It’s clear that many top-quality games will be seeing a release in 2023, and undoubtedly Final Fantasy XVI is one of them.
And since Final Fantasy XVI’s announcement back in September 2020, excitement for the game has only grown… This is something which makes sense taking into account that this looks like it could be one of the best entries in the Japanese role-playing series to date judging by previews.
There’s also the fact that Final Fantasy XVI will be a more mature game than its predecessors, something which game director Naoki Yoshida revealed in an interview with GameSpot last summer.
“We decided to pursue a mature rating in most of the regions that will be releasing the game. But again, this is not because we simply wanted to make the game more violent or the game more explicit, this is because we felt it was necessary to allow us to explore those more mature themes that the game tackles”, the Japanese producer told GameSpot.
Yoshida also said the game deals with “difficult adult themes” in this interview, and indeed the game’s ESRB rating has confirmed this will be a Mature game thanks to it featuring nudity and sexual themes amongst other things.
This makes Final Fantasy XVI the first mainline game in the long-running series to be rated Mature, so it seems protagonist Clive Rosfield and his party of adventurers could be in for a wild ride in the fantasy world of Valisthea when the game launches on June 22 this year.
Actually, it seems the main character might even be paying a visit to houses of ill repute, as according to the ESRB description, as the game features “references to prostitution”. Meanwhile, “sexual moaning sounds in a brothel” can be heard in-game too… This coupled with adult-oriented dialogue such as “I’d be happy to show you…provided I can afford it”. Also, one character is seen “caressing and straddling a man in bed”.
Nudity has not been left out of this latest Final Fantasy entry either, and some characters can be seen “with partially exposed breasts and buttocks” in the game according to the ESRB.
Game developer Square Enix hasn’t skimped on the violence here either – Final Fantasy XVI could be the most violent entry in the series to date. Actually, at some point in the game a character is “impaled through the chest”, while this also features torture, as an interrogator stabs a prisoner in the shoulder and twists it to extract a confession in what could be one of the most shocking scenes in a Final Fantasy game to date…
Final Fantasy XVI also features titanic creatures known as “Eikons” which players can summon in the game, but which they also have to fight. These could be some pretty stunning (and surely violent) boss fights no doubt.
https://twitter.com/finalfantasyxvi/status/1639705413930168322
But besides the violence and sex, this will undoubtedly be a game of incredible beauty like the previous Final Fantasy games were. A new trailer put out by Square Enix (see above) shows off the game’s stunning landscapes, cities and ruins, which players will be able to explore come this summer.
It would be a great thing then, if this lives up to the previous entries in the Final Fantasy series, and turns out to be one of the top RPGs of 2023 when it arrives in a couple of months’ time.
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