Review: Freedom Wars Remastered

I have fond memories of the original release of Freedom Wars back in 2014 on the PlayStation Vita, as it felt like one of the more unique exclusives on the platform. Fast forward to today, over a decade later, and developer Dimps and publisher Bandai Namco have brought the action RPG to the modern console and PC market in the form of Freedom Wars Remastered.

When it comes to giving a title the remastered treatment, Freedom Wars may just be the ideal candidate. Even though over 700,000 copies of the original were sold, being exclusive to a handheld console still meant many never gave it a try, even if it seemed right up their alley. It’s a game that even in over a decade ago I felt it could potentially feel and play even better on a console, so it’s great to finally have that opportunity.

Freedom Wars Remastered (PC, PS5 [reviewed], PS4, Switch)
Developer: Dimps
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Released: January 10, 2025
MSRP: $39.99

If you didn’t have the privilege of playing the original back in 2014, Freedom Wars Remastered takes place in a dystopian post-apocalyptic future where all of humanity exists inside enormous underground prison facilities called Pantopicons. At birth, every human is sentenced to one million years of imprisonment simply for existing in a time where resources are scarce, and the surface of the planet is inhabitable. By completing missions for your Panopticon—typically going out and slaying giant monsters called Abductors Monster Hunter-style—you’ll reduce your lengthy sentence and earn rewards for doing so to incentivize you to keep chipping away at it.

Of course, you can easily add to your sentence, as well. Stand around too long while you should be actively completing your mission? Here’s an extra decade to your sentence. Have the audacity to waste your Panopticon’s time by failing a mission? Here’s a few thousand years. Your sentence is mostly just dressing to the events going on in Freedom Wars Remastered, but I have to admit the gameplay loop feels even better when you see the fruits of your labor result in that sentence going down.

I found the story of Freedom Wars Remastered to be quite intriguing a decade ago, and it probably holds up even better today than it did then. In 2014, it seemed a bit too farfetched, but as we head into 2025 many aspects of the grim reality of the title’s setting seem to hit home just a bit harder this time around; themes of government surveillance, a punishing social credit system, and the value of human life and freedom being reduced to a mere number are just some that echoed with me more.

The gameplay loop of Freedom Wars Remastered is simply yet enticing enough. Choose a mission from your Panopticon, then head to a preset map to complete said mission with some simplistic but fluid action RPG combat. You have both ranged and melee weapons—which of course, being a Monster Hunter-like game, you’ll upgrade using parts you knock off the monsters you defeat—but can also jump around and also even quickly traverse the battlefield through the use of an item called a Thorn.

All Sinners (the name for those serving a sentence to their Panopticon, so pretty much everyone) has a Thorn which is essentially a lasso mixed with a grappling hook. It allows you to try and bring down certain enemies but, more commonly, is used to quickly sling around the area. There are even some rather unique aerial attacks you can pull off by using your Thorn appropriately, which is both fun and rewarding as they often allow you to target otherwise hard-to-reach parts on the Abductors.

Freedom Wars Remastered is also a fully functional multiplayer game in more ways than one. Most importantly, you can team up with or even do battle against up to seven other players at once, either working together with a team of four to take on Abductors, or in a PvPvE style setting against another team of four.

Another cool multiplayer element is that when you start the game, you choose from one of many locations as the Panopticon you represent. At the moment, it looks like only Japan’s 47 prefectures are available, but I know in the original Freedom Wars there were also some generalized Panopticons for various countries, which may be the case when full release hits. Your sentence serves as your “score” and is compared against other players, both globally and in your Panopticon, in the form of a leaderboard. It’s a cool feature that also ties in well with the societal narratives of the story, which is fun.

Overall the combat of Freedom Wars Remastered is fast-paced and fluid like you’d expect from a game taking inspiration from Monster Hunter, but it’s a bit more simplistic than MH. But it still manages to stay fun and rewarding feeling throughout the entire story and campaign.

The main upgrade of the remastered version is the visual enhancements, allowing for up to 4K resolution and 60 FPS on PlayStation and PC, as well as upgraded textures. The improvements are definitely noticable—remember, this was a Vita game originally, after all—but don’t expect anything revolutionary. The upgraded textures make things look more modern and overall crisp, but some graphical elements such as facial animations and various animations during cutscenes don’t seem to have received the same amount of love and still show signs of a past generation (or two).

My main complaints after my roughly 30-hour adventure through Freedom Wars Remastered echo the same complaints I had over a decade ago when I played the original on Vita. The story is intriguing and mysterious enough to have kept me hooked, but the end result is extremely disappointing. It’s about as much of a cliffhanger as it gets, and certainly sets things up for a sequel that never happened. Hopefully, the remastered treatment is a hint that a sequel is finally coming, one I’d certainly welcome with open arms.

Crafting and upgrade weapons have received a bit of a rework in Freedom Wars Remastered, but some of the bigger flaws like very few actual worthwhile stats worth pursuing on your gear and a rather lackluster pool of end-game options still exist for those that look to continue their play after the credits have rolled.

Despite the issues, though, Freedom Wars Remastered is a fun time, especially for anyone looking to sink their teeth into an action RPG with the loop of slaying big monsters for parts to upgrade their gear. The story is intriguing and engaging, and overall worthwhile to experience even with the cliffhanger ending. The combat is engaging and fun, and sure to scratch that Monster Hunter itch. Even over a decade later, Freedom Wars Remastered is an extremely satisfying endeavor with the constant reward of seeing your million-year sentence drop lower and lower as you progress, a feeling that’s been a bit absent in this 10-year window since the original.