The story of light and shadow that never fades is reborn.
The Bravely series, an RPG franchise surpassing three million units* worldwide—Bravely Default, the first title in this series and later the point of genesis for Octopath Traveler, comes to Nintendo Switch 2, remastered in high definition.
*Cumulative total of packages shipped and download sales.
In addition to its classic tale of crystals and warriors of light, job-based party customization, and the series’ patented Brave & Default battle system, the game’s conveniences are further modernized for even more comfortable playability.
The story of light and shadow that never fades is reborn.
■ Story
Make for the distant land of Luxendarc as a warrior of light.
Without warning, the Great Chasm opened a hole in the world. Tiz is the sole survivor of a village swallowed whole by the chasm. In the depths of his despair, he encounters a young vestal named Agnes. Together they set off on a journey with the goal of closing the chasm and freeing the crystals swallowed by darkness…
They set off, entirely unaware of the significance of that goal.
■ Characters
Tiz Arrior (voiced by Bryce Papenbrook in English) A kind, young man hoping to rebuild his home.
A shepherd from the village of Norende. When the Great Chasm opened, it swallowed up his village, and he lost his younger brother before his eyes. Setting out with Agnes, placing in her his hopes to close the chasm, he also takes it upon himself to rebuild Norende as its only remaining survivor.
Agnes Oblige (voiced by Erin Fitzgerald in English) A vestal seeking to awaken the crystals.
A young woman serving as a vestal to the Wind Crystal since an early age. Guided by a cryst-fairy named Airy, whom she met before the Great Chasm opened, Agnes embarks on a journey to cleanse the world of darkness by awakening its four crystals.
Edea Lee (voiced by Cassandra Lee Morris in English) A young woman in search of her own sense of justice.
Only daughter of the grand marshal of the Duchy of Eternia. Dispatched by the duchy with its Sky Knights to capture the wind vestal in Caldisla, she instead joins Tiz and his party after becoming fed up with the duchy’s underhanded methods.
Ringabel (voiced by Spike Spencer in English) A man relying on a strange book to uncover his past.
A young amnesiac come to Caldisla in search of his identity. His one belonging is a notebook titled D’s Journal that for some reason has chronicled inside of it future events. He decides to travel with Tiz’s party on account of their names also being in the journal.
■ World
Various locales dot the map of Luxendarc, the stage upon which the story is set.
A kingdom in the middle of a desert; a land of unceasing civil war; a nation of exclusively women…
What adventures await in each of these places?
Kingdom of Caldisla
The land of beginnings, where our four heroes first meet. Normally an idyllic country, it lately has many troubles, such as the Eternian Sky Knights invading its territory and the appearance of the Great Chasm.
—Knights of the Eternian Sky
An airborne division of the Eternian Forces, dispatched to Caldisla to capture the wind vestal.
■ System – HD Remaster
High-Definition Graphics
Character model textures and environments appear in HD. The warm, picture-book-like graphics that defined the original can now be appreciated in fuller beauty.
The two-screen user interface designed for the Nintendo 3DS has been rebuilt for the Nintendo Switch 2. Convenient features, such as recommended character levels for dungeons and a “Heal All” button, are also in the game.
Fast Forward
In addition to increasing the speed of battle up to a maximum of 4×, event scenes can also be fast-forwarded at double time while autoplay is enabled. Enjoy the story at your own pace.
Encounter Rate Settings
Set the rate of random enemy encounters at 50% intervals to anywhere from 50% to 200%. The rate may be adjusted at any time on the field map to suit your playstyle or the circumstances of your adventure.
Upgraded Online Compatibility for Modern Networks
The networking features used in the original version on Nintendo 3DS have been retooled for the Nintendo Switch 2’s free network connectivity. Whether you work together with allies from your platform’s friend list or power through the adventure on your own is up to you.
■ System
Two Varieties of Brand-New Minigames
Take a break from adventuring to enjoy two different types of all-new minigames. Playing the minigames awards various bonuses, including newly added notes in D’s Journal that reveal previously untold facets of the story.
■ Battle
Take your time planning your strategies in turn-based battles. What command to choose, in what style to fight, and just how many actions to take a variety of tactics are at your disposal in this deep and engaging battle system.
■ Battle – Brave & Default
Brave & Default
Managing the brave points (BP) that determine the number of your actions is the cornerstone of battle in Bravely Default. Two commands bring a new dimension of enjoyment to battle: brave to expend BP and increase the number of actions taken in a turn, or default to shore up your defenses and accumulate BP for later.
Brave
Act up to four times in a single, aggressive turn.
Annihilate the enemy with an onslaught of attack moves or recover from a sticky situation with a combination of resurrection and healing moves. You can even take an advance on BP you’ve yet to store up, though this will drive your BP into the negative and prevent you from further action until it returns to zero—take care not to overplay your hand with thoughtless bravery.
Default
Harden your defenses and wait for your chance.
Store up BP while lessening damage taken from the enemy. A turn spent defaulting is also an opportunity to analyze the enemy’s actions, invaluable when going up against an unknown foe or a boss. The enemy is able to brave and default, too; if you see them defaulting in a row, you had better prepare some way to bear the braving to follow.
■ Battle – Jobs and Abilities
Jobs
During their journey, Tiz and company will face off against all sorts of powerful foes. Defeat such a foe and you might obtain their asterisk, a stone that confers its bearer’s job. Each job has its own specialized fighting style and abilities to learn, so acquiring new jobs opens up exponentially new possibilities to explore in battle.
—Progress through the story and battle new asterisk bearers.
—Triumph in battle to claim their asterisk and acquire a new job!
—Configure your party’s combination of jobs and abilities to dramatically expand its potential in battle!
Abilities
Raising a job’s level offers access to two types of abilities: command abilities that can be used in battle, and support abilities that confer their effects just by being equipped. You can plan how you want to raise your jobs going forward by checking the job menu to see which abilities different jobs will learn.
Command Abilities
With more than twenty jobs to choose from, each character may use a combination of abilities from any two jobs at one time. Find the combinations that suit your taste, whether it be assembling various attack commands or preparing an assortment of support commands.
—Use the monk ability Invigorate to raise your attack power for two turns!
Support Abilities
Unlocked support abilities can be equipped regardless of the characters’ current jobs. Progressing through the story will allow you to have more equipped at once. It’s a good idea to reevaluate your setup from time to time as you go up against ever-stronger foes.
—With the knight support ability Two-Handed, you can double the attack power of certain weapons by holding them with both hands instead of just one.
Example Command Ability Combinations
—Black Mage + Freelancer
Find out the enemy’s weakness with the freelancer ability Examine and then wipe them out with the right elemental magic!
—Thief + White Mage
Even if your party is at the brink of death, take advantage of the thief’s high agility to heal faster than the enemy can attack!
—Knight + Monk
Cast off defense for a super offense!
Set Two-Handed and Physical Attack 10% Up and equip a sword to greatly enhance your knight’s already superior proficiency with swords!
Since you can’t hold a shield, you’ll have lower defense, but with Damage Dispersion set, your allies can shoulder some of the damage you take.
Trust your allies to have your back while you pile on the aggression!
■ Jobs
Freelancer Supporting the adventure with unique abilities.
While somewhat run-of-the-mill in terms of stats, freelancers can learn a number of practical abilities, such as analyzing enemy HP and weaknesses or detecting the number of treasure chests in a dungeon.
—Examine
See enemy HP, weakness, family, etc.
—Divining Rod
See number of chests in a dungeon.
Monk Brute-force attackers.
Monks boast high HP and strength stats and overwhelm the enemy with abilities that deliver heavy damage. Since they can deal powerful attacks even while unarmed, you don’t need to feel obligated to spend money on weapons for them.
—Strong Strike
Deal 2x damage with low accuracy.
—Hidden Dragon
Attack last to deal 25% more damage.
White Mage Healers with their allies’ lives in their hands.
These mages specialize in white magic that can restore HP or bolster the defenses of their allies. They may not have high defenses themselves, but having one in the party comes with incredible peace of mind.
—White Magic Lv 1
Cure and other healing magic.
—White Magic Lv 2
Protect and other support magic.
Black Mage Attack magic experts.
These mages manipulate black magic to attack with various elements and enfeeble the enemy. They can even wipe out entire enemy parties by targeting their weakness with the right spell.
—Black Magic Lv 1
Fire and other elemental magic.
—Black Magic Lv 2
Poison and other enfeebling magic.
Knight Well-rounded warriors excelling in both offense and defense.
With extra-high vitality, knights are the guardians of the party. They can both shield their weaker allies and deal out damage when needed.
—Protect Ally
Protect an ally with low HP.
—Ironclad
Max out defense at the start of a turn.
And More…
■ Music
Original Soundtrack by Revo (Sound Horizon / Linked Horizon) Once Again Brings the Adventure to Life
Revo is a sound creator whose proficiencies encompass lyric writing, composing, and arranging. Organaizer of Sound Horizon, which established its unique style of “Story Music” from its major-label debut in 2004. Sound Horizon released its latest work, “Halloween to Asa no Monogatari,” on March 5, 2025. On the occasion of providing Bravely Default with its music in 2012, Revo began a new project called Linked Horizon to foster musical collaborations with other productions. Linked Horizon provided the opening theme for the 2013 TV anime Attack on Titan, and performed in the Kohaku Uta Gassen that same year.
■ Message from Tomoya Asano, Bravely Series General Producer
Hello! This is Tomoya Asano, producer at Square Enix.
I’d like to start by talking about the motivation behind developing this game
A while ago, at the 10-year anniversary of the Bravely Default series, I thought to myself, “What can we do to please our supportive fans the most?”
That was the starting point.
It’s been a while since the 10-year anniversary, but I’m really glad that my wishes have come to fruition in this way.
“A classic, orthodox style RPG typical of Square Enix with beautiful, slightly elaborate graphics.”
This direction then went on to inspire Octopath Traveler and our other HD-2D titles later on. Looking back at the Japanese marketing materials from the time, the tagline “A new lineage of RPGs” feels quite grandiose, but thankfully it does feel somewhat like a lineage now, and that is all down to our supportive fans. Thank you very much.
I hope that we can carry on this lineage into the future too, but if you haven’t played the original game, then I strongly recommend that you try out Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster, one of the games that started it all! The same goes for people who played the original game a while ago! (It’s much more beautiful and feels fresh!) I would be delighted if they could try it out too.
Thank you for all your support.
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster is due out for Switch 2 on June 5.
