There was a State of Play yesterday, and it had a few nice surprises.
In particular, all I wanted was news about Final Fantasy XVI, and we finally got it!
Final Fantasy XVI now has a summer 2023 release window. That’s a bit further off than I was hoping, since I thought it might actually come out this year, but on the other hand, it gives me more time to work through my backlog.
(Especially with games like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 coming out this year already.)
The release window came along with a new trailer. It’s age-restricted so you can’t watch it outside of Youtube, but I’ll embed it below so you can follow the link.
It’s now rated as “likely Mature,” so it seems this will be an M-rated game like was speculated before.
The trailer introduces some new characters, most notably a woman named Benedikta Harman, who is Garuda’s Dominant, and a man named Hugo Kupka, who is Titan’s Dominant. The official Final Fantasy XVI website has more details about these two, saying that Benedikta “crosses paths with a like-minded Clive and is forced to face her past” and Hugo amasses a fortune but “Benedikta Harman will teach him money and power are far from all the world has to offer.”
The website was also updated with some beautiful new screenshots, including the one I used in this post, so be sure to check those out. It looks incredible.
Getting back to the trailer, we also got a better look at combat.
Three main types of combat appear to be showcased. One type shows Clive up against a single opponent, with each of them having a large health bar. Boss battles, perhaps? We also see Clive facing several enemies with small health bars above their heads. One of these short clips has a different UI for Clive, but we’ll get back to that in a minute. Finally, we see several combat segments in which the player appears to be controlling an Eikon, fighting another Eikon.
Combat seems to be fast-paced and stylish, with special abilities linked to some sort of class system the player can switch between. Judging by the icons in the upper-left, this probably is related to the Eikons.
Now, much attention has been drawn to the fact that Clive appears to be fighting alone. There is no indication of party members in this trailer. However, one thing does stand out as odd, and that’s the UI difference I mentioned above. Most combat clips in this trailer show three class icons in the upper left beside the health bar. However, the clip at 0:49 instead shows Clive’s name there.
Showing his name in the UI suggests it might be possible to control someone other than Clive. On the other hand, that never reappears in any of the other combat scenes, so I don’t know what that means.
The other possibility of having a party, or at least companions outside of combat, is the way Benedikta and Harman are described. I wouldn’t rule out the idea of them traveling together with Clive. That could be linked to how he apparently gains power over multiple Eikons.
Anyway, there’s a lot we don’t know about Final Fantasy XVI, but I’m cautiously optimistic. Combat looks very different for Final Fantasy, but it has a strong team behind it, including the main scenario writer for Heavensward (which I greatly enjoyed), Kazutoyo Maehiro, as the creative director and screenplay writer. And while it was widely assumed already, it’s now officially confirmed that Final Fantasy XIV composer Masayoshi Soken is also the composer for Final Fantasy XVI.
So I’m interested. I want them to say there’s a party, but either way, I’m looking forward to more details about the game being revealed.
Before we finish up for today, the State of Play also included the official announcement from Capcom of a Resident Evil 4 remake for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Now, I haven’t made a big secret of the fact that I’m in the minority that doesn’t like Resident Evil 4, and I resent it for steering the series more toward action. But the interesting thing here is that the remake looks like it might have more horror elements. If they remake Resident Evil 4 as an actual survival horror game… yeah, I’d be on board with that.
The official Resident Evil 4 remake website also says it will have “a reimagined storyline,” so it sounds like it might be significantly different from the original. I’m not sold yet, but I’ll be keeping my eye on it. It’s set for March 24, 2023.
And those were the two big announcements from the State of Play that caught my attention. What are your thoughts on the new Final Fantasy XVI trailer and the Resident Evil 4 remake?
