Nippon Ichi Software is back with a sequel no one saw coming: Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero. And longtime fans of the original Phantom Brave will be able to jump right back into the sequel without any issue.

Way back in Spring 2004 on a trip to Japan, an old Japanese friend of mine showed me Phantom Brave. However, it wasn’t until about 2005 that I purchased an English copy. To say it seared itself into my brain is an understatement. When I heard a sequel was being released, my interest was piqued. After playing the Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero demo at the Tokyo Game Show 2024, I once again became that fresh-faced college kid, unaware of the grind ahead of me.

Fans of the original like me don’t need to look too far to see the similarities between it and Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero. The latter brings back many, if not all, the unique features from the first game in the series—most the main character’s summoning ability which allows her to confine her team members inside battlefield items. Its simple but fun gameplay system that allows players to toy around with and optimize which character goes into what item for maximum output. But your timing on who to confine is crucial since confined characters have a limited number of turns on the battlefield. So, no brute forcing your way through any battle. Planning is key to winning but jumping into Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero won’t be difficult for fans.

However, there’s a new twist to the “confine” system in Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero. Now Marona can “confriend” any ally phantom. As in, she can now confine a phantom within herself to temporarily gain different abilities. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this while playing the demo and I regret not trying it out.

The other major returning feature for Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is the movement radius instead of the standard battlefield grid found in similar games. The best way to describe it is it’s like movement in a tabletop war games like Warhammer: You have a maximum movement distance, and so long as there are no barriers, you can move freely within the radius. I love this movement system because it opens many tactical options—my favorite being simply swarming a single enemy. Is it sub-optimal? Yes. Do I need a lot of phantoms to do it? Yes. But seeing the mass of bodies is just satisfying.

Unfortunately, the Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero demo at TGS didn’t showcase much of the story. Rather attendees played through one battle. Moreover, the infamous grindy elements one would expect from a Nippon Ichi Software game weren’t featured. It’s a shame because the grind is what some Nippon Ichi fans enjoy—after all, it’s a way to get that sweet, sweet game-breaking gear early in the story. So, we’ll have to wait for the official release to see what Nippon Ichi has in store for us.

I love what I experienced in Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero. It’s got the core gameplay features with just a dash of new systems for a deeper level of play. While there are remakes and ports of Phantom Brave, the 20-year wait for Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero was well worth it.