LIGHTNING RETURNS™: FINAL FANTASY® XIII
LIGHTNING RETURNS™: FINAL FANTASY® XIII
Game
Game2014
FINAL FANTASY® XIII-2
Developer Square Enix
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a 2011 role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released in 2011 in Japan and 2012 in North America and PAL regions, and was ported to Windows in 2014. XIII-2 is a direct sequel to the 2009 role-playing game Final Fantasy XIII and part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis subseries. It includes modified features from the previous game,… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
251 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Mastodon, Bluesky) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
57
Mixed
137 positive · 102 negative
95% range 51–63%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 137 | 102 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Bluesky * | 1 | 0 | 2 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mixed
2,199 of 3,773 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Mixed reception: praised for improvements but heavily criticized for broken PC port.
Many players love the game itself, calling it a great improvement over FFXIII with better story, characters, and combat. One fan says it's 'the best one out of the XIII Trilogy' and another notes 'the things that I didn’t like about the first game are completely different here'. [3][5]
However, the PC port is widely condemned as broken and unplayable without fan patches. Players report constant crashes, audio issues, and incompatibility with Windows 11. One reviewer warns 'DO NOT BUY! Square Enix left this already unoptimized PC port in an unplayable state' and another calls it 'borderline a scam'. [27][28]
Praised improved story and characters · fun combat and monster system · great soundtrack
Criticised broken PC port · crashes and bugs · requires mods to run
Summary drafted by an AI model from the 36 reactions it cites ([n] links open each post), then checked by code: every paragraph cites real posts and every quote is verbatim. Written Oct 8, 2026. Method
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
FINAL FANTASY® XIII-2 sits at 57% positive across 239 opinionated reactions from 3 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
During its first week of release in Japan, Final Fantasy XIII-2 sold 524,000 copies, and the PlayStation 3 version was the highest-selling game for the system. The Xbox 360 version only reached 48th. Although high, initial sales were notably lower than what they were for the game's predecessor, which sold 1.5 million units in its first week. By the end of the year, the game had sold over 697,000 units, and was the fifth-best selling game of 2011 in Japan. It was just below four handheld video games, making it the highest-selling home console game in Japan that year. In the United States, the game placed as the second-best selling game of February 2012, just below Call of Duty: Modern…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 251 · most liked firstHappy 14 years today (Japan release) to a game I adore ❤️🥺 #FinalFantasyXIII2
positive · AI labelView post →Crashes alot. How square be selling a broken game and Steam is letting it happen?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →2026 to all that wont to try this game. The game hase same problems like FF13. Play it on 1080 p sems to be the best quality and DISABLE Steam cloud save for this game it crashes if its on. I added a FF13-2 HD mode and FF13 (FF13-2) FIX to my game to solve some problems with lagig and for bether picture. It works way bether now. I was able to finish the game without any big problems. The story is interesting the gamplay is almost the same. There are some changes to the systems from FF13. My…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So it's known, it's not enough to apply FF13Fix mod - you need to do the 4GB Patch as well which expands the game's available RAM (it is old and i think 32-bit). After both patches, and even HD mods, i have 0 crashes. This is a fantastic sequel so far. I played XIII and XIII-2 back to back, so here are all the improvements I've noticed: - Faster movement speed - Swap between whoever you want while exploring - LIBRA IS NO LONGER NECESSARY - Nonlinear levels & story - Travel to any area from any…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First of all, don't judge my review based on my steam's play time as I've played and platinumed XIII-2 back on PS3. So whilst the steam version is... less than favourable because of the copious amount of bugs, I can't rate XIII-2 negatively because I absolutely *love* this game and think it's the best one out of the XIII Trilogy. I love Serah, Noel and Mog as the protags and think their chemistry is one of the best in the entire Final Fantasy series, Caius is easily top three best villains as…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The universe broke, so Lightning’s sister and a guy from the end of time team up with a flying pom-pom creature to fix history using a literal time-travel elevator. The plot makes absolutely zero sense, but it doesn't matter because you can tame a giant cactus, put a chef hat on it, and force it to fight god for you
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As FFXIII's number one glazer until the day I die, utterly in love with that game's story, premise and ending I have to say that not only is the sequel a massive step down in almost every regard, but it's also one of the worst PC ports I have ever had the misfortune of subjecting myself to. The fact this is even allowed to be sold on Steam when it's just about functional with the mods to "fix" it is a downright embarrassment for Square Enix and a disservice to the FFXIII trilogy. The fact the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Works fine on steam deck, but not on win 11. Weird audio buzzing sound, then it crashes. So uninstalled on PC and will just relive the 13-2 days on steam deck.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game being on the store is a scam and it should be removed. I bought the game last week alongside Lightning returns because I wanted to complete the ff13 series. Started the game, sound issues. Found a fix. Started playing again, crashing constantly, turns out steam saves being on causes it. I turn it off. Still not fixed but was able to play in very short bursts. Use Windows compatibility modes, use the 4GB patch and change other settings, get through the first gate in game which is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love the game, but the PC version is broken and these scumbags won't fix it!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This turned out to be such a nice surprise. The things that I didn’t like about the first game are completely different here (the confusing story and unlikeable characters) The story is basically about time travel, which at first I also found a bit confusing, especially the side quests and fragments, but the more I played, the more it made sense and the more I got into it. The MCs!! I loved them, Serah and Noel are amazing. (Serah lowkey reminds me of Aerith, who’s my favorite character, so…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →DO NOT BUY! Square Enix left this already unoptimized PC port in an unplayable state, game doesn't communicate well with steam cloud so it crashes whenever you load a cloud save, and even with cloud save off, it still crashes every 5 seconds, not to mention the constant hiccups in fps every time you take one step in-game. STAY AWAY FROM THIS CASHGRAB MESS!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →get the mod that fixes the crashes, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato, baby you got a stew goin
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Having played the game with FF13Fix and Nova Chrysalia, I had a smooth experience with the PC port. Although I enjoyed the gameplay far more than FF13, the story was a genuine meh. I HATE time travel/multiverse stuff in any media. Having read Fragments Before and planning to read Fragments After, the most genuine fun I had was reading the chapter about how Hope's father Bartholomew and Cid's right arm Rygdea staged a coup against the old Sanctum government to set up the provisional…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is borderline a scam, it runs terribly even with the fan patches for me. There is also a chance for the game to completely softlock so good luck if you hadn't made a manual save, i lost a good 8 hours of progress. worst part is the actual game is pretty good once you can actually play it Port: -10000/10
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Doesn't work in Windows 11 😔 However it works well on the steamdeck, in case of you have one By story and gameplays it's nice game, but this port makes this literally unplayable for the most modern systems. You launch the game, wait for a while and... Guess what, nothing happened. It just crashes upon launch and you can't do anything. So it just remains as game for the collection. Unless they plan to fix it (not in this reality) or make a remaster for the modern hardware
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this stupid broken game. OST is great, story is final fantasy, combat is surprisingly fun and unique but damn does it take a while to get to the meat of it. Look its my Final Fantasy SMT. I'll take what I can get. Yes the game is unplayable out of the box. Go to the steam community hub, go to guides, and install the patches that make this game actually work. Now back to the chocobo races.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a good game, but this is a bad port. Expect to jump through a number of hoops to get this running decently on your system, and even then, crashes are still very possible with this mess of spaghetti code. Unless SE were to re-release this under the guise of a remaster that actually works as intended, play it on PS3 or Xbox instead if that's an option for you.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While I enjoyed the foundation of FF13, its sequel unfortunately fails to build on it. Instead, FF13-2 commits a classic writing sin: introducing convoluted timelines and time travel. The developers seem to have confused non-linearity with obscurity. While you gain more freedom, the diverging paths are often overwhelming and confusing. The early side content feels bare-bones, and the mandatory puzzles boil down to tedious 'use-and-wait' loops that lack genuine engagement. One of the greatest…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unplayable. After a certain cutscene at the beginning of the game the game crashes. Very bad port...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A damn good game and sequel my fav entry, Why the thumbs down? you must use this guide before you can play the game. the game is litteraly broken on most pc's especially on later windows https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2038838545
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game has a terrible port and has to be modded in order to work on a modern pc. Constant crashing
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game but chances are that this game WILL NOT RUN unless you do a few (easy) extra steps. Helpful guides to do so are in the community tab
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The story continues off of Final Fantasy XIII, where you're now playing as Serah who was freed from the ice crystal. Lightning was sent to a different timeline after the events of the final battle, and now it's up to you travel through time and fix reality, as everything is being altered by the main antagonist, Caius. The soundtrack is one of the best pieces you'll ever hear in a video game, the story for the game is great, and there's a lot of emotion and desperation, as you're only…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Constant crashing even while saving, been wanting to give this game a fair shot for the longest. Unoptimized game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →an amazing game 10/10 after ffxiii i immediately started playing part 2. i'm glad the combat isn't too different, it's actually better in my opinion because of the shifts and the fact you won't lose if your team leader dies. i do miss the eidolons, in ffxiii-2 you have monsters instead and you can give them an accessory (it's such a little detail but i love it, you can also change the main characters outfit). i did experience problems at first since my game kept crashing but after…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game is good but the problem is that there is a lot of problems that need an update but the owners of the game did not fix the crashing issues and many other issues i hope at least there is a remaster for the ffXIII trilogy Because it been years and people are waiting and got nothing
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I started XIII-2 right after finishing XIII and was told this game addressed a lot of the issues that people had with it's predecessor and I was met with a really good time! Before anything, I have to address the performance. Like XIII you really should install a patch called FFXIIIFix which if you happen to do this for XIII, you already have the file you need to smooth out performance in this game too in that download. I didn't run into any issues after booting up the game and I'm on Windows…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While Final Fantasy XIII-2 retains some fundamental weaknesses from its predecessor, it is a great improvement both narratively and in terms of its gameplay while also introducing some novel concepts such as the new Monster companion system and a solid postgame. Story and Setting XIII-2 begins a little bit after the events of XIII, during which Lightning and her group were successful in stopping the fall of Cocoon as Fang and Vanille crystallized to create a pillar to keep it afloat above…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 feels like a game that learned from the weaknesses of its predecessor and tried to answer them with more freedom, more energy, and a much stronger sense of adventure. Instead of pushing the player down a narrow path for too long, it opens up much earlier and gives the journey a more playful structure. The result is a game that feels lighter on its feet, but still carries enough emotional weight to stay memorable. One of the biggest strengths of the game is the partnership…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you are ever to get this game do not get the PC version, even among all of the XIII series this entry is by far the most unstable and glitchy. Square Enix have made almost no effort to make any of the XIII games fixed by any stretch and have practically abandoned them. For the game itself it is excellent and in some ways is much better than the first game as you get even more excellent story, character interactions and gameplay. The villain is arguably better than the first game and has a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First of all: Square Enix should really fix this port so it works fine out of the box. It shouldn't be necessary to install mod fixes to have a minimally nice experience with the game, but alas that's not the case so at least we had people nice enough to develop workarounds for issues that the developer itself should've fixed a long time ago. But don't let the technical issues deter you from playing this game: it was a really nice and positive surprise. The story is interesting and the combat…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wonderful game, but it requires god knows how many patches and tweaks just to function like its console counterpart. An official PC port that costs real money should not require this level of work to function for any reason. Get the game on console instead. Please.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't leave recommendations on games very often, this being an exception. I played through XIII-2 Very recently and really enjoyed it. Especially being a long time fan of the Final Fantasy entries. I think that this game is way too over hated, and found myself thinking about it days after finishing it. It's definitely a game that you have to sit on. XIII-2 Improves on everything that It can with the budget that it was given in my opinion. The paradigm system is insanely fun, and fights feel…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There are modding guides on the Steam Community page for this game; one covers all the bits and pieces you need to get it up and running on a modern system. It takes about half an hour to set up. I'm saying this because I did this and had a perfectly functioning game for the entire time I played it. It's worth spending the half an hour to make this happen if XIII-2 has ever interested you. I started with the above because XIII-2 has always interested me - I'm an enjoyer of XIII, whilst…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After earning 100% achievements and experiencing everything the game has to offer, I can confidently say that Final Fantasy XIII-2 is one of the most enjoyable JRPGs I've ever played. Compared to its predecessor, the game feels significantly more open and rewarding to explore. The time-travel system encourages curiosity, and hunting down every Fragment became surprisingly addictive. Instead of feeling forced through a straight path, I constantly felt motivated to see what would happen next and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love this game and its very stupid plot. I can guarantee you will not follow along even and especially if you have played Final Fantasy XIII. Unfortunately don't get the PC release what so ever its terrible and unplayable without extreme amounts of user alterations and work...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →They'll release FFX one hundred times at full price before they even think about porting or fixing the 13 trilogy LMAO. Get the xbox for PC version instead.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →can't play but forever be on my account.. it wont play on windows 11 tryed to put in the settings but still wont play
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't know what all these negative reviews are about. It took me 10 min research, DL and install patches. Another hour to DL the hires pack off the mod site. Game is fun. I just wish you could have more playable characters instead of the monster training thing. But it's still fun.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I had a very weird sensation booting up 13-2. During the intro sequence I paused just to make sure this was actually the sequel I thought it was, that I hadn't accidentally bought Lightning Returns, downloaded and booted it up, gone past the main menu and hit New Game all without noticing. I say this because for as bombastic as the opening sequence is, it makes zero sense coming off the back of its predecessor. It does get explained in time, but it got me off to a very uncertain start. That…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →PC port dont work
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Before I could even start playing, I had to hunt down a performance fix on a third-party website just to stop the game from lagging constantly, which is ridiculous for a major release. To make matters worse, there was no English option available in our region, so I had to wade through the story with the Japanese version. Once I finally got into the game, the mission design quickly turned into a repetitive drag, making the whole experience feel tedious. The constant performance hiccups and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Go to pcgamingwiki to get the fixes but even then the 13-2 port is so bad you'll more than likely cap at 40fps outside of battles and certain areas. It's alright, not needed as a sequel but if you liked 13 enough it's okay. I already knew some of the characters from the defunct gacha game Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia which made me like the game more than I would've without it. Tying a secret ending behind 100% completion kind of sucks.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Revised review after one playthrough finished and with plenty of optional content left undone. It's one of the best non-mainline FF games ever, period and a step up from XIII. Literally everything wrong with the base game has been optimized. Also loved the darker tone and the whole quantum shenanigans, even though I know I'm biased when it comes to that. I can't recommend it enough, even as in the previous game, the port is garbage.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →port doesn't work. crashes so many times at the very beginning of the game. just buy it on xbox 360 or ps3 if you have one. i got it for ps3 and works completely fine.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game, install 4gb fix and the HD mod, play it. Has occasional lag spikes
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I loved the fact that there was a lot to do. It made game play interesting instead of following a single path with nothing else to do in the game. If you are having problems playing the game on steam and have tried everything then there is something that I have tried and it worked for me. I bought the game on Microsoft store for the computer and it works for me. It was 20 dollars, I just wish that I did not need to buy the game again
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Things to note before buying is that this game flatout DOESN'T WORK without mods every time i tried to get past the first fight as lightning i would finish the fight start the cutscene after the fight in valhalla and would be swiftly met with a not responding message so i reccomend modding it to make it work and now that thats out of the way. this game is really good id go as far to say its better than 13 it does SO much better than the first ff13 game for starters the camera isnt getting…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really appreciate how this game tries to bring a lot of variety into it. But my god i HATE that stupid pokemon encounter system. Just let me walk in peace. This literally gave me anxiety a lot of times because i just wanted to pass an area without having to fight mobs. By following the most popular guide i had almost zero problems with this game. Only a few areas had a bit of stuttering. DIdn't have a single crash.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow. Really, REALLY bad port. Literally keeps crashing right after the first cutscene and freezing my pc too. No other game does this. Ridiculous and shouldn't be on steam unless it gets fixed. Wanted to play but this ruins it for me. A whole 13 minutes of hoopla. Didnt get to even play the game. Byeee
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →really good, but unfortunately you need a patch so it doesnt crash every 30 mins or so
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game does need a patch before it even runs, also you must disable cloud saves in steam for this game, but after patch and setting change seems to run great (Look up ff13-2 4GB patch), I personally enjoy this one over 13, story is great, and not super grindy end game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →im a huge fan of ff13 and was really excited to play this, but this port is genuinely awful and literally unplayable for me. wouldnt load at all until i disabled steam cloud saving (crashed when loading save data) and as soon as i got to the first live rendered section, it was extremely laggy and then froze completely. i have a very good pc that should be more than capable of running this... pc port is just not worth it. if you can, just get a console copy and play it that way. EDIT: while the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Definitely the most underrated FF game in the series and one of my favourite RPGs of all time, if you can fix the PC Ports problems it's a very fun game and a wonderful journey into Time, Space and Beyond.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TLDR: If you're looking at buying this and haven't played before, I don't recommend, not just because the port doesn't work on it's own and you need to find a mod to make it run, but also because I just don't think it's very good. About a year ago I finally revisited the original FF13 after bouncing off of it when I first played it as a child. I really only made the effort to play through that game because I want to finish all mainline Final Fantasy games, and my playthrough of this game is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →English Version (french below) Now THAT'S how you make a sequel. The story is easier to follow, the gameplay is smoother but keeps the satisfying part of the first game, the music and graphics are still top notch and side content is spread out across the game instead of it being packed into a single place. The characters (especially the antagonist) are much better in my opinion, and they just added a pokemon-like feature that lets use captured enemies and make them evolve (even though it's…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Final Fantasy is one of my favorite games in the franchise and I could replay this game all day long. If you're going to play it though, make sure to follow the fixes in this guide so that you have no issues moving forward. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1165939123
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I cannot play the game. It crashes a lot. One scene, crash. The next scene crash. I tried everything to fix the game, but nope it doesn't work. Just don't buy the game, you will just waste your time trying to make this game work.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I loved the gameplay alot, But its genuinely unplayable, I've set everything to minimum and took to outside help for solutions for the dropping frame rate, but its so laggy to the point where i stopped playing in the middle of Acedamia . The game is great, the port is horrid.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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