Co-op gameplay is difficult to nail down. For every time you incentivize playing it together, you also put people in danger of bad actors: what if someone just doesn’t want to press the button for you?

We got to try out Granblue Fantasy Relink, the upcoming action game based on the popular mobile IP, and I gotta say- it’s blowing me away. It’s an incredibly polished hack-n-slash that you can just so happen to play cooperatively- with each of its massive roster of characters feeling akin to weapon choices in Monster Hunter.

Every Character A Breath Of Fresh Air

It’s pretty obvious that Lancelot is meant to be a good beginner character- he’s pretty much all about the fundamentals of character action, being able to move quickly to avoid both regular and boss attacks. He’s the epitome of “every button does something cool”, making him a good pick if you just wanna do combos.

That being said, where the magic really set in with Granblue Fantasy Relink is once you try other characters. Once I jumped to Io, everything felt different- her basic attacks are way less reliable than Lancelot, and instead relies way more on keeping away from enemies- something that requires much better dodging.

It’s not like you’re picking a worse character for fun though, since Io sports way more powerful skills- so the game suddenly feels like you’re scouting out openings big enough to land these impressive blows instead of constantly being on the offense like you would with Lancelot.

While we didn’t get much time with the demo, it was enough to get the important parts across- mainly that every character feels like they’re capable of some truly impressive things. I can’t wait for the full game to release to see just what kind of Combo MAD nonsense is going to be unleashed on the world- especially since every character revealed so far looks like they play totally unique from one another.

Big Flashy Moves

While you can’t swap between party members, you do still operate like one crew. Link Attacks are a huge part of every fight, adding an extra layer of depth to the usual action game stagger system. Rather than just being a stagger, there’s also an additional mechanic called your Link Meter- once you max this out, staggering your opponent also rewards you with Link Time, letting you do more combos to your enemies as time around you slows down.

There’s also the Chain Bursts- these reward you for working together with your parties by saving your skybound arts to all use one after the other, rewarding you with bonus attack effects. It makes sense for the game’s co-op play but is a little trickier to pull of when playing solo- I can’t count the number of times the AI companions would just pop their Skybound Arts without me. If nothing else, maybe it’s too accurate to the experience of playing online with randoms.

A Complex But Beautiful Time

While I haven’t spent weekends indoors to confirm, Granblue Fantasy Relink feels like one of those games I’m going to sink my teeth into. The sheer spread of characters you can choose from mean that as either a waifu loyalist or mechanical loyalist, you’re bound to gravitate to someone you like. Getting to chain Skybound Arts into each other gives you that kind of pack-hunting instinct you’d normally only get out of an MMO- while having genuinely engaging enemy fights also makes sure you’re on your toes the entire time.

As someone who loves anything approximating the Monster Hunter experience, I’m really looking forward to Granblue Fantasy Relink. As of right now I only hope that I’m wrong about the Chain Bursts- and there was actually some way to control AI partners usage of their own Skybound Arts. Still, I’ve made a note to clear my calendar for February 1st 2024- because it’ll be time to really sink my teeth into this game.