Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster review: One of the 3DS's best RPGs is back and better than ever

After years of being trapped on the 3DS, Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster has arrived on the Nintendo Switch 2, and am I glad to see it. I have so many fond memories of playing the original back in college with some of my friends. Watching our villages grow, creating overpowered squads, and experiencing a fun but tragic story. Sure, it doesn’t break barriers in terms of storytelling, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

It’s a familiar style of story, similar to what you’d find in Final Fantasy – the crystals are in danger, and it’s up to a ragtag group of would-be heroes to come together and set the world right. However, they’ve got way more power at their disposal than the Warriors of Light usually do. Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is a stunning, enjoyable game that's worth picking up on the Switch 2.

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Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster offers a familiar story, with innovative gameplay

Though Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is a slightly older game, I won’t spoil any major plot points. The main takeaways are that the world is slowly dying, and the power of crystals appears to be waning. Evil forces are taking advantage of this for their personal gains, and it’s up to Agnes, Tiz, and the rest of their comrades to save the world.

Even if it's not the most dramatic story ever, I'm a huge fan of what the Square Enix team did with this game (Image via Square Enix)

While the story isn’t mind-shattering, it’s definitely memorable to me, and I’ve loved every game set in the “Bravely” universe. The real big draw is the gameplay, though. The Brave/Default system is something I had never experienced before, and it offered some serious tactical gameplay.

Each character takes an action in battle, whether enemy or a friend. However, you can choose to Default, or take no action this turn. That builds your BP meter up to a maximum of 3. You can also choose to Brave – for each time you brave in a turn, you burn BP to take extra actions. This can also put you at negative BP, forcing you to wait until several turns have passed to take any action.

This makes level grinding in Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster so much easier, because you can just set up a system to overpower your enemies, over and over. Just remember, enemies can, and will use this system too, especially bosses.

In this version of the game, you can even set a multitude of preset combat actions, so you can have equipment and command sets for grinding, boss fighting, and more. I love how flexible the game is.

You've gotta fight! For your right! to... pick up more jobs (Image via Square Enix)

With 20+ jobs, you’d think that’s already a lot of power, but there’s so much more to it than that. You can also set passive abilities to take advantage of, and a secondary skillset; so if you want to be a Monk that can also heal (White Mage), that’s easily done.

Then, you can use Ablink to connect your friends' characters to members of your own party, and whatever jobs your friend’s profile has, that character now has access to it as well. The sky's the limit in Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster when it comes to power levels.

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Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster brings incredibly useful quality-of-life changes to bear

You can easily set up easy grind commands to slaughter enemies on x4 speed (Image via Square Enix)

What would an HD Remaster be without quality-of-life features? Sure, this version brings some new minigames to Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster, but that’s not anywhere near as important to me. I’m not crazy about gimmicky controls, and the Switch 2’s are no exception. I enjoy the mouse controls, at least in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S, but I’m more comfortable holding a controller.

However, there are some important features in this game that players should be aware of. The 2x/4x fast forward is very nice for level grinding, especially when combined with the ability to set up stacked commands for the party to auto-activate each time you enter combat. This is a grindy game, so thankfully, you can adjust the Encounter Rate between 50% (lower) and 200% (every couple of steps).

The UI has been overhauled, and naturally, it features beautiful HD graphics, but that’s not really what I want to bring up. The most frustrating thing about the original Bravely Default was that you had to leave your 3DS in rest mode if you wanted to improve your town (Norende).

This might be my favorite feature. I can actually play other games on my Switch 2! (Image via Square Enix)

As you play the game online, you’ll occasionally find “visitors” who will become permanent residents in your town. You’ll find them in most cities while you’re connected to the internet; no Switch Online required.

These people can build new structures in Norende that improve your Special Attacks and allow you to buy powerful gear at the various save point merchants in Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster.

The original game required you to leave your 3DS in rest with the game on, so you couldn’t really play anything else. This was a truly infuriating system, but those days are done! You can close the game and play something else, or just shut your system off! The game tracks the time difference and will update your town accordingly.

I haven’t tried fast-forwarding the clock, like people do in Animal Crossing, though. I have a feeling it probably works. Being able to just “do other things” was such a game-changer.

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The visuals and soundtrack of Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster are fantastic

Just look at how gorgeous this desert town is! (Image via Square Enix)

I loved the art style of the original Bravely Default, and even though I don’t think the simplistic character faces pop as much on the Switch 2 as they did on the 3DS, I still find myself enchanted by the character designs. I’ve heard some people say the graphics aren’t as good because they aren’t in “3D Mode” like the 3DS. But I didn’t use it. The 3D on the Nintendo 3DS made me incredibly nauseous.

I cannot say enough good things about the dub or the musical score for Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster, though. It all feels incredible. I even missed Edea Lee’s “mrrgrrgrrgrr” when she’s annoyed about something. The art style for this game still stands out even in 2025.

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Final thoughts

Sure, their faces are a little silly, but I think it's part of this game's charm (Image via Square Enix)

Even if you’ve never played a Bravely game, Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is the game you should pick up for your Switch 2 if you love charming RPGs with a lot of heart and a ridiculously powerful job system. Yes, I know some of the outfits were censored, but they were censored in the original North America 3DS version. If you want the "uncensored" outfits, you can just import the Japanese version.

With bright, gorgeous visuals, heartwarming characters, and so many ways to make the perfect dream team of ultra-powerful characters, it’s a great game that was locked away on a defunct handheld for so many years. If you played Bravely Default 2 and want to see the franchise’s origins, come back to this one. You won’t be disappointed.

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Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster

Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is an absolute masterclass when it comes to party customization (Image via Square Enix/Sportskeeda)

• Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2
• Reviewed On: Nintendo Switch 2
• Release Date: June 5, 2025
• Publisher: Square Enix
• Developer: Square Enix