Final Fantasy XVI Shows Eikon Battles, Cid’s Hideaway, and More in 20+ Minutes of Footage

Final Fantasy XVI is only a couple short months away, and today Square Enix and Sony kept the hype fires burning strong with a new 20-minute-plus State of Play showcasing all-new gameplay. The showcase mainly focuses on action and gameplay mechanics, rather than story or the game’s world, which Square Enix is likely keeping under wraps for players to discover for themselves. You can check out the Final Fantasy XVI State of Play for yourself, below.

As mentioned, the Final Fantasy XVI State of Play largely focuses on the game’s combat, which is purely action-based this time around. That said, if you’re not an action master, you can equip items that will let you do things like unleash combos with simple button mashing or auto-evade attacks. For the most part, you only control the main character Clive during battle, but you’ll also be able to directly command your loyal pet dog Torgal.

Much of the showcase also focused on Cid’s Hideaway, which seems to be where a lot of the game’s more traditional RPG elements are housed. Here you can shop, begin various sidequests, get to know your party members better, engage in training and arcade combat modes, and more. Final Fantasy XVI doesn’t have a traditional overworld, so it seems like this Hideaway is going to play a big role in tying the game’s world together into a cohesive whole.

The showcase ends with an extensive look at Eikon battles. Eikons are essentially Final Fantasy XVI’s version of Summons and during certain major battles, you and your opponent will be able to go head-to-head with your Eikons. These are essentially pure cinematic action scenes, with Square Enix promising each will be unique and feature different gameplay – one may take the form of a scrolling shooter, another a wrestling match, and so on. These Eikon battles look like they have the potential to be FF16’s most exciting, and possibly divisive, element. We’ll see how they’re received.

Final Fantasy XVI launches on PS5 on June 22. If you’d like to know more about the game, you can check out Wccftech’s hands-on impressions and our interview with the game’s producers. What do you think? Does the game look like an exciting departure for the series or has Square Enix gone astray?