land is engulfed by war for the control of four elemental crystals and a small band of heroes must defeat the darkness to unite the nation once more), Bravely Default methodically begins to build its own version of these ideas, infusing them with surprising depth and thematic cohesion. All of this before the titular Braving and Defaulting.

Look at these adorable fuckers, braving and defaulting

Following a cataclysmic event that wipes out his hometown, young farm boy Tiz Arrior is propelled into the momentous adventures of Agnès Oblige, a vestal on the run for her abilities to engage directly with the elemental crystals. Rounding out the party is amnesiac fuckboy Ringabel and the poster child for “are we the baddies?”, Edea Lee. On a country-spanning adventure that sees the crew attempting to purify the four crystals while outmanoeuvring the Duchy of Eternia, Edea’s birthplace, Bravely Default begins to craft a sprawling tale of light and dark but as told through relatively nuanced musings on the role of the individual and governing bodies, environmentalism and gender and social dynamics within a fraught political system.

There’s an immediately arresting quality to Bravely Default, its opening hours packed with an array of threads and concepts that beg to be pulled, all wrapped in the effusive warmth of a rock solid JRPG. And while the middle chapters slump a little, this intrigue holds fast and blooms into one of the wilder third acts one of these has ever had, its mild clumsiness in execution excusable in the face of its emotional ambition and system-laden storytelling. From lite-village-sim building elements to passive, real-world network connections, Bravely Default engrains systems into narrative, and theme, in wonderful ways. For folks who’ve experienced the game already on the 3DS, the Switch 2 HD remaster leaves the core experience almost entirely unchanged (yes, even that part) and instead opts for a broader visual upgrade and some console-specific new minigames.

These are…fine. Luxencheer Rhythm Catch is all in the name; taking one of your party members (and dressing them up as you please in a list of outfits lifted from the game’s Job system), you’ll use the Joy-Con pointer to engage in a simple rhythm game. Elsewhere, Ringabel’s Panic Cruise makes use of the Switch 2’s new mouse controls to a more involved end as it puts you in charge of an airship, interactable knobs and switches and levers galore. Again, these are fine enough additions but are entirely optional, a small blessing if you’re just looking for a clean remaster of the classic game. Though, I’d gladly trade either of these minigames for a more involved use of the console’s social systems and new camera capabilities for the game’s bigger system/story swings.

The HD remaster packs in some fine enough mini-games

Still, the joy I felt in discovering the titular Brave and Default system is unmatched as far as Switch 2 launch experiences go, a damning thing for a new console in some ways but a huge win for game preservation and perseverance in another. Briefly (it’s a 13-year-old combat system, we probably don’t need to litigate it again), the game’s already strong turn-based combat gets some extra paprika on the sandwich as your party can spend Brave Points to do additional actions in a turn (the debt paid in your next few turns spent paying for the momentary boost), or Default, adopting a defensive position and banking a BP for next turn. Paired with finely tuned encounters and a steady difficulty curve, the BD system still feels remarkably fresh in 2025.

Then there are the outfits. The looks. The serves. Bravely Default’s Job system is as nuanced and rewarding as its combat, giving you access to 24 distinct classes (Jobs) that your party can pass around freely, even pulling individual elements from each to bolster existing roles. As your experience with a Job progresses, you’ll gain access to more passive and active abilities and the chance to take on a secondary Job, the give and take of the combined ability lists its own reward. There’s also a healthy amount of stats and gear to track, but to my mind the best part of these Jobs is that each has a unique clothing ensemble and they’re fucking adorable. That these looks also somewhat play with the edges of gendered looks in the genre is both a personal thrill and another example of Bravely Default’s pervasive thematic work.

Costume? This is a look.

Final Thoughts

All of this is couched in a decent enough visual upscaling; Akihiko Yoshida and Atsushi Ohkubo’s stellar character art and world retain their charm, but the move to the Switch 2 leaves some details with an unfortunate smeared look. But alongside some quality-of-life improvements, Cattle Call’s remaster efforts sing, pulling a gem of a JRPG into the modern era with very few caveats. Intensely likeable and rippling with keen-eyed subversions and sincere storytelling, Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is the Switch 2 launch title I didn’t know I needed, and a doorway into a whole new appreciation for the RPG genre.

Reviewed on Switch 2 // Review code supplied by publisher

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