Want to know the Final Fantasy 16 PC release date? We’re fast approaching seven years since we last had a new mainline Final Fantasy title, but fans won’t have to wait much longer for the next one to make its way to PC, we hope.
Following its main character, Clive Rosfield, the JRPG game takes place in Valisthea, a land divided between six powerful nations. Peace is threatened between the nations as Valisthea learns to deal with the mysterious threat known only as the Blight. So with all that out of the way, it’s time to look at everything we know about Final Fantasy 16 coming to PC, including trailers, news, story, and gameplay.
Final Fantasy 16 PC release date speculation
Based on the latest news from producer Naoki Yoshida, don’t expect to see the Final Fantasy 16 PC until 2024 at the earliest. In the original trailer Final Fantasy 16 platforms mentioned included PC before being retracted, so we know it is planned.
Despite that trailer being edited, we now have additional confirmation from Yoshida that the Final Fantasy 16 PC port is underway, but given his remark that more information will be coming “before the end of the year” it seems unlikely we’ll see FF16 on PC in 2023.
“While Final Fantasy 16 was released as a PlayStation 5 exclusive, we are aware that many of you have been asking for a PC version,” Yoshida said in a panel at Pax West on Saturday September 2, 2023. “So let me take this opportunity to officially announce that development on a PC version is currently underway. I hope to be able to give you more information on both the upcoming DLC and the PC version before the end of the year, so please stay tuned.”
Final Fantasy 16 PC delay
While we knew Final Fantasy 16 was only exclusive to the PlayStation 5 for half a year, there were hopes the PC version could launch as early as Q4 2023. Unfortunately, Yoshida has explained how the devs have struggled to implement seamless loading which is vital to the FF16 experience.
During a recent FF16 livestream, Yoshida’s comments were roughly translated by Genki, a content creator: “Yoshi-P says they want to make a PC version of FF16 but they want to create an experience with seamless loading, so they didn’t have enough time to optimize for PC. He says when the time comes, they will talk more about it.”
Final Fantasy 16 trailers
The first trailer for FFXVI, “Awakening”, was shown in 2020 at the September PS5 showcase and has four minutes of cinematic and gameplay footage. This trailer provides a brief insight into how the game’s medieval fantasy setting, gameplay, and the introduction of Dominants and Eikons. The Eikons are hugely powerful, godlike creatures that look to feature heavily in the story – more on those later.
The second trailer, “Dominance” focused on the aforementioned Eikons. It contains cinematics of individual fights and large-scale battles between armies, as well as clashes between the Eikons. It also teases some of the political intrigue that Final Fantasy games are so often full of.
The third trailer, “Ambition”, features a lot more exposition that the previous two, giving more insight into the game’s narrative. It introduces the Mothercrystals, a magical material that provides aether energy to Valisthea’s population, as well as the Blight, a mysterious threat depleting the Mothercrystals’ power. It also introduces the six major powers of Valisthea, all of whom are at war with one another in an attempt to secure the dwindling Mothercrystals.
The final and most recent trailer, “Revenge”, focuses heavily on the Eikons through gameplay and cinematic clips. It showcases multiple clashes between the gargantuan Eikons, illustrating their destructive power. It also shows off a few different areas of Valisthea, such as a castle, a desert, and more. It also confirms that FFXVI will have a mature rating – a first for the series.
Final Fantasy 16 story
Final Fantasy 16’s story revolves around the Mothercrystals, the Blight that threatens them, and the conflicts this threat has caused. Central to this are the Eikons, creatures with incredible magic powers that are controlled by people known as Dominants, who range from weapons of war to political leaders.
Clive Rosfield begins the game as a bodyguard to his younger brother Joshua. Joshua is the Dominant of the Phoenix, the Eikon of Fire, and he’s bestowed Clive with the power to harness the Phoenix energy to take on rival Eikons.
FFXVI sees a shift towards more mature and realistic themes, allegedly featuring nudity, gore, and bad language. The devs have confirmed this by no means spells the end of some of the cuter elements that have become series mainstays.
Final Fantasy 16 gameplay
A major element of any Final Fantasy game is the combat, and Final Fantasy XVI will be making a large change from what fans of the series will be used to. Instead of the turn-based combat typical of most JRPGs, Final Fantasy XVI features a real-time combat system, letting the player take full control of Clive.
This does mean that players take control of the Eikons, with Yoshida confirming that “Eikon-driven, action-oriented battles” will be available in parts of the game. Unfortunately, the move away from a party system does mean that players are unable to take control of their companion characters. Instead, all companions will be AI controlled to let players focus on battling as Clive.
With the popularity of open-world games like Elden Ring, many fans have been hoping Final Fantasy XVI would stray into this genre. While the team has taken inspiration from such games, Yoshida confirmed that the team felt that a series of unique, independent areas would serve the game better. In addition to this, building FFXVI as an open-world game would increase development time too much.
In a recent hands-on session with Final Fantasy 16, it appears the devs have fully embraced the action game genre. When starting up the game for the first time, players have the option to pick between story and action mode. Long-time Final Fantasy players may not appreciate the emphasis on real-time combat, which is why the devs have introduced a story mode option.
Story mode automatically enables assist accessories to help make the combat that much easier, but players can mix and match these accessories depending on how much help they want from the items. It’s important to note that these accessories replace the rings you could’ve used, so the idea is that players change the assist rings out for something else once they get used to the combat.
And that’s everything you need to know about the Final Fantasy 16 PC release date. If you want to play something similar to FFXVI to pass the time, we have a list of the best RPG games featuring 100-hour-long adventures. Don’t forget to read our best PC games list if you only want to spend your time with the greatest titles ever made.
