Square Enix Announces Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes Of Light

When we first previewed Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light at the Tokyo Game Show last year (then called Hikari no 4 Senshi: Final Fantasy Gaiden), there were no concrete plans to port the title to the states. Square Enix finally announced today, however, that the newest handheld Final Fantasy title will make its way westward this fall.

Heroes of Light is a new game within the Final Fantasy universe that is currently in development by the same team that worked on the DS iterations of Final Fantasy III and IV. The story follows four young heroes on “an unforgettable adventure.” We’re promised dragons, kings, princesses, and witches. Sounds like a classic Final Fantasy game, to be sure.

Square provided a slightly less cryptic description below.

 In the small kingdom of Horne, Brandt awakes on the morning of his fourteenth birthday.

Today is the day he becomes an adult, and the custom of the realm says that he must go to the castle to present himself to the king.

Yet when he arrives at the castle he finds the kind distraught and the youngest princess missing, abducted by the Witch of the North. With no one else to turn to, the king makes a shocking request: Will Brandt save the princess?

And thus Brandt’s adventure begins…

Eventually he is joined by three other brave young souls. Together they will experience a journey full of joyous meetings and sad partings.

Though at first they don’t always see eye-to-eye, these four Heroes of Light will build bonds of trust and affection so strong that, in the end, they may even save the world.

This is the tale of their legendary fantasy.

Designed to blend traditional RPG elements with modern gameplay twists, the battle system draws on turn-based archetypes while allowing players to change their character class on a whim. The “Crown System,” which we first detailed last year, lets players switch their occupation by equipping different hats. Heroes of Light will boast over 20 jobs, including mainstays such as the Black Mage, White Mage, and Ranger.

Capitalizing on DS Wireless Play, four friends can team up together to take on dungeons, and experience earned in multiplayer mode can be exchanged for items that transfer over to the single-player campaign. 

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, and its somewhat unwieldy name, will hit retail October 5.