Final Fantasy XVI Trailer Reveals Release Window and More Eikons

Since the first trailer for Final Fantasy XVI was released back in 2020, we have been given very little new information about the game outside of development updates. The latest State of Play trailer fixes this, giving us plenty of new gameplay footage, and finally revealing the release window for the next entry in the series.

This trailer shows much less of Clive and the other major characters compared to the first one, and instead focuses on the gameplay and Summons (called Eikons in this game). Early in the trailer, we get our first look at the UI for Final Fantasy XVI. While it looks like Clive will fight alone throughout the game, it’s clear that he will be highly customizable.

Combat

On the bottom right of the screen, you can see four abilities, most likely tied to the face buttons on the controller. Most of these abilities appear to be linked to the Eikon you have equipped, as the color of these abilities matches the color of the Eikon’s portrait (which you can see on the upper left corner). You can also notice that when switching Eikons (by pressing ), most of the abilities will change. It also appears that pressing will change your abilities as well.

On top of this, we can see Clive having three Eikons equipped, and that they can be freely switched in the middle of battle. While it’s not clear how many abilities you will learn throughout the game, the unique moves of each Eikon and the ability to switch between them show you can customize Clive to fit your preferred playstyle.

There are a few other things we can notice based on the gameplay. For one, you can equip different items on the D-Pad, allowing you to heal yourself quickly or give yourself a buff (possibly the ‘Perks’ visible on top of Clive’s HP). Combos appear to play a role in battles as well — there are actions listed on the right side of the screen, and on the left side of the screen at one point, Odin’s name with a bar and counter under it. Given the multipliers visible on the damage you deal, it’s possible that chaining certain abilities together will cause you to deal more damage.

Eikons

The trailer introduced many new Eikons, giving us our first look at Garuda, Ramuh, Odin, and Bahamut. We also get to see the Dominants (people born with the ability to control an Eikon) for Garuda and Titan in Benedikta Harman and Hugo Kupka, respectively. With the reveal of all these iconic Summons, we learned something else about them in the trailer — we will be able to have Kaiju-like battles between the Eikons.

Not much is shown about these battles, but they will clearly be a variety of match-ups between the different Eikons, they’re using their iconic moves (such as Hellfire and Megaflare), and we can even note that we will have the ability to dismember the enemy Summon — we can see Garuda cutting off one of Ifrit’s arms, for example.

It appears that Eikons will not only be limited to fighting each other, however. There is a brief shot of Shiva using Diamond Dust on an enemy that Clive is fighting. This could either mean that Shiva’s Dominant will help you out at some point, or somehow Clive will learn how to summon Eikons himself.

With all the known Eikons being showcased, it seems there is a particular focus on Ifrit. After the trailer shows the game’s logo, a voice says “awaken, child of fate. Awaken, Ifrit” while showing a shot of Clive. This could mean there’s a good chance that either Ifrit or his Dominant will have some kind of connection to the protagonist.

Release

Finally, we were given a release window for Final Fantasy XVI: Summer 2023. Shortly after the trailer released, the game’s official Twitter account released a statement from Producer Naoki Yoshida and Director Hiroshi Takai, explaining the current state of the game. They announced that the game is now “fully playable from start to finish,” and that the team is currently focusing on polishing up the game, to make sure the game will be fully optimized by the time it’s released.

Yoshida hopes to bring us on a “seamless, story-driven, white-knuckle ride that will rival even the most thrilling roller-coaster” with Final Fantasy XVI. So far, the fast-paced gameplay looks incredibly fun, and the story is shaping up to be one of the darkest for the series. Hopefully, during this month more interviews with the game’s team will be released and reveal more info about both the story and the gameplay.