Note: This review is based on the PC (Steam) version.
I’ve owned countless laptops in my life, but in late October 2025, I bought my first gaming PC, a modest setup, but suitable for many modern games. I also finally picked up Tales of Xillia for my Switch, a game long stuck on the PS3. During my girlfriend’s holiday on November 21, I found some quiet time to nerd out a little and think about late-game builds in Tales of Xillia. That train of thought led me to other PS3 classics I hadn’t played, and naturally to the Final Fantasy trilogy.
Then I noticed, “Oh, it has a PC release. I wonder if my new laptop could handle it,” knowing full well how graphically intense Final Fantasy games can be. 30 minutes later, I was greeted by a steady flow of similar answers: yes, my laptop was capable! As if by some stroke of luck, I noticed on dekudeals that all three games were on a steep discount on Steam. The choice was practically made for me, and the trio of games became my first-ever purchases on Steam.
With all three games completed, how do I feel about my purchase? And, with 12 years since Lightning Returns first launched, coincidentally also on November 21st, how does it hold up today?
I’ve heard many things about these three games over the years, which always had a part in keeping my interest at a minimum, despite my overall love of the Final Fantasy series as a whole: XIII is too linear, or the time constraint in Lightning Returns is far too stressful.
Going into the game blind and largely maintaining that playstyle, I can safely put some of those concerns to rest. Yes, there are 7 days until the end of the world at the start of the game; the tension bleeds through the screen in the opening hours, no doubt. And sure, the trilogy was never one for brevity, preferring, at times, overly convoluted narratives and plot development. But there is a lot to love about Lightning Returns.
The story is fascinating for many reasons. Beyond the looming end of the world, it explores philosophical quandaries like life after death, the concept of saving souls, and the impact and power of good deeds. In a previous review of Nier: Replicant, I went with the simple title “Brotherly Love,” and here, “Sisterly Love” might have been just as apt for Lightning Returns. Lightning wants nothing more than to be reunited with Serah, and we saw the same from Serah in XIII-2. But Lightning must overcome a lot of her shortcomings, including being so stoic she’d put Squall to shame.
As a sidenote, I was blown away by the lack of depravity and debauchery from the world’s citizens. Considering there was a week to go, I figured there’d be widespread looting, substance abuse, and blowing life savings. Instead, people were, by and large, way more restrained, keen to figure out, in the grand scheme of things, what might seem like minor things, but still deeply important on a personal level and for loved ones.
It was almost odd how there were all these slices of life in the face of impending doom. Narratively, it gave me feelings I’ve rarely had, if ever. But then I started to wonder if many people were just in denial and lived life as normally as a coping mechanism. And here Lightning was, to help as many people as she could to pass on to the next stage and what they felt was a better life. Perhaps that would explain the calm of most citizens; what was coming might indeed be better.
In the center of all of this is Hope, who helps to direct Lightning as she runs around the four regions of Nova Chrysalia, aiding as many people as she can, and some familiar friends. While also diving deeper into her own psyche and being confronted with personal truths she preferred to ignore.
However, there is a cult-like group that doesn’t welcome Lightning’s mission. Perhaps out of fear, selfishness, or malice, they resist her efforts and try to lead others astray. Their presence adds tension to the world, showing that even in the face of the apocalypse, human nature can still twist toward conflict or corruption.
Lightning serves as the savior appointed by god to collect pure souls to send to god and the next stage of existence. She has limited time, and this might stress players. But don’t fret, saving souls can delay the end of the world and add more days, up to 7 extra days. So this is a game where side quests are essential to success. One complaint is that some of them are obtuse; others are strictly time sensitive. I wanted to play blind and mostly did, but looked up information online to figure out the schedules and locations of some characters, as reminders, and to plan the structure of each day.
I’d argue that the way NPCs’ daily lives are intertwined into the time mechanic is brilliant, if not a bit vexing at times. Some parts of Luxerion or the Wild Lands are only open at specific times of the day, so access to important NPCs is limited as well. In other areas of towns, they only show up at certain times. It reminded me of Xenoblade Chronicles (2010), and I wouldn’t be shocked if the developers were inspired by it. Anyway, if you want to complete certain tasks, you need to plan appropriately. This was one of the rare games where I kept sticky notes about the availability of different NPCs. There are map markers, but those only go so far.
Lightning is granted an important power in her mission to save as many souls as possible, and there are 66 side quests and 83 Canvas of Souls, which are minor versions of the typical side quest, mostly your typical fetch quest or kill X amount of enemies. I failed one side quest and missed another based on what I thought the honest choice was at the end of a specific quest. Lightning can stop time, called Chronostasis. Gripes aside, this lasts such a short time that it’s practically ineffective; there is an easy solution. Beating enemies restores the EP needed to cast Chronostatis. Fight a larger one for the best effects, and you can have nearly unlimited time.
Speaking of enemies, there aren’t many types compared to a typical RPG, but there’s a reason. I don’t recall ever seeing this before, but by killing enough of a specific species, sometimes as few as 30, often well over 100, you can make them go extinct. But to be clear, not every foe in the game can go extinct. So if you are looking for a rare beast and feel inundated by more common creatures, just beat up a bunch of them, and they will cease to exist, increasing the odds of rarer monsters showing up.
So, moving away from the Paradigm shifts of the first two games, there is the new schema system. Which, despite Lightning being solo, is an improvement. It takes the old-school ATB meter from retro Final Fantasy games and mixes it with astrategy, action hybrid, which I found intriguing. Easy to learn, hard to master. Lightning has access to a plethora of garbs she can wear. She can bring three into battle, each with their own ATB meter, and freely switch between them. It’s almost like having three party members. Each garb has four attacks (some preset) assigned to the four buttons on the right of the controllers, ranging from basic attacks to magic, to guarding, and beyond.
Proper preparation and management of your schema is the only way to succeed in this game. Enemy strengths and weaknesses are just a button press away, too, so you can plan accordingly at all times. This is key, since normally there is a time penalty and EP deduction for running from battle on normal. Though on easy, no such penalties exist.
Compared to many other games with easy mode, the easy mode in Lightning Returns is still tough at times and is more similar to normal, or default mode, in most other RPGs with difficulty settings. Normal in this game is actually closer to hard in most other games. Keep that in mind when starting a new game, as you can not switch difficulty once the game has started.
Where Final Fantasy XIII felt too linear, not just in exploration, but in character build for the majority of the game, Lightning Returns overwhelms with the wealth of customization options. This isn’t just in the many Garbs that can be found and purchased, but the attacks and magic that can be equipped and upgraded via synthesis, as well as weapons, armor, and accessories that can be improved in New Game +. Dare I say, no two players, at least playing blind, will have the same schema. Avoid the temptation to look up optimal builds; it’d almost be a crime with so many options available. I had a blast experimenting.
One downside of Lightning Returns is that there is such a focus on side content, which is still mandatory, that the main quests take a back seat. Not just in how many there are, just 5, but it felt like they got drowned out by everything else in the game. Don’t get me wrong, they are impactful, especially Chapter 2, which reminded me of Persona 5 a little, but I was able to complete a few of them in under an hour in a game that took me over 45 hours! If ever there was an RPG that put a large emphasis on random NPCs, Lightning Returns is it! Just the same, boss battles are few and far between, but incredibly poignant.
Graphics are never a huge deal to me, for sure not make or break, but I did notice that, overall, there is a drop off in quality compared to XIII. However, this can be explained by the fact that part of what made XIII so breathtakingly gorgeous was sacrifices in other areas, mainly its severe linearity, since developers had much smaller areas to focus on. Opening up XIII-2 and especially Lightning Returns, with two vast regions and a day/night cycle, required slightly less graphical prowess because resources had to be spread thinner. It was a fantastic trade-off, but other gamers should be aware of this. Plus, the cutscenes are still mindblowing 12 years later.
The Final Fantasy series has always been renowned for top-notch soundtracks, and this remains true in the XIII trilogy. Even though, in my eyes, Lightning Returns is the best of the three, you absolutely should play the first two games (PC flaws and all, which can be solved). Beyond the major plot points, there are more subtle connections. For example, tracks from the first two games appear here, either in their original form or as new renditions. They hit even harder when they bring up memories of key moments tied to the first two games. The voice acting, like in the first two games, is superb, to the point that even some of the townspeople are excellent and convincing.
As if everything I’ve mentioned so far weren’t enough, Lightning can also fight in a battle arena in Yusnaan. Some quests require it, but there are also great rewards to be found here, though it’s only open at night.
Some readers may be wondering how Lightning Returns performs on a modern, budget gaming laptop. With the specs listed below, it ran almost perfectly. In full-screen mode, the game crashed twice in 47 hours with no slowdown. Even after a few months, I still don’t know much about PC gaming, but it was an Intel Core i5–13450HX, 13th Gen, 2.40 GHz Processor, 16 GB Ram, and a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card with 6 GB GDDR6. Nothing special, as far as I can tell, but it got the job done, and I didn’t need to download any of the patches that are sometimes mentioned online. This is probably, for my money, the best performing game of the trilogy.
In the end, the criticism of the time system is overblown in my eyes. The game is generous with the time it gives players (one hour of in-game time is about 2.5 minutes in real life). It can be complex to manage so many different missions with the limited availability of some NPCs, but careful, intelligent use of chronostasis should limit those concerns. In place of that worry, a certain addictive quality should emerge. Although I must say, as happy as I am to beat the game, and as much as I enjoyed it, I probably won’t return to it for the New Game +, where all stats carry over, as it is a very involved game even by RPG standards. But, you need to beat the game twice to 100% it, be aware. Just the same, I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre, as it is a unique take on many of the mechanics that were starting to, or already, stale. Overall, this is a 7.5, rounded up to an 8.
Check out my reviews of other Final Fantasy titles: