Everything We Know About Final Fantasy XVI

Last Updated: September 29, 2020

At the recent PlayStation 5 Showcase, Square Enix officially unveiled the next entry in the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy XVI was rumored to be in development for a while, particularly when concept art for an unknown fantasy game from Square Enix’s Business Division 3 appeared on their website, and now it has been announced.

Check out the Final Fantasy XVI announcement trailer below.

Right now, very little is known about Final Fantasy XVI beyond what is shown in the trailer and the official announcement from Square Enix. Here’s what we do know.

Platforms

Currently, Final Fantasy XVI has only been confirmed for the PlayStation 5. The trailer shown at the showcase said Final Fantasy XVI would also be coming to the PC, but that is not shown in Square Enix’s trailer or press release. It’s possible its PS5 exclusivity is temporary, but currently we don’t know.

Team

It was long rumored that Naoki Yoshida, known to fans as Yoshi-P, would be in charge of Final Fantasy XVI. His work on Final Fantasy XIV made him a popular choice. He has been confirmed as the producer for Final Fantasy XVI. The role of director will be filled by Hiroshi Takai, who previously was the director of The Last Remnant and is the assistant director of Final Fantasy XIV.

It is also rumored that Ryota Suzuki, who previously worked on Dragon’s Dogma and Devil May Cry 5, is involved with Final Fantasy XVI, but this is unconfirmed.

Gameplay and Combat

Final Fantasy XVI is a single player action JRPG. Judging by the combat showcased in the trailer, it will be much faster than the combat in Final Fantasy XV or Final Fantasy VII Remake. We can see both melee and magic attacks in the trailer, but specific details of the combat system are still unknown.

Only a single character is shown in the combat scenes in the trailer. However, this does not necessarily mean that Final Fantasy XVI will not have a party or even that only the protagonist will be playable. The first trailer for Final Fantasy XIII and the original reveal trailer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII only showed Lightning and Noctis, respectively. Party members were only revealed later on. Therefore, it is still possible that Final Fantasy XVI features a party. Nothing has been confirmed either way.

Story and Characters

The first trailer for Final Fantasy XVI gives us a glimpse of its story and world. It appears to be a high fantasy setting, something Yoshida said he would like to see the series return to. The main character is currently unnamed, but is the “Shield” for a boy named Joshua, and these two characters appear to be at the center of the game’s story. A handful of other characters are shown, including a woman who is potentially one of the antagonists.

Summons, referred to here as Eikons like in Final Fantasy XIV, seem to be highly important. Eikons are summoned or controlled by people known as Dominants. Shiva, Phoenix, and Ifrit all appear in the trailer, and since the game’s logo art appears to depict a fight between Phoenix and Ifrit, this is most likely a central conflict in the story. Crystals are also important here, another Final Fantasy tradition, and the dialogue suggests they are holding back an evil force known as the Blight.

The scenes shown in this trailer have led to much speculation about the specific story details, but trailers can be misleading. It’s too early to draw any definite conclusions about the story, the nature of Joshua, and so on.

2021 Information Reveal

We don’t know a lot about Final Fantasy XVI yet, since we only have this one trailer to go on. Fans are hopeful we might get more details this year, such as at the Tokyo Game Show this month, but the next big information reveal is set for 2021.