Final Fantasy 16 review

When you imagine what a Final Fantasy game is, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Shiny, pretty landscapes? Even nicer hair? Cute little creatures? Final Fantasy 16 really doesn’t fit this mold. With high stakes combat and a much darker tone, FF16 turns all your expectations upside down.

The world of Valisthea seems as muddy as Game of Thrones. Both have medieval worlds full of warring nobles vying for power with a cruel attitude towards the well-being of their citizens, and both face impending doom – in the case of Final Fantasy 16, a plague that drains the life and magic from the world, slowly consuming it and leaving it barren.

Those who can employ magic without the aid of crystals are feared and labeled “Carriers” – forced to work as slaves and perform menial tasks such as drying laundry using their gifts. However, a select few are chosen as “Dominants” and can channel transformative, god-like beings known as Eikons in the form of summons from the classic series, such as Shiva and Titan. Of course, this being a Final Fantasy game, there is another, bigger threat waiting in the wings to introduce itself.

Grim hero Clive must go through all this to discover what happened to his younger brother – the Dominant of the firebird Phoenix – all those years ago, face his past and see where the future will take him. After a chance encounter, he decides to free the Carriers and master his own Eikon gifts. This makes for a compelling story of revenge and personal growth in the face of death and hopelessness, and actor Ben Starr did a great job playing Clive’s bitter complaints.

Even better is Ralph Innesson, who steals the show as Cid, Dominant Ramuh. The two often enjoy joking around as they make their way through unsafe wildlife and enemy soldiers, and their friendship turns into a bromance that carries you through the first half of the game. You’ll also meet many memorable NPCs along the way, such as Charon the Smart, an elderly merchant who likes to insult you, and Gav, a scout with a heart of gold, low alcohol tolerance, and a wonderful Scouse accent.

While most of the characters enjoy comparable depth, the female leads actually feel wasted compared to the men and fall into tired archetypes. There is the ice queen, mother of Clive and Joshua, who only cares about pure bloodlines, the powerful Benedicta – Dominator of Garuda – who simply dies to get a man to commit to a plot, and finally Jill – Dominant of Shiva and friend of Clive and Clive childhood Joshua – who, for all his power, largely plays the role of damsel in distress. In a less character-driven game, this might not be as noticeable, but when all the male characters enjoy fully formed, intricate lives, it feels like a missed opportunity that the female characters are so half-baked.

Yet as a team it really works, the developing camaraderie of Clive and his ragtag band of misfits giving the game’s story a compelling emotional edge. I often found myself doing petite side quests purely because they gave me the opportunity to learn more about each character and deepen the bond between them.

While knowing about Valistea helps ground it and make it feel like a real, functioning place, it can also feel empty. The map is made up of several zones and you’ll spend most of the game jumping back and forth from the central hideout. Exploration is restricted and there’s little incentive to stray off the beaten path. The rewards for this are usually minimal, and while there are side quests that cover some of these little character moments, in terms of what you actually do, they are largely just glorified fetch quests. It also lacks many of the time-honored Final Fantasy elements that usually add color – Chocobo and Moogle exist (although the latter only appears in one), but there are no captivating mini-games to distract you, and the current references to the series feel are subtle, only dedicated fans will notice them.

FF16 also completely abandons the turn-based systems of previous installments of the series, such as the FF7 remake, and focuses on real-time combat. Even compared to 15, which pointed in a similar direction, it is much closer to a full fighting game than to a typical JRPG. You can employ a combination of melee and ranged attacks, as well as three sets of powerful Eikon abilities that you can mix and match to your liking. Closing a gap with a fiery dash and following it up with a winged uppercut or taking out crowds with a perfectly placed lightning strike is incredibly satisfying. Mechanically it may not resemble time-honored Final Fantasy, but its visuals are very consistent, with plumes of flame and shadowy slices following sword strikes.

You’ll spend most of the game making your way through basic enemies and the odd, more powerful monster, but it’s the boss fights with other Eikons that really shine. Each one changes the landscape and bombards you with attacks on a gigantic scale, eventually escalating into a kaiju battle between gods.

Their grand scale makes me sweat my controller and curse under my breath in delight as the dramatic music swells and Clive dodges mountain-sized hands or shoots into space. FF14 players might do a bit of a double take at some of the reused combat mechanics, but that shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering the two development teams shared a lot of staff. Masayoshi Soken is also responsible for the music of both games, which led to an impressive mix of classic Final Fantasy themes mixed with rock and pulsating electronica.

If action isn’t your thing, there’s a story-driven difficulty mode and accessories you can equip to lend a hand Clive dodge or pull off intricate combos with ease. However, if you’re looking for a challenge, you’ll need to beat the game once to unlock the much more hard Final Fantasy mode… or just look for mods to shorten the process.

I played this PC port on a device that’s at the bottom end of the game’s settings, so I encountered stuttering in some cutscenes and the edges of finer details looked a bit jagged. Although in some of the more graphically intensive areas I had to lower the settings to medium and sometimes even to low (even those with advanced specs will feel that their computers are under a bulky load), most importantly the action did not suffer and inputs remained velvety even when you look a bit sloppy.

As I played, I felt constantly torn between loving the pace of the combat and lots of story beats, and feeling disappointed that there wasn’t much more to it – no hidden secrets or exploration like other Final Fantasy games. Compared to games like FF7: Remake, this great adventure seems to be missing something that would make it truly epic. However, this did not prevent it from gaining a place in my personal TOP 10 series. It’s not perfect, but the story it tells, combined with its soundtrack and combat, still make it a standout game – a worthy sequel for longtime fans and an accessible path for newcomers.