Hands-On with Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster at PAX East 2025

During PAX East, in a (semi) secret alcove of a (semi) secret room, we got to spend some brief time with Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster. Despite the short playtime, it was enough to see this is a worthwhile new version of the now-classic RPG.

Visually, Bravely Default looks great on Switch 2. This is a remaster, not a remake, so the graphics look true to the 3DS original, but the drastic increase in resolution lets you appreciate the environmental details that much more. The backgrounds still have a soft, painterly look, while the character models retain Akihiko Yoshida’s classic designs in greater detail.

The change from a dual-screened handheld to a single-screened platform necessitated some UI changes, but so far all of it feels natural. Perhaps surprisingly, they did not mimic Bravely Default II’s battle menu or more heavily textured menu designs. Instead, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster’s battle UI feels true to the original’s design, and the bottom-aligned character panels keep the battlefield open, as close to the 3DS’ feel as possible, almost as if it was always this way. Oh, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the frame rate is super smooth, whether exploring towns and dungeons or casting spells in battle.

During our time with the demo, we also got to play one of two new minigames in the Switch 2 edition, which make use of the Joy-Con controllers’ Mouse Mode. Ringabel’s Panic Cruise sounds like a blast — steering an airship while fulfilling party members’ requests sounds a lot like keeping a car full of people happy on a long road trip. But we opted to play Luxencheer Rhythm Catch, a rhythm-based game requiring different mouse interactions to hit flying markers. Some markers require clicking the left or right button over floral icons, another draws a tether between your mouse cursors that must intersect a circle, and so on. While the intent is to play with a Joy-Con in each hand, we heard another pair tried playing with two people, each controlling one cursor. The co-op idea sounded too good to pass up, so we tried it too, and I dare say we did well! In the full game, these new minigames will award various bonuses, including new story details via notes in D’s Journal.

Other quality-of-life features in Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster include the ability to speed up the game — both in battles and event scenes — by up to 4x speed, the ability to play alongside allies from your Nintendo friends list, and an adjustable encounter rate from 0–200%. Like most things around Switch 2, we know there’s been discourse about how this version doesn’t let you toggle encounters off entirely like the original (Western) release, with initial screenshots showing 50% as the minimum. However, we asked our Square Enix rep on hand about this, who confirmed you will still be able to set the encounter rate to zero; it’s just not an option from the very start. Hopefully that puts some minds at ease!

If you’ve played the original Bravely Default, you know what to expect outside of the new features, with a tale following four warriors of light who hope to save the world from disaster, the series’ creative Brave & Default battle system, and 20+ jobs to learn and mix and match abilities. The new and upgraded aspects offer speedier ways to play and add some fun side activities and lore. With the original game only available on 3DS and now over 12 years old, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster makes it more readily available again, whether you missed out the first time or want to play it again with improved resolution and performance. And honestly, any reason to listen to more Revo tunes is always a good thing in our book.

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster launches alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5th, 2025. Look for more brave AND default coverage (wait, does that even make sense?) leading up to its release!