Starting today, you can play Final Fantasy XIII with subscription to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass for console or PC. This version is developed by Virtuos, who also helped Square Enix develop Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster.

Originally released in 2010 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the thirteenth numbered title in the series takes place in a science fantasy world dominated by machine-like deities called fal’Cie. These entities bind humans against their will to carry out missions or face eternal damnation.

Such is the fate of Lightning and the main cast. Branded as traitors, they are hunted to the edge of Cocoon, a massive city encapsulated within a giant spheroid that hovers above the planet. In order to save their loved ones and free themselves from most certain doom, they must rebel against the fal’Cie and the forces that hunt them down to change their fate.

The game’s combat, dubbed “Command Synergy Battle” functions similarly to the series Active Time Battle, but takes the focus off selecting individual commands but by managing characters’ roles in combat. One can switch these roles quickly to react to various situations in battle. Outside battle, traversal is straightforward… in that many of the maps are will have you proceed straight forward until the final act, a point of contention in the era of flourishing open-world design.

The game was also a launchpad for the “Fabula Nova Crystallis” series, games that would share a similar approach to world building, and to which this website owes its name. Two sequels released “Final Fantasy XIII-2” and “Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII”. Former titles belonging to this universe were later removed and repurposed into Final Fantasy XV and Final Fantasy Type-0.

Final Fantasy XIII is also available through Steam and PlayStation 3.