Final Fantasy 16 Review: Reclaiming the Throne

Final Fantasy 16 is just about everything you could want from a AAA video game. Gorgeous visuals, engaging gameplay, deep storytelling, excellent voice acting, and a soundtrack that will leaving you waiting for its arrival Spotify. Across virtually all areas, Final Fantasy 16 is a major achievement from Square Enix and stands as one of the best games released so far in 2023. Despite this high praise, though, that doesn't prevent the latest entry in the storied RPG franchise from having a handful of drawbacks. 

Like every other mainline game in the series, Final Fantasy 16 centers around an entire new cast of characters, world, and storyline. With its sixteenth entry, Square Enix places the focus on Valisthea, which is a land rife with warring factions, mysterious magic, and vast lore. The complex protagonist at the center of the game is that of Clive Rosfield, whose story unravels over the span of multiple years. 

Generally speaking, I think the narrative found in Final Fantasy 16 is consistently strong. Those who played the demo for the game prior to launch know that FF 16 gets off to a bombastic opening that quickly sinks its hooks into you. As this story continues to develop, I found myself constantly engrossed by the next major plot beat. This is largely due to the fact that Final Fantasy XVI does a great job of keeping you guessing and never fully shows its hand to the player. 

Although it proves to be a bit daunting at times, I also have to commend Final Fantasy 16 for not shying away its constant world-building. The way that some of this lore is delivered at times is often a bit too blunt, but it's clear that the team behind FF 16 had a clear vision for this world and didn't compromise when it came to its creation. To that end, the implementation of the "Active Time Lore" is a fantastic one, as this is an expansive system in the game that explains how every character, faction, and nation is interconnected. The Active Time Lore is a bit like a Codex from other RPG titles, but the way that Square Enix has laid it out in-game is pretty clear and helps make sure you never have certain terms or storytelling devices going over your head. 

Despite having such a strong story, it's the combat and gameplay of Final Fantasy 16 that makes it worth playing. Even if you're a Final Fantasy purist that longs for the return of turn-based combat, it's undeniable that the real-time action seen in FF 16 is anything other than excellent. One of the great strengths of the game in this regard is that combat only continues to evolve and gain more depth as you play more. Throughout his journey, Clive unlocks new abilities and skills at a steady pace, all of which allow you to pull off greater combos and deal out more damage. Final Fantasy 16's combat system is one that seem relatively button-mashy at first, but as the story progresses, it becomes apparent that these mechanics are on par with what you'd expect from character action games like Bayonetta or Devil May Cry. 

As if combat wasn't already a highlight of Final Fantasy 16, it's during boss fights that the game truly takes things to another level. One of the core elements of FF 16 involves Eikons, which are kaiju-like beings that wield unique powers. Clive himself has the ability to transform into one of these Eikons which leads to him duking it out with opposing foes who wield similar powers. It's during these Eikon vs. Eikon battles that Final Fantasy 16 really blows away many of its contemporaries as these bouts are nothing short of stunning on both an audio and visual level. The fights themselves are often a bit rudimentary and don't contain the same mechanical complexity found with the core gameplay, but these boss fights put to shame similar battles see in other games. 

The audio and visual aspects of Final Fantasy 16 might shine the most during Eikon conflicts, but overall, everything seen in the game is an achievement on this front. Graphically, I believe that FF 16 is one of the prettiest games that the PlayStation 5 has seen so far. Even though it struggles at times to hit a consistent frame rate, the vibrancy and high-end graphics seen in Final Fantasy 16 make this truly feel like a "next-gen" title. 

On the audio front, it perhaps goes without saying that Final Fantasy 16 comes packed with an incredible soundtrack. Having a great score is largely expected with any new Final Fantasy installment, but that somewhat diminishes just how much of an achievement it is for music this amazing to be found in the game. Outside of simply deeming the music to be fantastic, I think the thing I was most interested by with FF 16 is just how diverse its soundtrack is. It's this diversity of instrumentation and style that I believe makes its entire musical catalog that much more interesting in comparison to previous games. 

Despite being so visually appealing, the act of exploring Valisthea is never as exciting as I wished it would be. Rather than being a true open-world game, Final Fantasy 16 features a number of different areas that players will travel to, all of which are quite vast in their own right. The problem with how FF 16 is designed though is that running through these locales isn't particularly enjoyable. These locations often feel quite barren, outside of select hubs where key characters or cities might reside. For the most part, though, the world is pretty flat and is mainly filled out with enemy monsters that you can run off to fight if you so choose. 

This same level of tedium also extends to the quests in Final Fantasy 16, which I found to be quite boring throughout. Most missions in the game that you're sent on (especially side quests) see you traveling from point A to point B where you then complete a mundane task before returning to point A. Despite being such a massive game filled with stuff to do, I found myself quickly burnt out on the side content in FF XVI and instead just opted to focus on the main path. Doing so didn't result in me feeling like I was missing out on anything, but that's an issue in its own right. 

Final Fantasy 16 is very much a game where the negatives don't come close to outweighing the positives. Even though I have some legitimate gripes with the quest design and world layout of FF 16 , these aspects paled in comparison to the highs found with the gargantuan boss battles and gripping gameplay. While the Final Fantasy series has seen its fair share of ups and downs over the past decade, Final Fantasy 16 is a real return to form in so many ways and proves why this franchise is held in such high regard to begin with. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Final Fantasy 16 is available now exclusively on PlayStation 5. A review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.