Nostalgia Perfected – How 8-Bit Adventures 2 Won Hearts with Pixels

“My Final Fantasy.” That’s how I described the first 8-Bit Adventures game in 2015. But while my work was heavily inspired by the legendary series, I really meant this as a personal ultimatum. I’d spent four years making games on PC and mobile which failed to turn a profit. So just like Hironobu Sakaguchi (the creator of Final Fantasy) in 1987, I was prepared to quit the industry and give up on my dreams if 8-Bit Adventures 1 was a failure.

What a difference nine years can make! Now the sequel 8-Bit Adventures 2 launches today on Xbox, against a backdrop of growing popularity and glowing public reception – including (at the time of writing) an 87 score on Metacritic, a 91 score on OpenCritic, and a Very Positive rating from players on Steam.

It’s been described by players as a “story-telling masterpiece”, with writing that is “inspiring” and which provides an emotional journey that’s “up there with Chrono Trigger” – accompanied by characters that are “grounded and relatable”. Other players said that it’s “a whole, full, new, refreshing, satisfying RPG”, “game of the year on its character writing alone”, and “the best RPG that I’ve played in years.”

Earning that reception has taken nine years of hard work from a team of four. But how was this achieved, and what really makes an RPG special? In 8-Bit Adventures 2, I believe it comes down to three core elements – characters, combat, and community.

The most essential element of any RPG is the characters. If I think back on Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Trigger, Persona 5, or Baldur’s Gate 3, the first thing I remember is the cast and how I connected with them. So seeing players relate to every member of the 8-Bit Adventures 2 party has been especially satisfying – be they a sharp-tongued former thief with a heart of gold, a blind martial artist with a desire to prove her worth, or an Exterminator-class robot who struggles with the limitations he was programmed with.

But not only did I want the characters to be memorable and relatable; I wanted them to be always present. One of the issues with a lot of classic RPGs is that you’d only have three or four allies participating in battles and story sequences at once; it was hard to make full use of the entire cast. In 8-Bit Adventures 2, the full party is always present, and you can swap characters in and out of battle without wasting a turn. This means you don’t have to stick with a few favourites while everyone else sits on the bench. Rather, every character gets their time in the spotlight – especially since, inspired by Mother 3, the characters are always visible and showing off their personalities in combat.

And character swapping is not only an option; it’s an integral part of combat. You have seven playable characters, each with an arsenal of unique abilities suited to different situations. But taking a page from Chrono Trigger, we also have Combo and Trio attacks which allow different members of the party to team up and deliver devastating blows. Combined with equipable Augments and Accessories which grant special bonuses and status buffs, and a turn-based system inspired by Final Fantasy X (allowing you to see and manipulate the order of turns ahead of time), you can devise some incredible strategies which take advantage of your entire party in a single fight.

But beyond characters and gameplay mechanics, I feel that 8-Bit Adventures 2 is a game which was shaped by our community. Nine years of development is a long time, but what it also offered was nine years of engaging directly with RPG fans and applying their feedback. This ranged from adding a sprint button, to removing random encounters, to speeding up the flow of dialogue, and much more.

I’ve made it a point to try and respond to every comment about my games, even if it’s just to say thank you. That’s getting progressively harder, but I think it’s really important and can open up some amazing discussions with insightful players. These interactions have encouraged me to put my own passions and inspirations on full display. Because it turns out that if I want to see, for example, a new take on Final Fantasy X’s battle system, a lot of other RPG fans will also feel the same way!

And so I find myself where I was nine years ago – on the verge of releasing another personal “Final Fantasy”. Yet things are different this time. On the one hand, I’ve put almost a decade of my life into this project, so the stakes feel higher than ever – especially since I want to fund future games. But on the other hand, most players and critics love 8-Bit Adventures 2, we’re reaching a wider audience on new platforms like Xbox, and I’m supported by a wonderful community of fans. I’m even reaching media with help from the wonderful team at PR Hound. So rather than an ultimatum, this time it feels like the beginning of something special.

I started making games because I wanted to make people happy – the way titles like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger did for me. I strongly believe that entertainment should leave us in a better place than where it found us. So, if you’re looking for an uplifting experience – and if you love Japanese-style RPGs, turn-based combat, or story rich games – I sincerely invite you to try 8-Bit Adventures 2, out today on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S!