Overview
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is an action-RPG developed by Team Ninja, the studio behind Nioh, and published by Square Enix. It came out in 2022. It's an unashamed souls-like spin-off of Final Fantasy that revisits the world of the very first game in the series. You can play it solo or in online co-op.
Story and world
You play as Jack Garland, convinced he is one of the Warriors of Light foretold by the prophecy, and who has only one obsession: defeating Chaos. The game takes a deliberately over-the-top tone, with a gruff hero and very blunt lines, which got a lot of people talking as soon as it was revealed.
Gameplay
The heart of the game is its combat system. You equip two jobs at once and can switch between them mid-fight, each job having its own actions and skills. Jobs are unlocked and combined over the course of the adventure, which gives you lots of options to build your character. On top of that comes a parry, the Soul Shield, which lets you block enemy attacks and even absorb some of them to reuse them. By breaking an enemy's guard, you can then finish it off with an execution.
This job and parry system is frankly good, and very technical once mastered. The art direction and the level design, on the other hand, are rather poor.
Verdict
Stranger of Paradise is an unashamed souls-like spin-off with an over-the-top tone, and a job and parry system that is frankly good and very technical once mastered. The art direction and the level design, on the other hand, are rather poor.