The Last Remnant (ラストレムナント, Rasuto Remunanto) is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix.

The game follows a teenage warrior on a quest to end the war, in a fictional world divided into multiple city-states and inhabited by four different species.

The game features a unique battle system in which the player commands multiple groups, or "unions", of characters rather than individual units.

[6] The game's soundtrack was released as a three-disc album, composed by Tsuyoshi Sekito and Yasuhiro Yamanaka.

[7] The player controls Rush Sykes, as he travels around the world screen within an area, with the camera floating behind and slightly above him.

Instead of random encounters, players enter the separated battle when they touch an enemy on the main world screen.

The player can enter a battle with multiple enemies at once, by using a "time-shift" system, which slows the time for Rush to provoke them.

Rush's equipment can be upgraded to many different options, while other units request materials, which can be purchased at stores, acquired in battles or found in areas using a creature called Mr.

The story of the game revolves around "Remnants", ancient and powerful magical artifacts, which have been the cause of several wars.

[14][15] As Remnants come in varying forms, all cities throughout the world have at least one that their ruler is bound to that assist in governing and bring peace to their assigned realm.

[16] He meets and joins David Nassau, the young ruler of the city-state of Athlum, and his generals: Emma Honeywell, Yama Blocter, Qsiti Pagus, and Torgal.

After chasing Wagram and Irina for several missions, the group attends the Congress meeting of the leaders of the city-states in Elysion, home to the Ark Remnant, which can transport users to the Sacred Lands.

[19] The Conqueror arrives at the Congress, binds the Ark, and demands to be given a massive Remnant of the type that each city-state has.

[21][22] David takes the lead in opposing the Conqueror in hopes of earning independence for Athlum, which is currently a vassal state to Celapaleis.

Irina uses Nagapur's Remnant to protect her brother from the Conqueror, destroying half of the city in the process.

When the party travels to the God-Emperor's city, Undelwalt, they find Wagram, who tells them that the Conqueror is a Remnant himself.

[31] The game was written by Masato Yagi and Miwa Shoda, whose work was based on a scenario concept by Akitoshi Kawazu.

[8] Because they used a licensed engine rather than making their own, the production time needed to display graphical resources onscreen was cut significantly, allowing the team to begin illustrating and experimenting at an early stage.

[13] The decision to use a licensed engine, rather than develop their own as was traditional at Square Enix at the time, was made due to concerns in the company of the rising production costs of making a game, and the direct development time savings possible from using an existing engine.

[32] On February 17, 2010, Square-Enix's chief technology officer, Julien Merceron, claimed in an interview that most of the completed game's perceived technical shortcomings were caused by a decision to use the Unreal Engine to not only cut development time but also to reduce the number of skilled programmers that would otherwise be on the project.

Square Enix has not released any official reason for the absence, though Takai said that he found developing for the 360 "a lot easier" than for the PlayStation 3.

[18][44][47] However, all three review sites gave a higher score for the PC version, citing drastically improved graphical performance,[10][43][46] but still with texture pop-in and slow loading times when moving between areas and when entering or exiting a battle as well as unskippable cut scenes.

Other issues raised by reviewers included "cluttered screens and annoying 'quests'" noted by GamePro, "over the top" and stereotypical characters opined by Game Informer, a poor and generic story according to IGN and 1UP, and long loading screens and cutscenes which were criticisms brought by G4, 1UP, and the Australian Official Xbox Magazine.

[57] This criticism was not universal, as GameTrailers cited its "unique battle system" as providing "a lot to enjoy", IGN called it "the most interesting part of The Last Remnant" in their PC review, and GameSpot called it "intriguing" and especially fun in the larger-scale battles.

Simultaneously with the release of the remaster the PC and Xbox 360 versions were delisted from Steam and other online retailers.