In the fast paced world of video games it’s hard for hard hitting journalists like myself to stay ahead of the curve but I work very hard to make sure I have the best, most up to date, and accurate reporting. That is why I write this column “First Impressions” where I give you the scoop immediately on the hottest topics regardless of whether information is actually available.

Square Enix is known for lots of games including Tomb Raider and Deus Ex so it should come as no surprise that they want to dig into the game market even more by contributing their version of a Final Fantasy game. Introducing Final Fantasy XVI which is of course pronounced Final Fantasy “EXVEE-EYE”. It is difficult to say whether this is a prequel or a sequel to Square’s mildly successful mobile contribution to the series Final Fantasy Brave Exvius but the similarity in the name means that a tie in is fairly likely. The trailer for Final Fantasy XVI took the gaming world by storm and surprised everyone except me of course. I knew that this game was coming but more on that later.

Right off the bat it is clear that there are problems with the game. The graphics on the PS5 (left) are barely betterer than the game graphics from 2006 RPG Xenosaga (right). It’s a bad look considering that Sony continues to tout the power of the Playstation 5 even though people still have trouble purchasing them because of video card scrapers.

Further, the originality of the title is immediately called into question. Many of the visuals shown include a hero with a sword and vast landscapes. Nintendo’s smash hit Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild was a really good game and lots of these indy developers are trying hard to imitate the open world format of Breath of the Wild. Square Enix’s upcoming title doesnt even hide the fact that it is a clone.

Representation is also an issue. In this screenshot you can see that either both or neither of these characters has gender androgyny nor gender binary, which makes it difficult to determine whether or not they aren’t the same.

The trailer says that the game will be released in 2023, which is after Breath of the Wild 2 will be released on switch and it is therefore likely to share many things in common with that game also. It is difficult to tell from the trailer but the game may or may not have features that allow the player to take specific actions to improve how they might defeat various enemies. You can be sure that the best spells and abilities will be based around doing the most effective moves and either tactics, reflexes, or some other player oriented input will have the most effect on the outcome of the gameplay.

Regardless of the outpouring of support for the trailer, I didn’t enjoy this game at all and I’m going to rate it

2/10