Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time has been cooking for a long, long while, but after being delayed thrice, the sequel to a 3DS classic seems to now have a firm release date. (Fingers crossed.)
Level 5 has just announced that the genre mash-up is launching on May 21, and the studio has seemingly used its extra dev time to bring Fantasy Life i to even more platforms as it's now coming out on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC in addition to the Nintendo Switch - and, by extension, the Nintendo Switch 2, if it's out by then.
The open-world, dungeon-crawling action-RPG that also happens to be a farming and life sim craftathon that also happens to stuff in some MMO elements (deep breath) is launching with four-player co-op, cross-play, and cross-platform progression. A Digital Deluxe edition also lets you play slightly early from May 18.
- Fantasy Life developer says it struggled with "compatible platforms and new hardware," but now the long-awaited 3DS game sequel is "shaping up to be an outstanding RPG"
- We're only 3 months into 2025, but this year has already been stellar for RPG sickos like me – and it's showing no signs of slowing down
Fans of the original 3DS game have been through a pretty excruciating wait, though. Fantasy Life i was first slated to release in 2023, then pushed to October 2024, and then again to April 2025, before finally (hopefully) landing on its new May release date.
Pulling off something as ambitious as Fantasy Life is no easy feat, however, especially since the sequel looks like five games in one. You have a massive open-world, fitting called Ginormosia, which pulls you across various biomes with shrines a la Breath of the Wild. You have 14 different jobs ('Lives') that let you play out different MMO-ish fantasies. You have procgen dungeons to slash through. And you have an entire island and home to customize Animal Crossing-style, plus a cast of colorful creatures to befriend - though, I need to shoutout how much easier terraforming seems here since you can just hop into a giant mech and play God top-down. It's a lot, but anyone who's been waiting for 13 years will have tons to sink their teeth into.
For now, see what else is coming down the pipeline with our new games of 2025 and beyond release calendar.
