

The player may choose to enter a battle with multiple enemies at once by activating a "time-shift" system, in which time slows down and they may run up to multiple enemies before the battle. Instead of random encounters, players enter the separated battle when they touch an enemy on the main world screen. On the battle screen, the game has a three-dimensional area like the world screen with a setting reminiscent of the location, where every character and enemy appear. The map screen allows instant travel between different cities and areas, or between different areas within the city. Within the world screen, the player can talk to anyone, enter buildings and other areas, or exit to the map screen. The player controls Rush Sykes, the protagonist, and moves him around the world screen within an area, with the camera floating behind and slightly above him. The game is split between a world area, a battle area and a world map.

The game received praise for art direction and music. Other issues included complaints about the game's storyline and battle system, though these were not as universal. A common complaint, especially in the original Xbox 360 release, was of graphical problems including low framerates and "texture pop-in" where higher resolution textures would suddenly replace lower ones several seconds after a scene had started. The game received a weak reception, though it was received more positively by Japanese reviewers than ones elsewhere. The design and dialogue of the game were created to appeal to players worldwide, and motion capture for every character with the English-speaking dialogue.

The game's soundtrack was released as a three-disc album, composed by Tsuyoshi Sekito and Yasuhiro Yamanaka. It was intended by Square Enix president Yoichi Wada to "become a cornerstone for their worldwide strategy". The Last Remnant is the first Square Enix game to use the Unreal Engine. It features a unique battle system in which the player commands multiple groups, or "unions", of characters rather than individual units. The player controls Rush Sykes, a human searching for his sister during the war. Their past includes a conflict over "Remnants", magical artifacts of varying forms. The game is set in a fictional world, divided into multiple city-states and inhabited by four different species. A remastered version was released on PlayStation 4 in December 2018 and for Nintendo Switch in June 2019. A PlayStation 3 version was announced, but was not released. It was released worldwide for the Xbox 360 in November 2008, and for Microsoft Windows in March 2009. 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.
