[Review] Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero | Nintendo Switch

Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores, but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, all whilst including some lengthy gameplay, to give you, the reader, the chance to form your own impressions and views while reading and watching.

In this explanatory review, we’re covering Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero by developer, Nippon Ichi Software:

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero (Nintendo Switch)

Once upon a time in the video game industry, popular games would get a sequel within a few years. Nowadays, you’re lucky to get a AAA sequel within half a decade, but as the last decade has shown us, it is never too late for a sequel. Metroid Fusion (2002) finally got a sequel after 21 years with Metroid Dread (2021), Pokémon Snap (1999) got a sequel 22 years later with New Pokémon Snap (2021) and now, the same can be said for Phantom Brave.

Originally released back in 2004 for the PlayStation 2, despite multiple releases across multiple platforms in the years since, Phantom Brave has been given two different subtitles (Phantom Brave: We Meet Again and Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle), but now, in the year of 2025, 21 years later, Phantom Brave is finally getting a sequel in the form of Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero.

The Lost Hero was first revealed during the June 16, 2024, Nintendo Direct presentation. As for the reason why Nippon Ichi Software returned to the series to create a new installment, we owe it all to a poll that was done in the US, regarding Nippon Ichi Software’s most popular characters. The developer had expected to see characters from the Disgaea series secure the top spots, but they were stunned to learn just how well-beloved characters from Phantom Brave placed. Their surprise led to opportunity and that opportunity resulted in the creation of  Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero. But, after 21 years, is this sequel worth the wait? Let’s find out.

As a tactical role-playing game, Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero does have its own standalone story, so for those who wonder if it is necessary to play the first game first, the answer is, no. While Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero carries on the story of Marona and Ash, taking place a few years later, aside from some spoiler details regarding things that happen in the first game, Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero does a great job of filling players in from the outset. This is done thanks to an introduction at the beginning of the game, which details the relationship of the two characters, what they had to endure, and what they’re up to now.

In the event, you do wish to play the prequel though, on the likes of PlayStation 5 that is easy to do, since Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle Remastered was given a standalone release, to play it on Nintendo Switch, the process is a little different. Instead of being released as is, Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle is only available via Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 1: which packages Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle Remastered and Soul Nomad & the World Eaters together.

But, for a quick recap, it’s time to talk about Marona, the legendary Chroma. Orphaned at a young age, Marona can converse with Phantoms, the spirits of people who have passed on but have refused or are unable to move on. One such Phantom is Ash.

Working as a Chroma, a freelancer who undertakes jobs to solve people’s problems, Ash worked alongside Marona’s parents, until the day of their tragic demise. As the only “survivor,” Ash swore to look after Marona and has since remained at Marona’s side, raising her to the age of 13, and from there, the events of the first Phantom Brave game got underway.

After an epic quest across the ocean planet of Ivoire and a super-powered showdown against a dangerous foe, Ash and Marona continued with their seafaring adventures as the years passed by. But, after already having to endure a lot of prejudice, especially over the fact Marona can talk to Phantoms and recruit them to her cause, before becoming revered, they must now face a new threat… separation.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, begins with a chance encounter against the Shipwreck Fleet and this threat is not taken lightly. Especially when a masked man appears and steals a vast quantity of Marona’s power. The execution of this idea makes for a decent opening, as it continues Marona’s story and provides a decent reason as to why she’s got to start all over again, in terms of power, instead of making her an overpowered protagonist in a new part of Ivoire. Or worse, casts her as a weakening by making out her power is next to nothing in a more dangerous part of Ivoire.

Nevertheless, depowered and separated from Ash, Marona’s future looks bleak, but all is not lost. Fortune would smile down upon her, for she would wash up ashore on Skullrock Island, and there she would meet a new Phantom she could form a lasting bond with. From that point on, together with Apricot, a new Phantom Brave adventure can properly get underway as one simple adventure becomes so much more.

As for the actual gameplay of Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, with the story broken up across multiple chapters, and each chapter consisting of a series of battles, each battle takes place on an isometric board. Marona, being the playable protagonist, is the only immediate character you have control of, but by recruiting Phantoms to your cause, Marona can confine them to items on the map, to give them physical form and have them aid her. As for what class as an item, it ranges from trees, shells, swords, bushes, and more, and depending on a Phantom’s chance of successfully plundering the item you confine them to, you might be able to take it with you when you complete the map.

Furthermore, in addition to what you can plunder, certain items provide stat-boosting attributes that when a Phantom is confined, can make the most out of, during battle. The only downside to confining is that it doesn’t last forever and after a set amount of turns, (it differs per each character’s class) the Phantom retreats from the battlefield. Fortunately, as long as you have plenty more from where they come from, more can be summoned in, but you can only deploy 14 Phantoms to the battlefield as long as they don’t have an item equipped. If they do, each Phantom counts as 2, meaning you can only have 7 deployed. So, it’s important to choose wisely, but a Phantom with a weapon will have access to more skills for attacking.

In terms of movement, each character class dictates how much movement a Phantom has each turn, but, since each terrain makes use of “traction and pliability characteristics,” this can impact how far certain Phantoms will slide, move, or bounce. For a bit more movement, unless it’s Marona who can Instant Throw, your Phantoms will need to be unarmed so they can pick up and throw their teammates. Additionally, while you can’t throw enemies, as long as your Phantom is unarmed, they can take their chance at stealing an enemy’s weapon.

It’s a shame you can’t throw enemies off the edge of a map, resulting in an O.B. (out-of-bounds), but at least you can still knock them off via certain attacks and skills. What’s more, unlike in the original Phantom Brave game where a player goes O.B., they are gone for the rest of the battle, in The Lost Hero, they lose some health but can carry on, being spawned back onto the map unless they were already dead.

Another fun thing you can do with Phantoms is the Confriend feature. As long as Marona has formed a decent bond with a Phantom you use regularly, Marona can use the Confriend function. With it, she can confine a Phantom into herself for a set number of turns to expand her movement and deal even more damage. Incidentally, to deal real damage, while leveling up each character helps, fusing weapons and leveling up weapons impacts a character’s stats more so.

To complete each given battle, while the conditions can occasionally differ, for the most part, you need only to defeat all enemies and not let all of your allies be defeated. Then, when you are victorious in battles, you can choose to carry on into the next one or return back to Skullrock Island. While not overly huge, this is your hub world where Marona can get things done when not battling. Players are very limited in the beginning, only having access to a few features, but as you unlock more classes and can create more Phantoms, new menu options become available.

Through the shop, new weapons and items can be purchased, including rare items, and anything you don’t need, can be sold. With Fusion, players can use all Mana they’ve acquired to combine powerful weapons to make them even stronger. With Books and Eggs, characters can be reincarnated or awakened. Heal allows you to heal fallen characters. The Juice Bar allows you to determine how much EXP gain per battle, you set aside so it can accumulate and be used later on to immediately level up a new character as soon as you get one you like. You can also use the stored-up EXP to strengthen a weaker character to get them back up to scratch.

With skills, all scrolls you can obtain can be consumed, allowing you to teach your Phantoms new skills and abilities and even then there are more facilities to discover. Marina allows Marona to add more ships to the Argento Pirate Crew’s fleet with your chosen ship offering its stat-boosting effects and you can select your preferred crew type to determine more EXP gain. Gadgets allow you to first purchase gadgets that can be used in battle by making Apricot drop them and then Marona confining a spirit to them. Requests come in the form of two different types, those that require an item to complete it or require you to do a challenging battle, which some can reward you with new character classes to summon, such as Succubus or Prinny.

Then there is Titles, which allows you to assign titles to a character or an item, thus impacting their stat attributes. Create Dungeon permits you to create dungeons to play through so that you can clear random stages to level up faster, collect items, and “strengthen titles.” Via the Salvage facility, players can dispatch a salvage crew to look for an item each time. Additionally, there is a Music section, which is the place to go to listen to all the music you have acquired, by purchasing it every time you complete a new chapter and buy the available tunes from the shop.

A number of the facilities will allow players to spend their hard-won BOR to upgrade their utilities, but, despite having so much going for it and some fun ways to level up, since Level 100 is rookie numbers in a Nippon Ichi Software game, it would have been nice if when sending your salvage team, you could send more then one and send your spare Phantoms off to do it.

This way they’re put to work and you can level them up that way. It would also have been nice if Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero featured a fast forward and an Auto Battle function as they could have been used to speed up slower battles and dungeon exploration. It’s a lovely asset to have in the Disgaea games and it can help make all the difference in leveling your characters up faster so you can breeze through hard mode as if it were easy, instead of manually grinding and still having to play on easy mode.

Lastly, there’s a data menu, which is handy for checking out your play records, illustrations obtained, trophies earned, viewing characters, items, and events. But, in case you wish to replay Skullrock Island, read letters and newspapers, or check out the DLC menu, you’ll need to head on over to the mailbox located on the beach on the south side of Skullrock Island.  

It looks like a Disgaea game, it plays like a Disgaea game, and even without the presence of Prinnies, it even feels like a Disgaea game, but, Nippon Ichi Software has ensured it still feels like a true Phantom Brave sequel. It’s been a long time coming and depending on how well it performs, hopefully, we won’t have as long to wait for a third game.

So, with a demo available now in the Nintendo Switch eShop, there’s no better time to discover the Phantom Brave series. The story can feel long-winded at times and is rather slow to get going, but before you know it, the chapters start to fly by. And for those who miss the characters from the first game too much, you can always purchase the DLC and play through bonus stories to obtain them.

Game Specifications:

Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher: NIS America
Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Category: Strategy, Role-playing
No. of Players: 1 (Single System)
Release Date: January 30, 2025
Price: $59.99
File Size: 3.3 GB
Nintendo.com Listing