Square Enix Shares Guitar Cover of Final Fantasy XIII Battle Theme, “Blinded by Light”

Square Enix has uploaded a new official cover on their music YouTube channel. Toru Tabei arranged and performed “Blinded by Light” from Final Fantasy XIII, initially composed by Masashi Hamauzu. Additionally, Yohei “Billy” Horiuchi recorded and mixed the performance.

This is one of the most iconic battle themes in the franchise, with even those not a massive fan of XIII still finding it to be excellent. It embodies an escalating tension not ordinarily seen in other combat songs throughout the series, especially for a normal battle theme you’ll constantly hear. This new guitar cover instills an almost serene quality into it all.

A piano cover of “The Promise” from the same game was shared on Christmas last year.

You can listen to the new guitar cover of “Blinded by Light” from Final Fantasy XIII below:

Final Fantasy XIII is comprised of a trilogy that is available on PlayStation 3, Xbox, and PC, with countless fans pleading for a remastered collection seeing as, aside from the MMO Final Fantasy XI, the first title is the only mainline entry not on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5.

The first Final Fantasy XIII has been endlessly critiqued for its level design and story elements, but it boasts one of the best battle systems in the entire franchise, with a remarkable presentation that still holds up astonishingly well.