Final Fantasy XVI Preview – I Am Just An Eikon Living

Final Fantasy XVI is a game I’ve played at a February preview, and it focused primarily on the combat. I enjoyed the combat a lot – you can read my thoughts here – but my latest hands-on with the game happened during my cover story trip to Square Enix’s Tokyo, Japan, offices. I played a few hours of the game, which is what everyone who’s part of this latest wave of previews played, and that’s what I’ll be talking about here. 

But I also saw never-before-seen gameplay, received an exclusive tour of some areas in FFXVI, learned about its endgame, and more for this month’s Game Informer cover story. This story is live now, so be sure to check out all the exclusive information. In the upcoming days and weeks, we will be adding more articles and videos as part of our FFXVI Exclusive Coverage Hub. Meanwhile, you can check out last week’s cover reveal. 

My hands-on with FFXVI for this preview begins in the game’s opening hours. The game quickly thrusts me into a dramatic and scene-chewing fight between the two Eikons adorning the title treatment for developer Creative Business Unit III’s latest: Phoenix and Ifrit. In the various times I’ve spoken with producer Naoki Yoshida about the game’s Eikon combat, he’s explained that each fight will be different. In an older preview I played Garuda and engaged in a full-on brawl. The battle is played like a third person shooter on rails. 

Phoenix is set to fire fireballs towards Ifrit while these two Eikons are crashing through an underground cavern. Ifrit, naturally, fights back and I avoid their attacks with a cinematic flair. Here, the action is fast-paced and vivid flames appear on screen. Soon after that, Clive Rosfield is introduced, a soldier who has been tasked to find and kill a Dominant – a person capable of transforming into an Eikon. In this case, it’s Shiva. 

Clive, without spoiling too much for you, is branded a traitor at the end by his employers. He meets Cidolfus, also known as Cid (because this is Final Fantasy, afterall). Together, Clive, Cid, and Clive’s companion dog, Torgal make their way to Cid’s hideaway, one of the main hubs in the game. This hideaway features a lot – a pub, a blacksmith, an item store, and more – and it looks like a great point to rest, check in with characters, and prepare Clive for what’s next in his journey. 

CBUIII has spoken before about how FFXVI takes place across three decades of Clive’s life – his teens, his 20s, and his 30s. Clive, who is now 28 years old has experienced a great deal of the story in this game. However, much of it took place when Clive, at 15, was 15 years older. In what seems like a crucial moment for both Clive’s life and the crux of FFXVI’s narrative, I see Joshua transform into Phoenix. It’s agonizing to watch, and it’s clear he’s not yet comfortable doing so like other Dominants who do this more regularly. The fight between Phoenix & Ifrit occurs in this flashback.

Clive’s hands-on experience culminates in him witnessing Joshua being brutally killed by an unknown assailant. It’s gory, heartbreaking, surprisingly bloody, and fantastically sold by the character’s voice actor, whom you might recognize as Logan Hannan, the voice behind Hugo de Rune of the Plague Tale series. 

Clive, unable to fight back and unable to defend himself, harbors a strong desire for revenge. This revenge appears to drive the story throughout FFXVI or is at least a beginning point. 

Later in the game’s narrative, I run around one of the open areas near where the Rosarian duchy once resided for about 20 minutes. It’s a gorgeous, picturesque landscape with ruins, a scenic waterfall, marshy land, and plenty of monsters to defeat. There are quests here, but I’m not allowed to interact with them. I do enjoy the fights with the enemies and finding hidden treasures. The scale of the area I’m in is amazing. There are multiple of these in the game, and I’m excited to explore each and see how they vary.

I won’t spoil more of what I experienced – you can read a lot more about what I played, including exclusive details you won’t find anywhere else in my cover story that’s live right now and in the coming weeks via Game Informer’s FFXVI coverage hub – but it’s clear FFXVI is aiming to be one of the darkest, most mature, and most action-forward games in the series’ entry.