Final Fantasy 16 Could Seriously Benefit From an M-Rating

After months of rumors, Final Fantasy 16 was revealed during Sony’s PS5 showcase, and it looks wildly different from recent entries. The reveal trailer showed a return to a medieval high fantasy style and a combat system that looked more like Devil May Cry than anything else.

Final Fantasy 16 is being developed by Square Enix’s Creative Business Unit 3, which is the studio behind Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. It’s the first time the team has developed a single-player Final Fantasy, and there are already serious similarities between the two games. Based on a PEGI rating, it also looks like Final Fantasy 16 is aiming for an M-rating, which would make it the first mainline Final Fantasy to do so.

While Final Fantasy certainly doesn’t need an M-rating to tell complex stories, the rating can work wonders with the storytelling Yoshida and his team are known for.

Final Fantasy 16’s Unrestrained Storytelling

Final Fantasy 16 features quite a few grisly scenes; a terrifying flaming figure, soldiers being crushed by boulders, blood splattering on a young boy. It’s a far cry from the brighter aesthetic of other Final Fantasy games, but it’s in line with what Final Fantasy XIV has brought to the series. Final Fantasy 16 has the chance to deliver a truly shocking story, going places the series hasn’t gone before. This doesn’t mean the game needs to have blood and gore at every opportunity, but it does mean that Yoshida and his team don’t need to hold themselves back.

A good example to think of is with Final Fantasy 7 and when Sephiroth kills President Shinra. In the original game, Sephiroth leaves a bloody trail of slaughter for Cloud and the party to follow, but with the remake, it’s a trail of purple ooze meant to signify Jenova. The remake’s take is effective enough, but the original game was absolutely chilling. That bloody trail was the player’s very first introduction to Sephiroth, and it really set the tone for how terrifying he was as a villain. With an M-rating Final Fantasy 16 doesn’t need to shy away from topics, or breeze over them. The game seems to have a big focus on war, and that rating lets Yoshida’s team dive headfirst into tackling the horrors of war. The only other game in the series to receive an M-rating is Final Fantasy Type-0, which similarly put a big focus on war and the absolute brutality of it all. Final Fantasy XIV also has a heavy dose of politics, and the rating can help Final Fantasy 16 dive into serious political intrigue and backstabbing. The story aside, a higher rating can also help the game’s combat, leading it to feel far more visceral and weighty.

There is, of course, a line to tread between being exploitative about mature themes, and actually using them well. The good news is that Yoshida and Creative Business Unit 3 have a good track record with inserting heavy themes and handling them well. Another aspect of Final Fantasy 16 seems to be subverting tropes of the series. A line in the trailer reads “The legacy of the crystals has shaped our history for long enough.” This very idea drives home that Final Fantasy 16 isn’t bound by the history of the franchise, and the M-rating is yet another piece of the game breaking off and trying wildly new ideas.

Final Fantasy 16 is currently in development for PS5.

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