‘Final Fantasy’ Publisher Launches New RPG With Free Character Giveaway

Square Enix, publisher of the Final Fantasy game series, has released their latest mobile RPG, Heavenstrike Rivals, to the gaming community for free. In addition to the free download, Square Enix is also giving away special tokens for a limited time to those who play the game at launch.

The token unlocks the “Black Mage” unit in the game. According to the official Heavenstrike Rivals Facebook page, the promotion appears to take place during the first three weeks of the game’s launch. However, these special tokens do not instantly appear in the game after trying it out. Distribution of the free character takes place on Fridays, with the last two distribution dates listed as March 6 and March 13. It is unclear if tokens will be given out beyond March 13. Interested players should take heed and try the game before then.

Players can collect over 200 fully-animated character units in Heavenstrike Rivals and use them to create a unique party, or “squad” as it is called in-game, for battle. Units earn experience points, grow and evolve as one would expect from a role-playing game. In addition to improving their squads to complete the single-player story mode, players can go head-to-head to compete for leaderboard rankings in League matches and weekend Arena competitions.

Final Fantasy fans might feel right at home playing Heavenstrike Rivals, since the sights and sounds have been crafted by artisans who have worked on previous Final Fantasy titles. Heavenstrike Rivals characters have been designed by artist Ryoma Ito, who is known for his work on the Final Fantasy Tactics Advance series. Ryo Yamazaki, whose previous credits include Final Fantasy XIV, composed the Heavenstrike Rivals score.

It also helps that the folks who developed Heavenstrike Rivals are Final Fantasy fans, too. UK-based developer Mediatonic collaborated with the Japan-based Yumriu Corporation to bring the game to life. In a guest post on the Square Enix Blog, Ed Fear (who is the lead game writer for Heavenstrike Rivals) revealed how his and his colleagues’ appreciation for the Final Fantasy series played a part in developing the game.

Ever since I first played Final Fantasy VII when it launched in Europe, I’ve been a huge fan of the worlds and characters that Square Enix has created – right up to today, where I’m a dedicated Final Fantasy XIV player (holla to my CM peeps on Moogle!). And there’s tons of people here at Mediatonic who are just the same. As such, even though the game is on mobile – and, yes, even though the game is free-to-play – as Square Enix fans first-and-foremost we kept what we thought are the most important aspects of a Square Enix game in the forefront of our minds.

The most immediately noticeable of these elements is a visually lush game world filled with a myriad of colorful, memorable characters. As gamers familiar with the storytelling legacy of Square Enix titles plow through the storyline, they may find themselves pleasantly surprised by the depth of this mobile title, as well. Heavenstrike Rivals is available now for both Apple and Android devices and can be downloaded for free on iTunes and Google Play.