The story focuses on Class Zero, a group of fourteen students from the Dominion of Rubrum who must fight the neighboring Militesi Empire when they launch an assault on the other Crystal States of Orience.

After Type-0 received a 2011 Japan-only release on PSP, Type-0 HD began development in mid-2012 as part of a move to promote the next generation of gaming consoles, and gave the opportunity for multiple changes to refine the experience for players.

Tabata came on board in July of that year as director and producer, though his involvement was fairly minor due to his directing duties for XV.

[13] The remaster was intended as an incentive for Final Fantasy players in both Japan and the west to purchase eighth generation consoles before XV's release.

[11] Lighting effects and in-game assets were improved and updated for HD consoles using the DirectX 11 technology utilized for XV.

Despite all these changes, the team took care that the lighting and shadow effects remained faithful to the look of the original, as updating too much of the game's visual style would fundamentally alter the experience.

Visual optimization was still going on during the game's reveal, with the team needing to create special screenshots of Type-0's characters operating inside the production environments of XV.

The team instead focused on upgrading the graphics, adjusting existing gameplay for home consoles, and including a lower difficulty level.

A small piece of the cutscene was shown privately to attendees of Square Enix's 25th anniversary commemoration event for the Final Fantasy series.

[20][21] In the cutscene, a fatally wounded samurai warrior resembling main protagonist Ace is saved from death by a fire spirit.

[22] At Tabata's suggestion, Naora expanded the color palette to increase the game's realism and tie in with XV's art style.

[23] During the run-up to release, the team made modifications to the camera after receiving negative comments during demonstrations, addressing scenery collisions and the visibility of player and enemy characters during active gameplay.

In addition, he composed a new battle theme and recorded an English version of "Colorful - Falling in Love", the track for Type-0's alternate ending.

[27] It was created and recorded by a four-person team: Ishimoto composed the music, while singer Chris Ito wrote and sang the lyrics.

The other two, T$UYO$HI and ZAX, were former members of alternate rock band Pay Money to My Pain and performed on bass guitar, and drums respectively.

[38] Limited editions of the game were produced for North America and Europe, for sale at selected high street and online stores.

[41] In contrast to the console version, the PC port allowed graphic adjustments, and included fixes for camera control and motion blur issues raised by players and reviewers after release.

[37] The winners of a separate special sweepstake received a themed PS4 or Xbox One, along with promotional artwork posters specific to each console, a Play Arts Kai mini-figurine of Ace, and a gold Vermillion Bird pin.

[50] He later commented that the main reasons for the original version not coming west was the flagging PSP market and the uncertainty of the Vita, making a port impractical.

[52] In an interview with GameSpot in November 2012, Tabata said that Square Enix was "taking a clean slate in terms of [their] plans", stating that if there was demand, a western release would be considered.

[51] A localization was officially decided upon in early 2014, when a survey taken by Square Enix Europe found that a large number of fans wanted the game to be released overseas.

[1] Becky Cunningham of GamesRadar was fascinated by the game's setting and the questions it posed about morality and memory, finding the story worth experiencing.

[62] RPGFan's Stephen Meyerink, despite saying the game had "goofy faces and silly moments", found the story and themes engaging.

[63] Damiani found the battles "a welcomed change" compared to previous Final Fantasy titles, but disliked other aspects such as the lock-on mechanic.

[33] Miller enjoyed exploring the characters' battle abilities, but found the high-speed detracted from the experience and considered the real-time strategy elements, boss fights and other systems poorly developed.

He was critical of the lengthy tutorials at the beginning of the game, and disappointed that the gameplay segments between missions did not impact the characters' combat ability as in the Persona series.

[67] Meyerink generally enjoyed the combat and various side activities, while faulting the game for inadequate introduction of gameplay elements.

[67] Miller said that the game's visuals were "dominated by muddy textures and frequent loading", while he negatively noted the removal of the original's multiplayer.

[65] Sullivan praised the lighting and shading effects, but shared Corriea's criticism of NPCs and noted low-quality environmental textures, saying she was "so bored by most environments that [she] stopped caring about them halfway through the story".

[73][74] As of October 2015, Type-0 HD had sold over one million copies worldwide, making a solid contribution to Square Enix's fiscal income for the year and the company's catalog of eighth-generation console games.