Remaining Fantasy XVI Evaluation (PS5)

Remaining Fantasy 16 is the furthest the mainline collection has ever strayed from its conventional RPG roots. It is extra of an motion sport with RPG parts bolted on than it’s an RPG with motion fight, however on the similar time, it boasts the entire substances that we affiliate with the best Remaining Fantasy titles. Its character-driven story is grand and intoxicating, its fantastical world constructing is good, and it is match to burst with superb battles. Once more, it is a daring new path for the beloved franchise, however it’s additionally the most effective mainline, single-player Remaining Fantasy sport since 12 — and it is not even shut.

Granted, the extremely divisive 13 and 15 did not precisely set a excessive bar, however with 16, it appears like Remaining Fantasy is concentrated once more. This was a undertaking with a transparent imaginative and prescient, and that shines via within the spectacular cinematic high quality of the storytelling, and the largely glorious fight system. When the credit rolled, we felt like we might been on a memorable, emotional journey and we have been unhappy to see it finish. That is what ending a Remaining Fantasy sport ought to really feel like.

For this explicit journey, you are plopped within the persistently tragic sneakers of Clive Rosfield — a noble-born swordsman charged with the safety of his throne-bound youthful brother. On this world, a choose few — together with Clive’s little bro Joshua — are basically born with the facility of demigods inside them. Some nations use these ‘Eikons’ to wage battle, whereas others worship them. These omnipotent entities are on the coronary heart of the sport’s story, and each time an Eikon takes to the stage — whether or not it is throughout an eye-popping cutscene or a mind-melting boss struggle — it is laborious to not be blown away.

Remaining Fantasy 16’s narrative is a reasonably intricate mixture of grounded political intrigue — all very harking back to Remaining Fantasy 12 — and loopy Eikon-based chaos, with magic and crystals and superhuman feats that would not really feel misplaced in Dragon Ball Z. Someway, the sport’s plot manages to meld all of this collectively with out creating tonal whiplash, and that is maybe right down to its largely immaculate script. Certainly, the localisation group deserves a lot reward right here, as a result of they’ve taken a Japanese script and remodeled it into one thing that feels fully pure, topping it off with some very good voice appearing.

When the sh*t hits the fan — and it does, quite a bit — Remaining Fantasy 16 tells a really gripping story. It is up there with probably the most emotionally impactful plots in trendy gaming, and it is additional bolstered by cinematic motion sequences that may make God of Struggle 3 blush. We’ve not seen spectacle fairly like this in a lengthy time, and because the story develops, it solely will get increasingly obsessive about one-upping itself on the “is that this really occurring?” scale.

Now, given its penchant for prolonged cutscenes, you may be sitting there anxious that Remaining Fantasy 16 is extra film than sport. It is a honest concern if you happen to’ve dabbled within the demo — which options the title’s cutscene-heavy prologue — however fortunately, fight and exploration are simply as prevalent as the massive story moments. Whereas there is not any doubt that it is a cinematic expertise before everything — it is precisely what Sq. Enix desires you to see in trailers and punctiliously curated shows — you will nonetheless spend most of your playthrough battering beasts and wandering throughout massive environments.

Structurally, the sport jumps between very linear, story-slinging ‘dungeons’, and entire chapters the place you are free to roam open areas, ticking off facet quests and attending to know secondary characters. Remaining Fantasy 16’s plot pacing might be so intense that it is good to have some downtime from time to time, so we did ultimately discover ourselves welcoming the chance to simply go off and do our personal factor for a bit.

Nonetheless, we are saying ‘ultimately’ as a result of a number of the facet quests — significantly early on — are mind-numbingly uninteresting. The drop off in total high quality between the principle story and these non-compulsory duties might be jarring, as partaking digicam angles and full movement seize are changed by static character fashions and flapping mouths, spewing the type of fully forgettable quests you’d discover in an MMO (which does make some sense, seeing as this sport is spearheaded by Remaining Fantasy 14 builders).

The issue is that we’re gone having to chew via such dreary facet quests in trendy RPGs. In an period the place titles like The Witcher 3 and Horizon Forbidden West have redefined what we have come to count on from branching actions, Remaining Fantasy 16 could as properly be a PS2 launch when it comes to questing. Some quests do assist flesh out the world, offering perception into the finer factors of the lore, however when the accompanying gameplay actually boils right down to discovering objective-marked NPCs and listening to their inane prattle, one after one other, you’ll be able to’t assist however really feel as if your time is being wasted.

Happily, when the following story beat kicks in and also you’re again on the rollercoaster, you’ll be able to forgive the title’s (admittedly non-compulsory) missteps. The aforementioned ‘dungeons’ symbolize the core sport at its peak, as Clive rages via a collection of beautiful places, peppered with close to completely positioned encounters and jaw-dropping boss battles.

Alongside the story, it is actually the fight system that holds every thing collectively. Accessible and flashy, but additionally stocked with an intriguing diploma of depth, Remaining Fantasy 16 performs just a little bit like a streamlined Satan Might Cry. The inputs are comparatively easy, however the, er, satan’s within the particulars, as you progressively begin to discover extra superior strategies like parries and assault cancelling. On a basic stage, it feels improbable to play, with responsive controls, slick animations, and satisfying sound design.

Extra necessary fights — towards foes that may’t simply be launched into the air and combo’d into oblivion — revolve round dodging incoming assaults and retaliating on the proper time. Other than only a handful of particular battles which are nearly too graphically busy for their very own good, the visible cues — the methods during which enemies wind up their assaults and unleash particular strikes — are extraordinarily properly designed. This results in an issue curve that always feels extremely rewarding, the place over the course of a protracted battle, you will become familiar with precisely what your opponent is able to, and study to take full benefit.

Together with Clive’s normal sword swings and magic projectiles, you are steadily given entry to a variety of elemental, Eikon-driven talents that function on particular person cooldowns. After unlocking mentioned talents with factors that you just achieve from battle, they are often assigned to your fight bar, and you start to construct your individual model of play. Some talents are ground-shakingly {powerful} however they’re balanced with lengthy cooldowns, whereas others are way more versatile, including distinctive quirks to the best way you strategy completely different enemy varieties. Once more, the system itself is simple to know, however discovering methods to hyperlink every thing collectively is the place the mechanics begin to sing.

Again to the subject of problem, Remaining Fantasy 16 offers you only one problem stage that may be made simpler by equipping particular equipment, that are granted initially of any new sport. It is an odd manner of doing issues, however we suppose it really works in that there is not any have to rebalance your complete fight system to go well with arbitrary settings. Nonetheless, gamers who’re extra skilled with motion video games are most likely going to crave a better problem, and that is the place the touted ‘Remaining Fantasy’ laborious mode enters the equation.

Remaining Fantasy mode makes your foes stronger, remixes numerous encounters, and even unlocks the extent cap whereas including new objects and tools. The catch? It is solely playable after beating the sport, via New Recreation +. Now, we get it: Remaining Fantasy mode is designed so as to add replay worth to the bundle — a purpose to hitch Clive on his journey once more, and daring you to push the fight system to its limits. However it is a little bit of a kicker that the idea of a tougher problem is locked behind a full playthrough — a playthrough that may already final upwards of 70 hours if you wish to full every thing.

It is fairly a minor grievance, although. Regardless of its unwavering deal with story and fight — there are not any minigames right here in any respect, eschewing collection custom — Remaining Fantasy 16 feels sturdy and full as an motion sport bundle. Between hunts that see Clive monitor down and slay particularly harmful monsters, to the flexibility to replay your favorite dungeons — full with boss fights — via a devoted arcade mode, the title totally embraces its lovingly crafted fight system.

The PS5 is embraced in a similar way, via the magic of ridiculously quick load instances (critically, it takes lower than ten seconds to get out of your console’s residence display screen to gameplay) and haptic suggestions, which is very well carried out all through.

Is it a technical showpiece for Sony’s system, although? Whereas its cutscenes actually rival and at instances surpass the requirements set by PlayStation Studios, it is not fairly on the extent of a first-party blockbuster total. Usually talking, the visuals are massively spectacular — backed by superb artwork path and environmental design — however as we wrote earlier, issues can look tough exterior of the principle story, with distractingly picket animations being the most important situation.

After which there’s the body fee, which does prefer to dip on a reasonably common foundation when utilizing efficiency mode. The dips aren’t distracting sufficient to the purpose the place we might suggest the graphics possibility — which caps at 30 frames-per-second in change for barely higher visible high quality — however it’s an actual disgrace that such an in any other case refined motion sport cannot preserve a easy 60fps. It is also price noting that, a minimum of at launch, there is not any choice to disable the title’s heavy-handed movement blur impact — though we daresay you get used to it.

After all, this would not be a Remaining Fantasy evaluate with out mentioning the music. Merely put, the rating is excellent; an absolute odyssey of orchestral magic that enriches each cutscene, each location, each battle. In a phrase, immense.