Breath of Fire IV Review Summary

Last updated: 2026-04-02
  • Nostalgic and classic JRPG experience.
  • Engaging story and enjoyable gameplay.
  • Praised character and enemy design.
  • Turn-based JRPG mechanics with interesting combat.
  • Poor port quality with visual problems.
  • Missing features, options, and language support.
Breath of Fire IV header

Emotions

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Review evidence

Why players say this

What players like

Nostalgic Experience: Players express nostalgia for the game, appreciating its return to modern platforms.

Classic JRPG Praise: Many players appreciate the game as a classic JRPG, highlighting its traditional elements and overall quality.

Character and Enemy Design: The design of characters and enemies is frequently mentioned as a strong point of the game.

Masterpiece Status: Many reviews describe the game as a masterpiece, indicating high regard and appreciation.

Enjoyable Gameplay: Players find the gameplay pleasant and enjoyable, contributing to a positive experience.

Common complaints

Poor port quality: The game is criticized for being a terrible or janky port, with various technical issues affecting gameplay and user experience.

Visual and graphical problems: Players have reported various graphical issues, including ugly 3D models, lack of texture improvements, poor visual quality, and stretched textures.

Missing features and options: The game lacks several features and options that players expect, such as point filtering, scanlines, CRT filter, and proper borderless window mode.

Lack of Chinese language support: Players have noted the absence of Chinese language support in the game, which is a significant drawback for Chinese-speaking users.

Alt+Tab crashes: The game crashes or controllers stop working when players alt+tab, which is a significant inconvenience.

Gameplay and performance

Turn-based JRPG mechanics: The game features turn-based mechanics typical of JRPGs, providing a classic role-playing experience.

Achievements for progression: Players can earn achievements for finishing chapters, reaching levels, and fighting bosses, adding to the game's replay value.

Interesting and balanced combat: The combat system is interesting and challenging without being overly difficult, striking a good balance.

Dual character perspectives: The game features dual character perspectives with consequences, adding depth to the storyline and gameplay.

Story-driven gameplay experience: The game is heavily focused on its story, driving the gameplay and player engagement.

Graphical issues and improvements: Players have noted various graphical issues, but there are also mentions of improved graphics and sharper visuals.

FPS locked at 30: The game is locked at 30 FPS, which is a concern for players expecting higher frame rates.

Game auto-exiting on devices: The game auto-exits on specific devices and operating systems, causing frustration for affected players.

Texture and sprite quality: There are calls for improvements in texture and sprite quality to enhance the visual experience.

Smoothing and blurring issues: Players have complained about awful smoothing and blurring effects in the game.

Recommendations

Recommended for JRPG fans: This game is highly recommended for fans of Japanese Role-Playing Games (JRPGs) and those who appreciate this specific graphics style.

Buying context

Game completion: 40.0h.

Story completion: 30.0h.

Player profiles

Nostalgic JRPG Enthusiast: Enjoys turn-based combat and retro graphics. Motivation: Nostalgia and love for classic JRPG gameplay. Stance: buy.

Platform notes

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback reveals several key issues with the Steam Deck experience. Controller support and user interface problems are frequently mentioned, with users needing to tweak controller layouts and experiencing difficulties with navigation. Compatibility with SteamOS is a significant concern, as some users report the game being non-functional. Performance issues, such as a locked framerate and visual quality, are also noted. Despite these issues, some users report a positive experience with the game running well on the Steam Deck.

Linux and Proton: The game has mixed compatibility with Linux/SteamOS. While it works well on Steam Deck out of the box, it is reported to be non-functional on SteamOS, indicating potential issues that need to be addressed for broader Linux compatibility.