Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Demo Extended After Being Unplayable At Launch

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, the new Final Fantasy spin-off from Team Ninja, is having its limited-time PlayStation 5 demo extended by two additional days.

The demo will now be available to download and play until June 26. The news, via a translated Famitsu interview on the official Square Enix website, comes as a response to the Stranger of Paradise demo being completely unplayable when it first launched shortly after the game’s official reveal during Square Enix’s E3 2021 presentation. Eager players looking to try the game firsthand following the reveal were greeted with error messages saying game data was corrupted, and that it needed to be deleted and downloaded again.

Square Enix has been upfront about wanting feedback from fans who have played the demo, with Stranger of Paradise creative producer and longtime Final Fantasy developer Tetsuya Nomura telling fans that “if you have the setup to play it, we would really appreciate it if you could give it a go and let us know any feedback that you might have.”

In the same interview, Nomura goes on to clarify that Stranger of Paradise is not a sequel or prequel to the original Final Fantasy, but that the two games do share a setting. Stranger of Paradise game director Daisuke Inoue also shines some light on what exactly the game’s title is referring to.

“Strangers of Paradise means exactly what it says that these strangers are in the land of Paradise,” Inoue says. “At the same time, it could mean ‘people who shouldn’t be in Paradise’–I think it is a title that represents the story of the game perfectly.”

More than a few players have poked fun at the plain t-shirt attire of the game’s protagonist, Jack, but Nomura says that it’s all by design. The intent was to make it so the main characters of Stranger of Paradise would look opposite of what most players would think Final Fantasy I’s fabled Warriors of Light might look like.

“The reasoning behind Jack’s appearance is purely related to the story,” Nomura says. “Likewise, there’s meaning behind all of their names. But that would be a spoiler, so I’ll save that for another time.”

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is currently planned for a 2022 release on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and PC.