Xbox 360 PS3

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

Role-playing (RPG)

Time to beat: about 40 hours
Plays offline: Yes

Overview

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is a 2013 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. A sequel to Final Fantasy XIII-2, it concludes the storyline of Final Fantasy XIII and forms part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis subseries. It was released in 2013 in Japan and 2014 in North America and the PAL regions. It was ported to Windows in 2015 and Android and iOS via cloud gaming in 2016 in Japan. Lightning Returns employs a highly revamped version of the gameplay system from the previous two games, with an action-oriented battle system, the ability to customize the player character's outfits, and a time limit the player must extend by completing story missions and side quests.

The game takes place five hundred years after the previous game's ending. Lightning, the main protagonist of the first game and a key character in the second, awakes from a self-imposed hibernation thirteen days before the world's end. The deity Bhunivelze chooses her to save the people of the dying world, including former friends and allies who have developed heavy emotional burdens. As she travels, she learns the truth behind the world's fate and Bhunivelze's true agenda.

The game's development began in May 2012, shortly after the release of the last DLC for XIII-2, and it was revealed in September of that year as part of the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Event. The key creative minds and developers from the preceding games returned, and Square Enix's First Production Department created it, with tri-Ace assisting with graphics development. The development team wanted the game to conclude the story of Lightning and the XIII universe, as well as address criticisms leveled at the previous two games.