- Publisher: Square Enix
- Release Date: Jun 22, 2023
- Also On: PC, Xbox Series X
Buy Now
| Buy on |
|
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
- Unscored
-
Oct 30, 2023This is a solid RPG/action game. Some elements of the game are unusual and fresh for single-player parts of the Final Fantasy series, but some are too dull and rudimentary.
-
Jul 5, 2023Final Fantasy XVI continues to push the series into a new direction. While it has a well-realized setting, good characters, satisfying combat, and excellent cinematic large scale battles, the slow pacing, lackluster RPG elements and barebones optional content grind the excitement to a halt too often.
-
Aug 21, 2023As a successor to the hugely popular Final Fantasy 15, Final Fantasy 16 leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Sure, the crucial elements of a Final Fantasy game are all present and accounted for – engaging boss battles full of impressive visual effects, fluid combat and an interesting storyline – but for every win, there’s a massive fail, be it the bland semi-open world devoid of much to do or the frankly uninspired never-ending list of fetch-style side quests. Charming voice acting, a plethora of twists and turns and Hollywood-esque cut scenes helped keep me entertained through the majority of the 40-hour campaign, but once it was over, I was done. There was no urge to explore the semi-open world or even dive into the new Game+ mode. It’s very much a one-and-done affair, which hasn’t been the case for previous Final Fantasy titles I’ve played.
-
Edge MagazineJul 13, 2023The creative aims are clear and well-met: to create a Final Fantasy game with a more serious and grounded story, a more fashionable battle system and more mature world in which magic and monsters exist, and their effects on human ambitions and systems of power. On these counts, Final Fantasy XVI's gamble is a success. But whether this is a game to inspire passion among a new generation, in the way the high points of the series did, is debatable. [Issue#387, p.106]
-
Jun 21, 2023Final Fantasy XVI tells a fantastic and entertaining story, but many of the gameplay systems are quite frankly very dull.
-
Jun 21, 2023Final Fantasy 16 is an uneven game. There were moments – like the Platinum Games-tinged Eikon fight against Titan – where I was convinced that this was one of the best things I’ve ever played, but for every section as good as that, there are hours of drudgery. If you don’t think MMO-style fetch quests are the pinnacle of game design, you’re probably going to feel the same way.
-
Jun 21, 2023Final Fantasy 16 is a rich, visually arresting spectacle with engrossing set pieces let down by a bloated story and stifled combat.
-
Jun 21, 2023While Final Fantasy XVI didn’t meet this fan’s expectations for a new series entry, newcomers to epic fantasy and action games will be swept away by the eye-melting combat and enormous-yet-approachable scale.
-
Jun 22, 2023An excellent battle system shackled to a dispiritingly dull and long-winded fantasy adventure, that takes an inordinate amount of time to say nothing of value.
-
Jun 21, 2023Final Fantasy XVI is a messy game that sometimes delivers and sometimes does not. The new combat system only becomes good after many hours and the fetch quests are an insult. Still, the story is captivating and so are the characters.
-
Jun 21, 2023A smart combat system straining under the weight of a characterful but ponderous pseudo-medieval soap opera, with some of the grandest bosses and dullest sidequests in FF history.
-
Jun 21, 2023Final Fantasy XVI delivers on the “action” side of its action-RPG formula. A fierce and fast-paced combat system makes for the series’ most exciting stab at real-time swordplay yet, while its blockbuster Eikon fights rank among some of gaming’s most awe-inspiring battles. But there’s a general flatness surrounding those exhilarating highs, as shallow RPG hooks and dated design leave a promising evolution for the series stuck in the past.
| This publication does not provide a score for their reviews. | |
| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
| These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation. | |
-
Jun 21, 2023For all it invests in big-scale brawls between Dominants, the game also leans into quieter human connections. Many of the side quests are almost too simple: Go to this place marked on the map, listen to somebody talk, kill some bandits, get a bunch of bloody hides as a reward. But there are so many exceptional vocal performances and well-written arcs that you can’t help but come to love this world as much as Clive does. Show up for the kaiju fights, but stay for the tender series of quests exploring the complicated and noble backstory of your hideout’s resident blacksmith.
-
Jun 21, 2023Worst of all, the plot is diametrically opposed to the gameplay: wooden where the gameplay is vibrant, rote where the gameplay is inventive. During some cutscenes I found myself falling asleep, the characters’ lines just sliding off my brain like water off a duck’s back. This isn’t to denigrate the voice actors, who are all doing their best with some very tired material. Ben Starr’ performance as Clive is a particular standout, as is Ralph Inseon of Game of Thrones fame. It’s just that I have seen this exact story before, almost beat for beat — not just in novels but in movies, songs, video games, and even other Final Fantasy games. In fact, Final Fantasy 16 reproduces some of the same plot beats from Final Fantasy 14, for which 16 producer Naoki Yoshida serves as director.
-
Jun 27, 2023The worst thing you can say about the game is that it clearly wants to be deeper than it is—and even then, that just pushes it to tackle material this franchise has never touched before, sometimes to good effect. It’s a game for the hands and heart, not the head—but it’s damn good at what it does.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 6,528 out of 8567
-
Mixed: 693 out of 8567
-
Negative: 1,346 out of 8567
-
Jun 23, 2023
-
Jun 23, 2023
-
Jun 23, 2023