Final Fantasy 16 is one of the huge exclusives heading to the PS5. The first new numbered entry in the revered JRPG series was announced at the beginning of the PlayStation 5 Showcase in September. This was the first glimpse fans got of Final Fantasy 16, and there was plenty of gameplay footage showcased during the unveiling.
The hefty amount of in-game footage suggested Final Fantasy 16 was quite far along in development, which is what in-the-know journalist Jason Schreier has said.
The Bloomberg reporter revealed that Final Fantasy 16 has been in development for at least four years.
The former Kotaku news editor also said that Final Fantasy 16 would be arriving on the PS5 “sooner than people think”.
And following this glut of Final Fantasy 16 news more tantalising details have emerged recently.
As reported by Gematsu, a new job listing on the Square Enix website has said basic development and scenario production for FF16 has been completed.
The job listing says: “We have already completed basic development and scenario production, and are continuing to create large-scale resources and build boss battles while expanding our various development tools. Also, most of our staff are carrying out their work remotely.”
The news will come as a breath of fresh air for Final Fantasy fans, with the previous mainline entry (FF15) in development for around 10 years before launching. The comments in the Square Enix job listing could hint that the release date for Final Fantasy 16 may not be that far down the line.
Fingers crossed we’ll get a 2021 release date as that would be an incredible year one title for the PS5. In other Final Fantasy 16 news the game’s producer Yoshi-P and director Takai Hiroshi revealed some more information about the game in the latest issue of Famitsu.
The team behind FF16 revealed the main character of the game – who appeared in the reveal trailer – is a knight charged with protecting a young character called Joshua. It was also revealed that in FF16 humans need to use crystals to survive and the primary conflict in the game’s lore is known as the Mother Crystal.
Elsewhere, Yoshi-P and Hiroshi-san spoke about the game’s combat – confirming it will be an action RPG, as opposed to a classic turn-based one. Players will be able to shift warp as well as incorporate summons into their attacks.
The summons Ifirit and Phoenix make up the logo for FF16, but there will also be other summons available such as Shiva and Titan. As the trailer teased, common Final Fantasy elements such as Chocobos and Malboros will also feature in FF16.
The next mainline entry in the Final Fantasy series is a big change-up from some of the most recent instalments.
Dropping the futuristic settings of FF15, FF13, FF8 and FF7, Final Fantasy 16 goes back to a medieval-style setting the likes of which were seen in classic SNES and NES FF adventures.
Not only that, but it looks like Final Fantasy 16 may do away with the party system entirely – with a single character that players control in combat.
That latter detail hasn’t been confirmed by Square Enix, but the gameplay footage showcased in the reveal trailer appeared to suggest this would be the case.
Final Fantasy 16 is a PS5 exclusive. A release date has yet to be confirmed by Square Enix and Sony.