It has been nearly 10 years since the last mainline Final Fantasy game released, and there’s a lot to expect with the next one. Final Fantasy 16 is an action RPG by Square Enix and Creative Business Unit III, who works on Final Fantasy 14. Given the nature of the last Final Fantasy game, fans of the series are wondering if Final Fantasy 16 will also be open world, which we will answer here.
Does Final Fantasy 16 take place in an open world?
Throughout all the trailers, Final Fantasy 16 is shaping up to look like an expansive world. There will be a few different regions to discover while playing the story. The previous installment was open world, which some players liked, while others didn’t so much. But what about Final Fantasy 16, which takes place in a fantasy, medieval-inspired world?
Screenshot via Square Enix
It seems at first from watching trailers that this is a typical open-world game. Instead, the answer to whether Final Fantasy 16 is open world or not is a no. Although it’s a large world with many open spaces, the developers don’t call it an open world. Naoki Yoshida, the game’s producer, back in 2022 spoke to IGN and said this in an interview when asked about their world design.
“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.”
Similar to games like God of War Ragnarok, while Final Fantasy 16′s world will be large, it’s focused on area-based game design. There were some wide, explorable areas in God of War Ragnarok, but it was still linear enough where it didn’t feel overwhelming. Sometimes, players can find open worlds exhausting, or even empty. To avoid this, it seems as thought Yoshida and the developers are taking good care of their more enclosed game world.
Final Fantasy 16 is available to pre-order as a PlayStation 5 exclusive.
