Granblue Fantasy Relink: Endless Ragnarok | Switch 2 Report

Having gone hell-for-leather on Granblue Fantasy Relink: Endless Ragnarok on the Steam Deck and PC, I was quite excited to jump into it again on my brand new, shiny Switch 2 and see how it holds up on Nintendo’s little wonder-toy. Unsurprisingly, it holds up very well, particularly in handheld mode.

In fact, it arguably looks a little better on the smaller screen here than it did on the Steam Deck, which again is understandable and throws no shade on the PC version, which has the upper hand on a larger monitor. But on Switch 2, Endless Ragnarok runs wonderfully smoothly.

If you haven’t played the game before and you’ve overlooked my PC review (how dare you?), then know that Granblue Fantasy Relink follows your protagonist (who you can name and pick the gender of) and their crew of Skyfarers, who travel the skybound kingdom on the run from the Empire, along with Lyria, an Astral being with whom their soul is bonded. The primary antagonists are part of a ruthless church who need Lyria to resurrect their own fallen deity and control the world.

The story is pretty cut and dry, with a core squad of characters who do all the talking and cutscene moments, and a round three times as many extra characters who don’t contribute to the narrative in any way but who each comes with their own unique fighting style and special moves. They don’t really follow strict archetypes, and the variety on offer is pretty staggering – especially as you can choose to play as any of them for exploration and combat sections.

These sections are the main crux of the runtime, as you rocket through the plot with few pauses and only a little filler. Each chapter will see you arrive in a new locale, which you explore for trinkets and pick-ups while defeating wandering or spawning enemies before you fight a miniboss and then a chapter boss. It’s a little by the numbers, but it’s an approach that works very well and keeps the pace pretty high.

On Nintendo Switch 2, you get the main game plus the Endless Ragnarok extras, which include 6 additional characters, each with their own special moves and static storyboards (these little vignettes unlock stat boosts and gear slots for everyone), a new roguelike mode that you can play for especial rewards, and the newly improved endgame, which sees you completing endless Monster Hunter-style quests for gear, loot, and XP.

Where Granblue Fantasy Relink: Endless Ragnarok really finds its depth is in the combat and the grind. Fighting is smooth, frenetic, and addictive, as you chain together special moves on cooldown and build up a meter to unleash your Ultimate, which does huge damage, and can trigger a Chain attack that lets all your other party members use their Ultimates in quick succession, leading to a Full Burst move where you all attack in one huge assault. It never stops being fun.

After spending around fifteen to twenty hours on the campaign, you’re into the endgame and the endless roguelike mode, and the focus becomes grinding missions for materials to help you hit the level cap and then min/max your stats to the Nth degree. It’s slick, fun, easy to use, and even has a dedicated multiplayer so you can team up with others.

If you’re a Switch 2 player and have missed Granblue Fantasy Relink: Endless Ragnarok elsewhere, I’d absolutely recommend it. The visuals are superb in handheld mode and only a little rougher when docked, but the movement maintains a steady framerate and it looks gorgeous in motion. If you have access to the full game and Endless Ragnarok elsewhere then there’s nothing to sell this version over the others unless you really, really like to play games on a handheld. That said, it really is excellent on any platform.