Final Fantasy has maintained its place in the upper echelons of the video gaming pantheon for decades, with the recent remake of Final Fantasy VII becoming one of the top titles of the year. Now, as announced during Sony’s showcase, the next major entry, Final Fantasy XVI, will be available exclusively on console on the PlayStation 5. That doesn’t mean it’ll only be available on the PS5, though, as it’ll also be landing on PC and the footage screened was, in fact, from the PC build.
Rumored for months but unveiled today for the first time, Final Fantasy XVI looks like it’s taking some major cues from Game of Thrones. The trailer seemed to feature warring kingdoms and dynasties, as well as castles and keeps that looked particularly reminiscent of the Stark family’s home of Winterfell. Of course, the Final Fantasy games have long been known for their complex (and sometimes incomprehensible) stories, so this switch towards George R.R. Martin-style political intrigue seems all too appropriate.
The trailer also shows off the gigantic monsters and flashy summons for which Final Fantasy is associated with, including looks at ice goddess Shiva and what appears to be the fire demon Ifrit. In terms of gameplay, the combat systems will be very familiar to those who played the Final Fantasy VII remake, which neatly balanced real-time and turn-based combat.
But I suspect what many will take away from this trailer is that it isn’t coming to Xbox Series S and X. Both Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XV launched on Microsoft’s console, so longtime fans may make the jump between brands – if they hadn’t already to play Final Fantasy VII Remake.
We don’t have a release date just yet for this one, but the footage seemed fairly far along, so let’s hope we’ll see it landing at some point in late 2021.