Released in February 2024, 'Granblue Fantasy: Relink' surpassed 1 million copies sold worldwide within a month, thanks to its dynamic combat and rewarding character progression. However, fans were left disappointed when the developers announced an end to updates just three months after launch. Now, about two years later, Cygames has returned with the expansion pack 'Endless Ragnarok.'

As Director Tetsuya Fukuhara personally stated, the team decided that simply adding a few bosses or characters wouldn't satisfy existing players. Instead, they opted for a massive expansion pack rather than a standard content update. I recently had the opportunity to experience the results firsthand at the Cygames headquarters for about an hour.

6 Unique New Characters

The first thing that catches the eye in Endless Ragnarok is the addition of six new playable characters. With the arrival of ▲Beatrix, ▲Eustace, ▲Gallanza, ▲Maglielle, ▲Fraux, and ▲Fediel, the existing roster of 23 expands to 29. During the demo, I was free to choose any character, including these newcomers. It was a great opportunity to experience the high level of polish and the unique combat concepts that Relink is known for.

'Beatrix', as the first of the six new characters revealed, perfectly encapsulates the combat direction of Endless Ragnarok. As a melee attacker wielding the sealed weapon 'Embrasque Sword,' she features an aggressive playstyle that constantly closes the distance and applies pressure through various dash-based abilities.

Her core unique system is 'Clock o' Delta,' which allows her to toggle between three buffs—Attack Up, Defense Up, and Recovery—on the fly just by holding a button. This ability to improvise buffs based on the situation adds significant flexibility to her gameplay.

Furthermore, landing combo finishers builds the Embrasque gauge. Once full, she enters the 'Causality' state, which dramatically boosts the effects of her Clock o' Delta buffs for a set duration. While her control difficulty is quite high, she becomes a character of entirely different weight once you master the situational use of 'Clock o' Delta.'

'Eustace' is a ranged character using the sealed weapon 'Flamek's Lightning,' specializing in using mobility-focused abilities to secure optimal positioning.

His core unique system is 'Fuel for the Fire,' where he builds a charge gauge with basic attacks and then reloads to fire enhanced rounds for massive damage. While the mechanism seems simple, it is difficult to achieve high performance just by spamming shots from afar. Because his damage decreases as the distance increases, he requires aggressive positioning, staying close to enemies despite being a ranged character.

He can use his dodge ability up to three times in a row, giving him excellent mobility. However, you must trigger dodges at the 'just' timing to gain the charge gauge boost, and if his distance-decay negation ability is on cooldown, you are forced to take the risks of close-quarters combat. While the barrier to entry for his controls is low, he is a character that demands high operational adeptness, requiring you to manage both positioning and just-dodges to reach his full potential.

'Gallanza' is a warrior from the Avia Sect who appeared as a boss in the main game and has now joined as a playable character in this expansion. He features exhilarating combat, swinging a massive halberd with both hands, and his core unique system is the 'White Wolf Gauge.'

The gauge builds with every hit from attacks and abilities. Once it reaches its maximum, he enters the 'Open Mountain' state, which enhances his attacks. His biggest advantage is that he can fill this gauge with basic attacks alone, without relying on specific move sets. This allows players to fight in their own style, using their preferred combos and abilities naturally without needing to adjust their playstyle to the character.

He is one of the most accessible characters in the 29-person roster. You can achieve sufficient performance just by continuing basic attacks without deep thought, and there are frequent, satisfying moments where you can sweep the battlefield with his 'Windmill' attack. He is the first character I would recommend to those new to Relink or those unfamiliar with action controls.

'Maglielle' is the character fans requested most to be made playable after the main game's release, and that wish has finally been granted in this expansion. As one of the three generals of the Avia Sect who appeared as a boss alongside Gallanza, she is the leader of the 'Injudan,' a mysterious clan that wields magic swords. Her combat is faithful to this concept, revolving around summoning magic swords to attack.

Her core unique system is the 'Inju Gauge.' The gauge builds as you land combo attacks, and you can consume it to trigger the special attack 'Magic Sword Dance.' Consuming the gauge to its maximum with this special attack leads to a powerful finale, and managing this flow efficiently is the key to playing Maglielle.

Her ability kit is also highly distinct. It consists of skills that summon various weapons, a skill that creates an invincibility zone for a set time, and a buff skill that increases both Inju Gauge gain and magic sword damage. However, some of her special attacks and weapon-summoning abilities require manual aiming with the stick, making her controls quite challenging. While the system itself is easy to understand, the need to manage both aiming and the gauge in real-time makes her a character better suited for intermediate players and above.

'Fraux' is one of the Evokers from the original 'Granblue Fantasy,' an Erune character who has formed a pact with the Primal Beast 'The Devil.' While the name will be familiar to fans of the original, Relink offers the experience of directly controlling her intense kicking techniques.

Her combat style is a stance-switching type, reminiscent of Narmaya from the main game. You can switch between Upright Stance and Reverse Stance through combo finishers, and you can also switch stances instantly by using special attacks alone, ensuring the flow of combat is never interrupted.

Her core unique system involves building the gauge of the currently active stance as you land attacks and abilities. Once both stance gauges are filled to the maximum, you enter a powerful 'Burst' timing where you can trigger three abilities regardless of their cooldowns. Like Narmaya, mastering the timing of stance switching is key, but she adds an extra layer of management since you must fill both gauges.

Also, unlike Narmaya, who can gain "Stun Immunity" through her "Setsuna" stance, I could not find a "Stun Immunity" option in Fraux's abilities. However, she does have a parrying-style ability similar to Narmaya's "Kyokasuigetsu." Overall, while her basic control barrier is lower than Narmaya's (who requires just-inputs), she feels more complex in the advanced stages where you must manage both stance gauges simultaneously.

'Fediel' is a powerful entity that has existed since the dawn of creation in the original 'Granblue Fantasy,' the dragon representing 'Black' among the Six Dragons. She has the most unconventional playstyle among the six new characters.

While her basic attacks involve firing dark-attribute projectiles from a distance, the core of her combat lies in aggressive melee entry using warp. Tapping the special attack button allows for an instant warp, while holding it lets you manually target a location with the stick and teleport there upon release. The key is that she is invulnerable during the warp, allowing you to negate boss AoE attacks with a warp instead of a dodge, while simultaneously positioning yourself for a powerful counterattack using 'Miasma Hands.

Furthermore, if you warp to a targeted location, her basic attack immediately following the move is enhanced into the powerful melee attack 'Miasma Hands.' This attack, which boasts both a wide range and high damage, is the core of Fediel's damage cycle. Her ability to freely warp between ranged and melee combat gives her a unique identity among the 29 characters, making her the one that held my attention the longest during the demo.

A Move to Shake the Battlefield: Summon Stones

Summon Stones are a new combat system introduced in Endless Ragnarok. You can equip up to four Summon Stones obtained through quests and utilize them in battle.

Each Summon Stone has a unique gauge cost. Generally, higher-cost stones have powerful effects that can be used regardless of the situation. However, low-cost stones can also be highly effective in specific scenarios, and because the cost of the remaining stones decreases by 1 each time you use one, the order of your loadout becomes a strategy in itself. While the individual strength of each summon is important, the combination and order of use for all four have a greater impact on your overall combat power.

The variety of Summon Stones was vast enough to be felt even in the demo. You can equip not only Primal Beasts that appeared as bosses in the main game, such as Furacan and Managarmr, but also regular monsters like Wyverns or Rock Golems. Furthermore, you can summon villagers, call a roulette machine for random effects, or even summon Rackam from the Grandcypher crew.

The biggest appeal of the Summon Stone system is not just calling forth strong Primal Beasts, but the structure where various beings from the world intervene in battle in their own ways. The developers hinted that there are still some surprise elements among the unrevealed Summon Stones that fans will appreciate.

Summon Stones are primarily obtained as quest rewards, but you can also get them by building bonds with villagers through requests. It was impressive to see how the combat system naturally connects with non-combat content, where helping villagers in need leads to obtaining new Summon Stones.

Beyond the Limits: Master Skills

Master Skills are a new growth element that expands on the main game's Mastery system. Since they use the same Mastery Points as the main game, continuity with the existing system is naturally maintained.

Each character is given a total of three Master Skills, and each Master Skill contains four separate Masteries that can be unlocked. You must unlock three of these four internal Masteries to activate the Master Skill's option. These internal Masteries include powerful stat options like Damage Cap Increase and Attack Up, making the process of filling them feel like meaningful growth. Since you can eventually activate all three Master Skills, unlocking each unique option becomes a part of the character progression flow.

When a Master Skill is activated, a unique option specific to that character is unlocked. Since these are designed differently for each character, it directly leads to increased build diversity. I mentioned earlier that the demo version of Fraux lacked a 'Stun Immunity' option; it turns out this was included as a unique option in her Master Skills. In other words, Master Skills are more than just stat boosts; they are the key to elevating a character's combat style to the next level.

The 'Extreme Abyss': A New Realm for Solo Players

The Extreme Abyss is a 5-floor, single-player-only roguelike dungeon. Given the criticism that the main game's endgame relied too heavily on multiplayer farming, this is significant as it provides a unique progression path for solo players.

Inside the Extreme Abyss, there are two enhancement elements: 'Essence of Mastery' and 'Power of Mastery.'

Essence of Mastery' is a Mastery element that applies only within the Extreme Abyss and provides permanent enhancement effects. This structure is similar to what you might see in roguelike content in titles like 'Honkai: Star Rail' or 'Wuthering Waves.

Power of Mastery' consists of enhancement effects collected while exploring the dungeon. These range from basic options like Critical Rate Increase or Damage Increase to unique effects like firing additional projectiles upon attacking or dealing AoE Damage when a shield is broken. I could fully feel the 'roguelike high' where your combat style changes noticeably as you stack these effects. Since 'Power of Mastery' is also a collection element, you can earn additional titles and rewards by gathering them.

You can freely change your party composition and Summon Stones at the checkpoints between floors, allowing you to refine your strategy for the next floor. Clearing the dungeon rewards you with a large amount of treasures needed for weapon and sigil enhancement, providing sufficient motivation for repeated play.

A Two-Year Gap, and a Wider Sky

The one-hour demo felt too short. It wasn't enough time to fully explore each of the six new characters or run through the Extreme Abyss multiple times. And perhaps that is the most certain sign of all.

One of the points that distinguishes Relink's combat from other action RPGs is the 'Full Burst,' where all party members trigger their Skybound Arts in succession. This system, where four players coordinate to chain their arts, has become a unique charm of Relink, compressing the thrill of cooperative combat into its most dense moment.

Endless Ragnarok takes this a step further. The 'Ascend Chain,' newly added in this work, is a superior version of the Full Burst. At the moment of activation, a Primal Beast like Bahamut descends directly onto the battlefield, filling the screen with an overwhelming spectacle. It is, in essence, adding a higher level of catharsis on top of the same foundation.

Expectations for the boss battles are also high. With the appearance of the villain Beelzebub, familiar to fans of the original, the story carries more weight. Another new boss, 'The World,' is expected to feature a boss fight that translates the tarot card setting of the original into combat patterns, raising curiosity about how it will be implemented.

Endless Ragnarok is designed to expand upon what was built in the main game in a broader and deeper way. Thinking about the timing of intervening in battle with Summon Stones, experimenting with different combat styles by stacking 'Power of Mastery' in the Extreme Abyss, and delving deeper into each character with Master Skills. All these elements are designed to maintain the grammar of the main game while adding new layers on top.

Director Fukuhara said in an interview, "We poured all our capabilities into this, so I am confident that the level of polish will meet your expectations." He also hinted at a positive outlook for continued updates after release. After a two-year gap, I am looking forward to July 9th to see how long and how far Relink can fly this time.