'Final Fantasy 16' Isn't An Open-World Game, Producer Confirms

We still have a way to go until we get our hands on Final Fantasy 16 but thanks to Sony’s most recent State of Play, we know that the game will land in 2023. It’s set to be a timed PlayStation 5 exclusive and will introduce the world of Valisthea. The story picks up as a Blight takes hold across the lands, threatening the uneasy peace between various factions. Sounds a lot like Horizon Forbidden West, huh?

We know that Valisthea comprises six regions but don’t expect to journey around these regions like you may have traversed the aforementioned Forbidden West or even the Lands Between.

Take a look at the brand new trailer for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth below.

During an interview with IGN, Final Fantasy 16’s producer Naoki Yoshida confirmed that the game wouldn’t have an open world, but he did note that open world games have provided “inspiration”.

He said, “We've found in our extensive user research that many of the younger generation of gamers have never played a Final Fantasy or don't have any interest in the series. To create a game that might excite and resonate not only with our core fans but also with that new generation, we played a lot of games ourselves and so yes, in [Final Fantasy 16] you'll find inspiration from recent triple-A open world RPGs.”

Yoshida added that, “However, to bring a story that feels like it spans an entire globe and beyond, we decided to avoid an open world design that limits us to a single open world space, and instead focus on an independent area-based game design that can give players a better feel of a truly 'global' scale."

What Yoshida is describing sounds a lot like Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End which also took us across the globe, intertwining sub-open worlds with linear sections of gameplay. Personally, I’m excited to see the game adopt a more linear approach.