A new gameplay trailer for the upcoming Final Fantasy game, Final Fantasy 16, was revealed at The Game Awards 2022. It was announced that the game will release on 22 June 2023.
The trailer shows off new footage of the game in action, giving us a hint of the plot of Final Fantasy 16, alongside new footage of the combat system, which heavily involves the use of summons – giant mythical creatures that the player can call upon for aid. The concept has existed in nearly all Final Fantasy games, though they play a much bigger role in the narrative in the upcoming sequel.
The trailer’s official description reads:
‘The flames of vengeance burn bright and beckon with ambitious hunger. Awaken the Eikons, but will you dominate them or will they dominate you?’
The game recently came under some scrutiny regarding the lack of diversity among the game’s cast of characters. At the time, producer Naoki Yoshida claimed that the reason stemmed from the desire to portray a land heavily inspired by real-world medieval Europe, admitting that his response would be ‘disappointing’ to some players.
Yoshida said, ‘Ultimately, we felt that while incorporating ethnic diversity into Valisthea was important, an over-incorporation into this single corner of a much larger world could end up causing a violation of those narrative boundaries we originally set for ourselves. The story we are telling is fantasy, yes, but it is also rooted in reality.’
This received a significant amount of backlash from the community and the media, who pointed out the strangeness of sticking to reality in a fantastical game that features gigantic, kaiju-sized monsters, as well as that people of non-anglo descent did in fact exist in medieval Europe, and that the lack of diversity failed to stay true to either reality or fantasy.
Final Fantasy 16 will release exclusively on PlayStation 5 on 23 June 2022.
