Final Fantasy XVI is Square Enix's dramatic reimagining of the franchise — an action RPG that abandons turn-based combat entirely in favor of real-time combat designed with battle designer Ryota Suzuki (a Capcom veteran who worked on Devil May Cry) and tells one of the series' darkest, most politically complex stories. Set in the war-torn world of Valisthea, you play as Clive Rosfield, the shield of the Dominant of the Phoenix, whose personal tragedy becomes entangled with the fate of his world across a decades-spanning epic.
Combat revolves around Eikonic Abilities — powers drawn from Eikons such as Phoenix (fire), Shiva (ice), Ramuh (thunder), Titan (earth), Garuda (wind) and Bahamut (light) that Clive can switch between and chain into combos. Per Gamer Guides, you can generally equip two abilities from any one Eikon, and mastering an ability lets you use it on other Eikon sets. Torgal, Clive's hound, responds to commands for special attacks or healing.
The Eikon battles are massive kaiju-scale confrontations between summoned gods, each with dedicated mechanics; some reviewers compared their scale to God of War III and Asura's Wrath, though GamesRadar noted that the visual effects sometimes obscured the action. The game released on PS5 on 22 June 2023, Windows on 17 September 2024 and Xbox Series X|S on 8 June 2025. The narrative, dark and deliberately adult, explores themes of slavery, empire, and sacrifice with a maturity uncommon in the franchise.
Switch between abilities from Eikons such as Phoenix, Shiva, Titan, Garuda, Ramuh and Bahamut and chain them into combos.
Massive kaiju-scale battles between Eikons, each with dedicated mechanics that are not reused elsewhere.
Clive's hound fights alongside him and responds to D-pad commands (Sic, Heal and Ravage); Torgal's attacks can be combined with Clive's.
An adult political story of empire, slavery, and sacrifice told with a maturity and seriousness rare in the Final Fantasy franchise.
Release facts, mechanics and boss details on this page were checked against these sources on 12 October 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us.