When is Final Fantasy 16 release date? What does the trailer show?

Final Fantasy 16 Official Combat and Story Trailer

Final Fantasy XVI (Final Fantasy 16) is an upcoming action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. It is the sixteenth game in the mainline Final Fantasy series and is scheduled to be released for the PlayStation 5 in summer 2023. The game is set in the land of Valisthea, a continent with six factions on the verge of conflict due to a spreading malady called the Blight. Final Fantasy XVI is being produced by Naoki Yoshida and with Hiroshi Takai as main director and Kazutoyo Maehiro as creative director & writer.

When is Final Fantasy 16 release date?

Final Fantasy 16 will be coming out as a PS5 console exclusive and on PC in Summer 2023. It is expected that the game will be a timed console exclusive to the PS5 and will eventually arrive on the Xbox series of consoles – although this isn’t confirmed in any way.

Final Fantasy 16 is the next game in the long-standing series of RPG titles from Square Enix. The latest game in the series features a very gritty, very mature theme, featuring medieval fantasy kingdoms embroiled in war, using espers, magic, and different kinds of weaponry to do battle.

It’s undeniable that Final Fantasy 16 is one of the most highly-anticipated games for the PS5, and it’s great that Sony and Square Enix used the June 2022 Sony State of Play to finally reveal the game’s release date, along with some cinematics and gameplay footage.

Final Fantasy 16’s gameplay features action RPG elements, with a player’s health bar and their opponents’ clearly shown on the screen. It seems like active gameplay is going to be the way of the future for the Final Fantasy franchise. While that’s far from what many Final Fantasy fans grew up with, we’re into it as long as the elements and mechanics work well.

A Final Fantasy game will also not be complete with the esper summons. The June 2022 State of Play game trailer featured a lot of them, actually, also heavily suggesting that the espers are somehow affiliated one way or another with one of the many kingdoms in the game. Featured summons includes Phoenix, Titan, Garuda, Ramuh, Shiva, Odin, Bahamut, and Ifrit – all iconic espers throughout Final Fantasy’s long and storied history. Square Enix also posted another video on their socials featuring these espers – called Eikons in Final Fantasy 16, and the power that they hold.

What does Final Fantasy 16 trailer show?

Square Enix has dropped off the first official Final Fantasy XVI gameplay trailer, showcasing the title’s vicious villains called Eikons and high-octane battles featuring the game’s protagonist Clive Rosfield.

“In our latest trailer, we’ve introduced several new Eikons, as well as provided a more detailed peek at our action-packed battle system and the freedom it gives players,” FFXVI director Hiroshi Takai wrote on the PlayStation blog. 

Aside from Clive, the game features several other prominent characters including Hugo Kupka, a permanent economic adviser who sits at the forefront of Dhalmekian politics, and Benedikta Harman, an elite scholar and dominant of the Eikon Garuda.

FFXVI was first announced in September 2020, though its development was significantly delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The game is now in its final leg of development under the direction of Hiroshi Takai, and it seems as though Square Enix is on track to release the game on PlayStation 5 next summer.

Clive And His Nemesis Are Both Ifrit Dominants
Somehow, Clive becomes an Ifrit Dominant himself at some point during his quest for revenge. The final scene in the second trailer has a unknown character say “Awaken, Ifrit” implying they’re the one who gave Ifrit to Clive. Setting Clive on his revenge quest could be all part of their plan.

The Dark Ifrit is the “second Eikon of fire” mentioned in Benedikta’s profile. In the first trailer at 2:32 we can also hear a soldier say “A second Eikon of Fire? But that’s impossible!”. This implies that the common belief in Valisthea, the world of Final Fantasy XVI, is that there cannot be two Eikons of the same element, and that Ifrit is an unknown Eikon, not registered in the world’s history so far.

What If Joshua Was Actually Still Alive?
Seeing the Phoenix Eikon is considered to be the Eikon of Fire instead of the unknown Ifrit, this could mean that Phoenix’s true property, rebirth, might be unknown in the world of Final Fantasy XVI. Especially seeing Square Enix went for an illustration of Phoenix and Ifrit facing each other for the Final Fantasy XVI logo, instead of two Ifrits.

Clive Is Never Seen Equipping Ifrit On Foot

Lastly, it’s interesting to note Clive is never seen using Ifrit’s powers during foot battles. Both the trailer and the screenshots we have show Clive equipping and cycling through most of the Eikons revealed so far: Phoenix, Shiva, Titan, Garuda, Ramuh, and Odin. And we already know that Dominants can share part of their Eikon’s power with others. However, we never see Ifrit’s icon on the UI outside of the Eikon battles, furthermore hinting that this Eikon works differently than the others.

Final Fantasy 16 characters

Clive Rosfield
Main character Clive (yup, that's his name alright) is the oldest son of the Archduke of Rosaria and was expected to be the new Dominant who would inherit the power of Phoenix. Instead, his younger brother becomes the Dominant and Clive gets the consolation prize of being named the First Shield of Rosaria. As the shield, he can wield a small part of Phoenix's flame and is in charge of protecting his brother. "Clive's promising career is to end in tragedy at the hands of a mysterious dark Eikon, Ifrit, setting him on a dangerous road to revenge," Square Enix say.

Joshua Rosfield
Joshua is the second son of the Archduke. He's the sweet and soft younger boy; a noble kid who treats everyone beneath his social standing with respect. He looks up to his brother Clive too, of course. " Joshua often laments that it was he, the frail and bookish younger son, who was granted command of the firebird's flames, and not his stronger, braver brother," say Square Enix.

Jill Warrick
Jill was born in the northern territories and was made a ward in Rosaria at a young age to secure peace between the two. She's been raised alongside the Rosfield boys. "Ever kind, gracious, and unassuming, Jill has become a trusted confidant to the brothers; Square Enix say.

Yoshida and Takai are working on FF16

Another exciting bit of this announcement is the names attached to it: Final Fantasy 14 producer Naoki Yoshida and director Hiroshi Takai. After Yoshida’s Creative Business Unit III studio famously turned around FF14, making it the huge success it is today, it’ll be interesting to see how the pair tackle a traditional Final Fantasy presumably detached from multiplayer.

Who is working on Final Fantasy 16?

In terms of who is working on the upcoming Final Fantasy title, the announcement also confirmed Naoki Yoshida is the producer on Final Fantasy 16. After the official reveal of the game during the PS5 event, a blog was posted on PlayStation’s official site(opens in new tab) written by Yoshida which confirmed his role, along with revealing that Hiroshi Takai is directing.

“The exclusive footage, comprised of both battles and cutscenes running in real-time, represents but a fraction of what our team has accomplished since the start of development on this, an all-new Final Fantasy game,” Yoshida writes. ” In that span, the team’s size has grown from a handful of core members to a full-fledged unit that continues to polish and build upon what they have created so far, all to provide players an experience unmatched in terms of story and gameplay.”

Comments from industry journalist Jason Schreier suggested it wouldn’t be too long before we get to play Final Fantasy 16. Apparently, Square Enix has been working on the Final Fantasy 15 follow-up “for at least four years in some capacity.” Obviously, it’s nothing concrete, but this does check out with the trailer Square Enix revealed during September’s PS5 showcase, which showed a surprising amount of Final Fantasy 16 gameplay and cinematic footage.

Final Fantasy 16 Gameplay

From the snippets of gameplay in the trailer, FF16 takes on an action-RPG style of combat system and looks like it shares similarities to FF15 and FF7 Remake. Clive can cast fireballs, engage at melee range with his sword and warp-like abilities, and use a few powers that look like they’re tied to Eikons (indicated by the stone fist summoned in the fight against a Dragoon).

No UI or HUD elements were shown, so it’s hard to tell if or how it incorporate parts of the series’ iconic ATB (active time battle) system, how spellcasting might work, or even how combat encounters flow. We’ve also only seen Clive in action, so we’re unsure if there’s a party system or how it would work (if it exists).

Ryota Suzuki, who was a combat designer for Devil May Cry 5 and Dragon’s Dogma, is the battle director for FF16, which could result in something quite exciting. And despite this renewed focus on action, producer Naoki Yoshida noted that this new approach will not come at the expense of the game’s story.

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