It was a sleepy start for this generation. Years into the lifespan of the Xbox Series X/S and PS5, it feels like there hasn’t been a single game that’s really exploited the full value of the hardware – it’s really about hitting the pedal to the metal and getting drunk stuffing these waiting machines All the power of SSD and GPU. Demon’s Souls, Horizon Forbidden West, Forza Horizon 5, Halo: Infinite, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart… are all good games in their own right, but none of them really feel like a watershed moment for a new generation of games.
final fantasy 16 Do. Whether it’s in combat or in beautiful graphics, Square Enix’s latest game feels like the new generation we were promised a lifetime ago, back in the pre-Covid era, when we were poring over spec sheets and leaked specs for new consoles. concept, wondering what the hell Sony and Microsoft were thinking when they assembled these unsightly monoliths.
In some of the most impressive facial mocap I’ve ever seen in a game, in an environment rendering that even makes Elden Ring Looks like old hat, Final Fantasy 16 is indeed one of the most promising games out there – the kind of game I’m really thankful I got a PS5 from a scalper on eBay when it was released (look, I have work to do do it, ok?)
The demo I got at a closed-door event a few weeks ago has lived in my head for free ever since. The action begins in the claustrophobic corridors of a medieval castle, all slate and cobblestone, as we weave through garrison after garrison of soldiers in pursuit of the leader of a rival nation-state – who just so happens to embody the power of Eikon, Garuda . Dim torches glinted on swords, hideous green magic reflected on breastplates, wind magic sliced through enemy formations, and heavy logs smashed and crashed into walls in the melee.
The oppressive stone walkways and ramparts gave way to an opening at the top of the tower, and we pushed Garuda into a corner. Or so we thought. In one dramatic, anime-caliber cutscene, our prey writhes miserably, sprouting wings, claws, and fangs. And a very sadistic smirk. Here, the console really kicks into top gear: Garuda gallops around the tower, targeting us with ferocious dives and long-distance sweeps—all the while a storm of green magic whips up around her. The screen is busy, busy, and adrenaline-pumping, but always clear and clear, making it easy to understand what’s going on.
Command the protagonist Clive to fight back with all his strength, and the battle continues. Flapping the right trigger cycles through a series of infused Eikons (Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan) and allows for different god-like abilities as you channel each one. Some moves feel like Dante’s “stinger” in Devil May Cry–sprinting forward and closing the distance with powerful slams. Another grab and drag (like Nero’s Demon Arm) brings you the action and resets your favorite momentum. While you’re waiting for your divine abilities to cool down, you’ll need timed combinations – sword-sword-magic-sword, or magic-sword-sword-magic, etc. Each chain is filled with unique animations, hitboxes, and damageboxes that connect and explode with the PS5’s 3D audio, somehow conveying exactly where the hits are going. You can hear Garuda flitting past your left ear, then giggling frantically in your right ear as you eat a face full of ripped claws.
In your hands, DualSense conveys the sword and magic that’s clenched in Clive’s fist – the specific haptic feedback for each spell, and the satisfying and instantly recognizable rumble whenever you parry Garuda’s attack and respond in kind . The frame rate didn’t drop as her wind magic sliced the sky open and rain started pouring down the battlefield. Thunder, lightning and flashes between dodge, flip and parry. It feels more like the action in Advent Children than in any other Final Fantasy game; cinematic, frenetic, and mind-boggling.
In an interview with the developers, producer Naoki Yoshida told me “[the team] Hope this game feels like a roller coaster. ’ There was even a roller coaster slideshow on the presentation that really drove this home. I’m going to chalk it up as a PR talk, and it’s a shrewd line that Square Enix’s marketing masterminds laid out to get them from this event. But I was wrong; in the hour-plus Final Fantasy experience I played, “Roller Coaster” was spot on. Because, after this fight—and seemingly clipping Garuda’s wings— — where things get crazier. It’s the faking, slow track before you’re unceremoniously dropped, screamed, into the climax of the ride.
Garuda is not dead. pissed off I won’t spoil the story here but things lead to another when you turn yourself into an Eikon and you suddenly get punched and kicked with a demigod, a monster fight that is on top of a mountain gets swirled torn. Yoshida described the fight as “a dynamic professional wrestling match,” and he’s right—it’s a joy to see Garuda wrap her wings around your hips and bend over to slam you up a hill. Huge slabs of rock, shackles of gravel, thousands of tiny pebbles all loose. As your haggard breath intensifies, flames licking your mouth, Garuda lunges at you again with a smug grin, but you block it with a huge clawed fist and push her back, before unleashing I in the final One of the most brutal attacks a fantasy game has ever seen. Slamming her in the face, ripping off her arms, burying her face in the dirt with flaming fists as the heat eats away at her skin…you can watch And all this, rendered in crisp 4K HDR. It’s obscene, it’s hypnotic.
The fight ends with more absurd, exaggerated moves, which I won’t spoil here. Clive lay exhausted in a crater of his own making. Garuda—turned back into human form, bleeding in rivers, motionless—laid aside. The screen fades out. I looked at the guy playing to my right, who was looking at my screen: all eyes wide open, mouths wide open. My FitBit asks if I’m exercising.
Final Fantasy XVI has to be seen to be believed. Here’s the PlayStation 5 game I’ve been waiting for the past few years, and then some. The trailers, screenshots, and videos don’t do it justice–you need to hold it in your hand to feel it, to understand what Square Enix promises, and at least from what I’ve seen so far, it’s all being delivered. Final Fantasy is back, and it might be better than ever.
Final Fantasy XVI will be released on PlayStation 5 on June 22, 2023.
