New Final Fantasy coming sooner than expected

Square Enix has revealed the release date for the highly-anticipated Final Fantasy 16, and it’s much sooner than anyone expected

Square Enix released a new trailer for Final Fantasy 16 at The Game Awards, and despite many thinking it would be releasing quite late in the year, the trailer revealed the game is coming sooner than expected.

Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida previously teased that fans might be surprised about how early in the Winter the game would be released. Many believed that he was just joking and the game would release in late-July or even August.

It turns out he Yoshida wasn’t joking at all, however, with Final Fantasy 16 revealed to be releasing on June 22, 2023, just a couple weeks into Winter. That makes it the earliest release in terms of calendar year for the main series since 2006’s Final Fantasy 12, as most other games in the series tend to release later in the year, towards the holiday season.

The new trailer showed off a host of new gameplay for Final Fantasy 16, including some of the most intense action and combat we’ve seen from the game to date. The trailer shows some flashy summons, including the fan-favourite Ifrit, who’s looking as terrifying as ever raining hellfire on enemies from above.

The news comes after Final Fantasy 16 was classified by the South Korean ratings board, earning a “Mature” rating from the board for a number of reasons. The board said that it was given the rating due to violence, sexual content, and disturbing situations, which given what we see in the trailer, isn’t all that surprising.

Final Fantasy 16 will be releasing exclusively on the PlayStation 5, where it will remain an exclusive for at least six months before presumably moving to other platforms like PC and Xbox.

Yoshida’s work with the Final Fantasy series has tended to fall along the darker side of storytelling in previous games. Final Fantasy 14, the massively multiplayer online game, regularly dips its toes into dark and heavy themes, while spin-off game Final Fantasy Type-0 spent a good chunk of its runtime delving into the bloodier side of war and conflict between nations.

The Final Fantasy series has been running continuously for 35 years, with the first game releasing in 1987 on the NES. Picture: Square Enix

In lighter news, however, the Bayonetta series was announced to be getting a stunning spin-off, in the form of Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon. The spin-off tells the story of a young Bayonetta, and features an adorable art style heavily inspired by storybook illustrations.

Idris Elba has also been announced to be starring in the new Cyberpunk DLC. He’ll portray a new character, Solomon Reed, a gruff federal agent working for the New United States of America.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.