Final Fantasy 16 is a slick, modern epic with the soul of a PS2 game

That’s what Square Enix wants to shake up mainline Final Fantasy games with FinalFantasy 16 is not negotiable. Every Final Fantasy is, of course, a reinvention, but little more than this. It was produced by Naoki Yoshida – the fixer who saved FinalFantasy 14 and turned it into one of the world’s most popular massively multiplayer games – aiming to increase the series’ appeal and transform these venerable role-playing games into a slick, modern action adventure. In interviews, Yoshida and the other developers like to name two titans of recent, hard-hitting mass-market fantasy: Game of Thrones And God of war.

The risk is that the series, in its pursuit to keep Final Fantasy at the top of global blockbusters, will lose its identity. Some fans may be saddened to learn that it has moved from a party-based RPG to, essentially, a single-character action game (albeit a highly refined one). Others may have a hard time with Final Fantasy characters being spattered in blood or screaming “I’ll fucking kill you!” up in their lungs.

These two things happen in a single scene early in the game. They certainly raised my eyebrows when I played on FinalFantasy 16‘s opening hours at a recent press event in London. But just as much a departure as FinalFantasy 16 may seem – and despite its self-assured sharpness – it’s unmistakably a Final Fantasy game at heart. It’s got the Summons, the Chocobos and the Moogles, the Crystals and the Aether, but more than those things, it’s got the spirit: serious, grandiose, a little emo, but with a generous amount of charming goofiness. Yoshida emphasizes that the game comes from the heart, not a corporate mandate for change: “For us, it was about: Let’s just make what we love and get everyone excited about this series again,” he told me. Based on what I’ve played, I believe him.

It’s true that the team at Square Enix is ​​so eager to stand out that it takes a while for the game to settle into a comfortable rhythm. The opening is a context-free flash-forward to a dogfight between two of the game’s divine summons, Eikons, with the player controlling a flame-breathing phoenix in a Star Fox-esque rail shooter. It’s spectacular, if puzzling: you’ll be replaying this sequence in a matter of hours, only with a better idea of ​​what’s going on and what to do.

Then we moved on to our protagonist, Clive Rosfield, an embittered soldier in a hit squad who sidesteps a battle between two other factions. Clive is a classic Final Fantasy protagonist: a moody handsome boy with an endearingly dorky stiffness about him. There is a confusing cutscene showing some political maneuvering between two powers in a fortress near the battlefield: we hear about the Iron Kingdom, Waloed, the Dhalmekian Republic and the Holy Empire of Sanbreque, without quite understanding which of them is being killed in the current battle. represented . There is talk of Mother Crystals and Dominants.

FinalFantasy 16 begins in medias res, immerses you in a complex military and political map in its traditional fantasy world, and expects you to keep up. It’s a bold storytelling choice that might have failed had it not been for the Active Time Lore system, which lets you pause the action (or the movie) at any time and read helpful wikis about the characters, locations and concepts at play in the current game. scene.

Image: Square Enix

After another devastating Eikon battle, this time watched from the sidelines, there’s an extended flashback/tutorial sequence that takes us back to Clive’s teenage years as the less-favored prince of yet another kingdom, the Grand Duchy of Rosaria. His petite younger brother Joshua is a Dominant, meaning he has the power to summon and control the Phoenix Eikon, Rosaria’s defender. As the eldest heir, Clive was expected to inherit this power, but he did not – much to his mother’s horror. But he is a gifted soldier with the power to absorb aspects of the Eikon’s power and use them in flashy attack moves and spells.

Only now does the game begin to relax and be itself, taking the time to more patiently build its characters, its world and its gameplay. The royal family drama is easier to master than the political intrigue, and Clive gets to stretch his legs during a sortie to clear out some goblins, serving as an effective introduction to the free-flowing battle. The first proper boss fight is against a Morbol (a voracious plant and vintage Final Fantasy monster) – it’s a blast, with interesting mechanics, clever staging and a satisfying rhythm, thanks to the combat system’s focus on staggering and then punishing enemies.

Boss fights come in thick and fast FinalFantasy 16, but you will look forward to it. They’re sharply designed, epic without being slogs, and they’re the best showcase for the full range of Clive’s combat skills. The game’s approach to accessibility and difficulty is also interesting; you get a series of “timely” items that can be equipped for custom help in certain areas, such as dodge timing, skill selection, or healing. Equipped with the most powerful of these, the game is a mindless, glorious, knotted light show; with none of them it’s a precise yet fluid brawl.

Image: Square Enix

After a family ritual ends in tragedy, we jump back (or rather forward) to the older Clive. I won’t spoil the plot any further, but this is where Clive leaves his life as an Imperial assassin and hooks up with Cidolfus Telamon, or Cid, a classic Final Fantasy laconic gunfighter who reminds me of FF12‘s Balthier, voiced rumbling by Ralph Ineson (The witch, Game of Thrones). Cid takes Clive to The Hideaway, an outpost hidden among ruins that serves as the game’s hometown and base of operations, with a garrulous cast of characters and a Final Fantasy 7 family-of-rebel atmosphere.

For these first hours FinalFantasy 16 is fairly straightforward and propulsive, balancing big story beats and moments of visual spectacle with linear combat arenas where Clive and his AI-controlled companions can grind through enemies and level up. I also got to try out a later area with a more open design, where some exploration and side quests need to be done. Structurally, the game reminds me the most of 2009 Final Fantasy 13an underrated series entry with great combat and beautiful visuals that very gradually opened up its initially tight funnel of gameplay. FF13The biggest flaw was the painfully slow start, which thankfully isn’t a problem FF16 shares.

FinalFantasy 16‘s developers may have wanted it to be God of war, and it certainly has the production values, but that game’s virtuosic, seamless Hollywood staging isn’t what Square Enix does best. Staying true to themselves, Yoshida’s team has created something that may not play like Final Fantasy, but definitely feels like Final Fantasy. It also shares DNA with an entire generation of Japanese action games and RPGs from the 2000s, the heyday of the PlayStation 2. It has the flamboyant drama, cool, moody attitude and playful self-deprecation that characterized the era. as a focused, headstrong approach to both storytelling and gameplay.

The question is whether FinalFantasy 16 can this last longer than the first few hours. We’ll find out when it releases on PlayStation 5 on June 22.