Gamescom 2026 is officially underway, and one story is alrEady cutting through the noise of the Cologne show floor: Final Fantasy Resonance. According to a hands-on preview from Eurogamer, Square Enix’s newest entry in the legendary JRPG franchise isn’t just meeting the sky-high expectations set by its gorgeous marketing campaign — it’s reportedly blowing past them.
A Rocky Start at the Square Enix Booth
Sometimes the best previews come from the most chaotic circumstances. The Eurogamer journalist in question described day two of Gamescom 2026 in less-than-glamorous terms: hot and sweaty attendees, a schedule falling apart as preview sessions ran long, interviews spilling past their allotted windows, and frantic dashes between booths eating up precious minutes.
Things got worse upon arrival at the Square Enix booth, where a communications mix-up meant the writer’s name wasn’t on the list for the carefully carved-out Final Fantasy Resonance demo slot. Fortunately, a quick-thinking and smiling PR representative smoothed things over — and the payoff, it turns out, was well worth the stress.
Better Than the Trailers? The Verdict From the Show Floor
That’s the headline takeaway: Final Fantasy Resonance is, in the words of the preview, “somehow even better than all those beautiful trailers make it look.”
That’s a bold claim. Final Fantasy Resonance has enjoyed some of the most visually stunning promotional material of the current cycle, and typically the gap between a cinematic trailer and a playable build works against a game. For a hands-on demo to exceed what the marketing promised is rare — and it speaks volumes about the state of the build Square Enix brought to Germany.
Why Hands-On Impressions Matter More Than Trailers
It’s worth remembering that trailers are, by design, marketing tools. They’re curated, polished, and engineered to generate hype. A playable demo, on the other hand, exposes the things trailers can’t hide: input responsiveness, combat feel, performance, and whether the moment-to-moment gameplay actually holds up beneath the spectacle.
For a franchise like Final Fantasy — where fans have long debated the balance between cinematic grandeur and satisfying interactive systems — a preview this positive suggests Square Enix may have nailed both sides of that equation with Resonance.
The Bigger Picture for Square Enix
Bringing a playable — and reportedly excellent — build of Final Fantasy Resonance to Gamescom 2026 is a statement of confidence from Square Enix. The publisher knows all eyes in Cologne are on its booth, and letting journalists and attendees go hands-on with its next flagship RPG signals that the developer has something it genuinely wants players to feel for themselves.
Of course, one enthusiastic preview is just that — a single perspective from a single demo session. But when the early word from the show floor is this strong, it’s hard not to get excited about what’s shaping up to be one of the most anticipated RPG releases on the horizon.
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Source: Eurogamer