New Final Fantasy 16 trailer shares new look at enormous world

A new trailer depicts the variety of environments that players will be able to explore.
Final Fantasy 16 environments trailer

Square Enix has shared a new look at the environments of Final Fantasy 16 (FF16) in a new video, shared as part of a panel at PAX East featuring producer Naoki Yoshida and localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox.

Posted on the Final Fantasy 16 Twitter account shortly after, the two-minute video is a montage that depicts a variety of destinations that will feature in the upcoming RPG.

Vast desert environments, dense marketplaces, open plains, lush rainforests, and other exotic locales are all depicted, as well as ominous lands, volcanic lands, dark dungeons, and ruined villages. We see protagonist Clive walk and run through these environments, as well as cover more ground at speed on Chocobos, the giant chicken-like creatures that have been a series staple since its inception.

While Final Fantasy 16 looks like an open-world game, that’s actually not the case, as we found out in our chats with the game’s directors, following an extensive hands-on preview of FF16. While there will be several enormous open environments to explore, they won’t all be connected.

Read: Final Fantasy 16 hands-on preview: A complete rejuvenation of the series

As producer Naoki Yoshida puts it: ‘How the game’s cycle works is that you have a main world map, just like God of War (2018). And in the centre of it, you’ll have this hub. As the story progresses, new areas will unlock, and Clive will go to that area to progress. You’ll go there, you’ll play that stage, and when that’s finished, you have the opportunity to return back to the hub.

‘Here at this hub, you can either choose to continue the main scenario, unlock new areas, or you have opportunities for side quests, where you go back to areas that you’ve already visited, and have that side content there.’

‘You have these three distinct eras in the game. And as the story progresses, you’ll go to that next act, go from [Clive’s] 20’s to his 30’s. You won’t be able to go back in time. But you will be able to go back to the areas that you once visited earlier, and you will see how they have changed.’

FF16 is set to a major, ambitious deviation for the long-running and acclaimed RPG series, featuring a high-fantasy tone that draws heavy inspiration from Game of Thrones, and a real-time action combat system developed by Devil May Cry and Dragon’s Dogma designer Ryota Suzuki. Read GamesHub’s FF16 preview to learn more about its new approach.

Final Fantasy 16’s Release Date

Final Fantasy 16 will be released on 22 June 2023 for PlayStation 5. No PC release is planned.

Edmond was the founding managing editor of GamesHub. He was also previously at GameSpot for 13 years, where he was the Australian Editor and an award-winning video producer. You can follow him @EdmondTran