Awakening is set in the universe of Final Fantasy Type-0, a spin-off title within the Fabula Nova Crystallis subseries.

Planning began in 2014 after the online elements of Final Fantasy Agito stalled due to technical difficulties.

Final Fantasy Awakening is an action role-playing game where players could take on the role of a cadet in the Dominion of Rubrum's magical academy.

[8] Between the game's missions, represented as nodes on a map of Orience, the players could explore the hub area of Rubrum's Akademia, talking to characters and accepting quests.

[9] There was a manual control option and an "auto" mode where battles were played out using the game's artificial intelligence (AI).

Additional battle effects were unlocked by including characters in the party with close relationships or similar skills.

The game was designed as a successor to Final Fantasy Agito, which had hit insurmountable technical barriers which stopped further development of its online functions.

[7][13] While Perfect World handled primary development, the original staff of Agito supervised the project.

[1] Awakening was the first Final Fantasy title to be licensed by Square Enix to another company for both production and publishing.

[16] In an interview, Motohashi said that they faced multiple challenges during development, mainly how to bring the original game's features over into a mobile experience.

They also wanted to make use of the original game's extensive cast, giving them a larger role in gameplay.

At this time, it was planned for Agito players to receive an unspecified "favor" if they chose to play Awakening.

[36] In a statement regarding the game's closure, Efun said it was due to the approaching end of the licensing agreement with Square Enix.

[2] Website GamerBraves praised the game for its nostalgic return to the world of Type-0 and engaging gameplay style, but faulted its cluttered interface and lack of some player-versus-player battle arena types.

[8] GameAxis called it "a worthwhile entry for players hungry for Type-0 content", praising its gameplay but faulting its inclusion of microtransactions.

[9] Geek Culture again praised the gameplay and positively compared its cinematic presentation to home console games, but again negatively noted the presence of microtransactions despite the reviewer not feeling pressured into using them.