On March 12, 2026, Square Enix quietly shadowdropped, with little fanfare, Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster onto Xbox and PC via Steam platforms.
This game is an HD Remaster of Bravely Default, a turn-based JRPG released in 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS. It was recently remastered into Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster as a launch for Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025.
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Bravely Default follows the tale of Tiz, a young man whose village has been swallowed up by a Great Chasm. In the midst of his survivor's guilt, Tiz meets a mysterious woman named Agnès, and they discover that the world is slowly being destroyed by forces of darkness that have corrupted the Crystals of Life.
So they set out on a journey across the land of Luxendarc to free the crystals from the forces of darkness and save the world from doom.
The setting, chibi art style, and gameplay of this game are a massive throwback to Final Fantasy's Super Nintendo-era titles, specifically Final Fantasy 5.
Players will form a party of 4 heroes that they can customize with a Job System, travel the world and dungeons for powerful loot, and fight nefarious villains and monsters in tactical turn-based battles.
However, Bravely Default features a couple of unique twists to turn-based battles through the Brave and Default mechanics.
By Defaulting (which is another way of defending), you can endure incoming enemy damage and build up Brave Points. Once you accumulate enough Brave Points, you can attack multiple times in a single turn or use multiple healing spells at once to escape a bad situation.
Be careful not to spend too many Brave Points, as your Brave Point meter can dip into negative numbers and cause you to skip turns, leaving you vulnerable to enemy attacks.
What's worse is that the enemy has access to the Brave and Default mechanics too. If you don't find ways to prevent the enemies from gaining Brave Points or prepare your defenses enough, even regular, non-boss enemies will wreck your party in the blink of an eye.
The HD Remaster of Bravely includes a variety of improved HD graphics, a redesigned UI, and several quality-of-life features being able to fast-forward event cutscenes.
What's more is that the original 3DS version of Bravely Default's network features have been retooled for modern network systems, and two new mini-games have been added for the HD remaster.
I can't wait to see more classic Square Enix JRPGs come to Xbox and PC
Square Enix has been on a tear porting its library to multiple platforms these past few years.
We've essentially got nearly mainline Final Fantasy game, Final Fantasy Tactics, several Mana and Front Mission games, and now Bravely Default on Xbox Series X|S and PC.
I'm personally happy to see Bravely Default get a new lease of life, as I never played the original back when it first came out due to, well, personal and vastly immature bias I had towards Square Enix as a younger man.
During that time, the divisive Final Fantasy XIII trilogy was out, and I hated it so much that it made me quit JRPGs altogether until Atlus' Persona series rejuvenated my love for the genre years later.
Now that I'm older and wiser, it's time I finally give Bravely Default a shot and see what this game has done to earn so much critical and fan praise back in the day.
If you've never played this game before like me, be sure to check out Xbox Wire's post on Bravely Default, as it features a bunch of handy beginner's tips.
🗨️ Over to you
Are you excited to see Bravely Default re-released for Xbox and PC? Are there any other classic Square Enix titles you want to see brought for modern systems?
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