A new trailer for the upcoming Final Fantasy action game, Stranger of Paradise has been released, and far out – it’s a wild one. As a gritty, hard-as-nails reimagining of the events of the very first Final Fantasy game from 1987, Stranger of Paradise takes some sensational liberties with what was a relatively blank-slate scenario. Now, it’s brought along legendary crooner Frank Sinatra for the journey.
We’d previously been introduced to protagonist Jack and Stranger of Paradise’s outrageous world in its boisterous reveal trailer, which was wildly entertaining and ridiculously melodramatic – ‘I’m here to kill Chaos!‘ was a choice quote – but the final trailer ahead of the game’s release really makes some bold choices.
The first half of the trailer lightly details the events of the narrative while maintaining the tone the game has set for itself so far. It even features cheesy quotes like, ‘You dare brandish your blade at the Kraken?!‘
We also find out that Jack’s surname is Garland – notable because Garland is the main antagonist of the original Final Fantasy. How this will play into the idea that Jack and his group of allies (one of which is a dead ringer for Jessica Jones actor Krysten Ritter) are also supposed to be the heroic Warriors of Light from the same game will be interesting to see.
But the best bit is that halfway through the trailer, the Frank Sinatra version of ‘My Way’ kicks in as Jack expounds about love and trying to change the world. It’s a massive tonal shift from the angsty aggression we’ve seen from the game so far, and it’s incredibly amusing because of how unashamedly sincere it seems to be.
Read: Final Fantasy XIV’s great story is made better by being told in an MMORPG
We’re looking forward to Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins, in part because we’re hoping to hear more Sinatra during pivotal moments in the game, but also because the game is a take on the challenging action-RPG subgenre currently being popularised by FromSoftware. More intriguingly, it’s also being worked on by the talented Koei Tecmo team, who developed Ni-Oh.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins will be available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox consoles on 18 March 2022 (early access for those who preorder will begin three days earlier).
