Want to know the Final Fantasy 16 release date? We’re fast approaching seven years since we last had a new mainline Final Fantasy title, but fans won’t have to wait much longer for the next one.
Following its main character, Clive Rosfield, the JRPG game takes place in Valisthea, a land divided between six powerful nations. Peace is threatened between the nations as Valisthea learns to deal with the mysterious threat known only as the Blight. So with all that out of the way, it’s time to look at everything we know about Final Fantasy 16, including trailers, news, story, and gameplay.
Final Fantasy 16 release date
The release date for Final Fantasy 16 is set for June 22 following its announcement at The Game Awards 2022. Despite some mixed messaging from different sources, Final Fantasy 16 will be a PS5 exclusive for at least six months.
Final Fantasy 16 PC release date
We now have confirmation from producer Naoki Yoshida that the Final Fantasy 16 PC port won’t be launching in half a year. “I’ve caused a bit of a stir with my remarks, but I’d like to touch on the PC version,” Yoshida begins. “First of all, it is true that Final Fantasy XVI is a six-month limited-time exclusive on the PS5 platform. However, it is a completely different story that the PC version will be released in half a year. I will make it clear, but the PC version will not come out in half a year.”
Final Fantasy 16 trailers
The first trailer for FFXVI, “Awakening”, was shown in 2020 at the September PS5 showcase and has four minutes of cinematic and gameplay footage. This trailer provides a brief insight into how the game’s medieval fantasy setting, gameplay, and the introduction of Dominants and Eikons. The Eikons are hugely powerful, godlike creatures which look to feature heavily in the story – more on those later.
The second trailer, “Dominance” focused on the aforementioned Eikons. It contains cinematics of individual fights and large-scale battles between armies, as well as clashes between the Eikons. It also teases some of the political intrigue which Final Fantasy games are so often full of.
The third trailer, “Ambition”, features a lot more exposition that the previous two, giving more insight into the game’s narrative. It introduces the Mothercrystals, a magical material which provides aether energy to Valisthea’s population, as well as the Blight, a mysterious threat which is depleting the Mothercrystals’ power. It also introduces the six major powers of Valisthea, all of whom are at war with one another in an attempt to secure the dwindling Mothercrystals.
The final and most recent trailer, “Revenge”, focuses heavily on the Eikons through gameplay and cinematic clips. It showcases multiple clashes between the gargantuan Eikons, illustrating their destructive power. It also shows off a few different areas of Valisthea, such as a castle, a desert, and more. It also confirms that FFXVI will have a mature rating – a first for the series.
Final Fantasy 16 story
Final Fantasy 16’s story revolves around the Mothercrystals, the Blight that threatens them, and the conflicts this threat has caused. Central to this are the Eikons, creatures with incredible magic powers that are controlled by people known as Dominants, who range from weapons of war to political leaders.
Clive Rosfield begins the game as a bodyguard to his younger brother Joshua. Joshua is the Dominant of the Phoenix, the Eikon of Fire, and he’s bestowed Clive with the power to harness the Phoenix energy to take on rival Eikons.
FFXVI sees a shift towards more mature and realistic themes, allegedly featuring nudity, gore, and bad language. The devs have confirmed this by no means spells the end of some of the cuter elements that have become series mainstays.
Final Fantasy 16 gameplay
A major element of any Final Fantasy game is the combat, and Final Fantasy XVI will be making a large change from what fans of the series will be used to. Instead of the turn-based combat typical of most JRPGs, Final Fantasy XVI features a real-time combat system, letting the player take full control of Clive.
This does mean that players take control of the Eikons, with Yoshida confirming that “Eikon-driven, action-oriented battles” will be available in parts of the game. Unfortunately, the move away from a party system does mean that players are unable to take control of their companion characters. Instead, all companions will be AI controlled to let players focus on battling as Clive.
With the popularity of open-world games like Elden Ring, many fans have been hoping Final Fantasy XVI would stray into this genre. While the team has taken inspiration from such games, Yoshida confirmed that the team felt that a series of unique, independent areas would serve the game better. In addition to this, building FFXVI as an open-world game would increase development time too much.
In a recent hands-on session with Final Fantasy 16, it appears the devs have fully embraced the action game genre. When starting up the game for the first time, players have the option to pick between story and action mode. Long-time Final Fantasy players may not appreciate the emphasis on real-time combat, which is why the devs have introduced a story mode option.
Story mode automatically enables assist accessories to help make the combat that much easier, but players can mix and match these accessories depending on how much help they want from the items. It’s important to note that these accessories replace the rings you could’ve used, so the idea is that players change the assist rings out for something else once they get used to the combat.
And that’s everything you need to know about the Final Fantasy 16 release date. If you want to play something similar to FFXVI to pass the time, we have a list of the best RPG games featuring 100-hour-long adventures. Don’t forget to read our best PC games list if you only want to spend your time with the greatest titles ever made.
