Sony had several surprises prepped for their PlayStation Showcase, and one of those surprises included the debut of Square Enix's next entry in the Final Fantasy franchise. Fans got their first look at Final Fantasy XVI thanks to a rather substantial announcement trailer, which showed off not only early gameplay but also gave us a taste of the world's tone and vibe and the characters that fans will get to know over the course of the game. There was plenty of action to see as well, and now Square Enix has released some beautiful screenshots from the upcoming PS5 exclusive, which you can check out starting on the next slide.
The new images feature a mix of everything, from that epic opening battle sequence (which included Shiva) to the smaller moments featuring Joshua and his Shield, who is a bodyguard for the son of the Arch Duke that you'll be controlling at points along the way.
We also get to see what looks to be the other main protagonist(or antagonist, hard to tell) as well as Chocobos, some of the larger than life creatures and monsters in the world, and that fiery phoenix. We still don't have names for a lot of the characters featured, but you can get an up-close look at everyone on the next slide.
Final Fantasy has been a popular topic recently thanks to the immensely successful Final Fantasy VII Remake, though Final Fantasy XV was also quite well received despite an incredibly lengthy development cycle. You can see some correlations between XV and XVI, especially in regards to combat, though this is much more in line with your traditional fantasy adventure at first glance than the laid back road trip vibe XV had.
As with most Final Fantasy games, this seems to be a completely new world, and we can't wait to see more of it. You can check out the new screenshots starting on the next slide, and for all things Final Fantasy you can find me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
