Zelda: BOTW meets Final Fantasy in massive new free RPG

I’m a sucker for two things; RPGs and anime visual styles, so this updated look at a new MMORPG, Star Resonance, has me a little giddy with excitement.

This is a new look at a once dormant franchise from Bandai Namco, revitalised by a developer called Bokura.

Take a look at the new trailer.

The trailer has so many vibes going on.

You’ve got the wide open, lush spaces that bring to mind the beauty and exploration of The Legend of Zelda, particularly Breath of the Wild.

The anime art style certainly amplifies the colours seen throughout, and there’s a delightful Mediterranean feel, too.

Then, we’ve got a bunch of characters who wouldn’t look out of place in an old school Final Fantasy, or one of the chibi-looking spin-offs.

In fact, all the characters look lovely. I’m eager to find out more about them all.

Then, oddly, there’s a distinct dollop of Diablo in here when we see the boss fights.

It’s marked as an ARPG, which brings to mind dungeon crawling and myriad attacks sweeping towards large boss creatures.

I’ll admit, I don’t know a great deal about Blue Protocol, which is the original Bandai Namco game this is based on.

It was another MMO that was shut down because the developer couldn’t achieve what they and the fans wanted any longer.

Now it has been reincarnated into Star Resonance, it’ll garner a lot of interest from those in Asia who had to say goodbye to the previous game, but it’ll also come to the West so more players can join in.

Sadly, there is no word on a release date as yet, but as with any other game like this, we’ll likely be drip fed plenty of updates in the run-up to launch.

Here’s hoping it’s soon, as I’ve been itching for a new MMORPG for a while.