Right now in the Nintendo eShop there's a brand new Bravely Default demo available. If you haven't heard about the latest Square Enix RPG yet just wait- you will.
Bravely Default was developed by Silicon Studio, creators of the underrated adventure game 3D Dot Game Heroes. It launched in Europe, Japan and Australia last month and has been highly critically acclaimed, ending up on many best-of lists alongside the likes of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Pokemon X/Y. It's considered the spiritual successor to the 2010 video game Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light but is its own game inspired by both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. The name of the game refers to the combat system- Default is normal, while Brave lets you unleash multiple attacks. Expect turn-based combat, a job system, and even a little town simulation thrown in. It even utilizes StreetPass, as people that you tag in real life can help you rebuild your town in the game.
We're not getting the game till next month but the demo is available to download in the U.S. right now. The best part about this Bravely Default demo? It's a side quest that's not available in the main game! That's right- this is brand new content for the game that's not available anywhere else, available to you completely free. Head to the Nintendo eShop on your 3DS right now to download it- it's featured right on the front page and you have nothing to lose. The demo gives you thirty plays before it doesn't work anymore, more than enough time to play through all of the content and see what you think.
If you want to get even more of a leg-up on the game, check out the offiical site here. There's not a lot of content just yet (a whole lot of "coming soon" tags) but there is a section that gives you AR Cards that you can print out.
These are the cards that come with the packaged game- if you download it from the eShop you'll have to grab them from here anyway. These cards offer immersive AR scenes that let you interact with the characters, a really neat little touch. Here's a trailer to give you even more of an idea of what to expect. (Yes, this is the typical JRPG "It's up to you to save the world" stuff, but what can you do?)
A sequel, Bravely Second, was just announced last month, so if we all love the game as much as people are telling us we're going to we already have more to look forward to. Bravely Default will hit North American on February 7th.
