Final Fantasy 16 will drop some f-bombs
Final Fantasy 16 is going to be a darker game than fans might be used to – so dark that Naoki Yoshida made fans mad by saying that putting light-hearted minigames into it would ruin the game’s tone. Indeed, Final Fantasy 16 will be the first mainline entry into the beloved series with a Mature ESRB rating, whereas all its predecessors have been rated as being fit for Teens.
This will not only allow the developers to get a bit more gritty in terms of themes and visuals, but also lifts a few language restrictions – something that the team at Square Enix will definitely take advantage of.
Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, responsible for the localization and lore of Final Fantasy 16, stated in an interview with well-played.au that he had a lot of fun finally letting the characters do some swearing for once: “My favorite? There are a lot of great characters in the game. Because it’s a mature game, I got to let some of them swear which has been fun. In Final Fantasy games, it has always been teen [rated] so we have to be careful with the language.”
Final Fantasy 16 might be dark, but at least you'll get to pet the dog.
Square Enix
With the exception of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin from 2022, the series has never moved outside the ESRB Teen rating. “This is the first numbered Final Fantasy that is mature. We didn’t go too over the top. But it’s great to have somebody yell ‘fuuuuck!’ when the situation calls for it,” Koji Fox continued.
The game, which Naoki Yoshida doesn’t want to be called a JRPG, will be released on June 22, 2023, on PS5. Yoshida does want to make a PC version as well, but this might be years away as the team’s full focus right now is the initial release on Sony’s latest console.
You can read more about the upcoming blockbuster release in our Final Fantasy 16 preview.
