WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR FINAL FANTASY 16Valisthea’s history tells Clive and his friends, alongside the player, that there were 8 wardens (Dominants) created for 8 Eikons.Final Fantasy 16players will encounter these throughout the story, battling most of them and seeing others as allies. Ifrit is seen as a special outlier, meaning that the 8 Eikons are Phoenix (fire), Garuda (wind), Ramuh (lightning), Titan (earth), Shiva (ice), Odin (darkness), Bahamut (light), and Leviathan (water). One of these is not like the other because, outside a handful of references,Leviathan is never seen inFinal Fantasy 16.
As players proceed throughout the story, they’ll unlock Eikonic abilities for these classic Summons, and each one is tied to an important story development. That’s not the case for Leviathan, though, as instead, players will see the sea serpent depicted in a mural or two acrossFinal Fantasy 16. She’ll even be referred to as Leviathan the Lost, indicating that a Dominant has not awakened with her powers in a long time. This intriguing mystery is the perfect in-game set-up for a DLC, but prior to the game’s release and prior to this knowledge regarding Leviathan, many fans were quick to point out one thing: there are no plans forFinal Fantasy 16DLC.
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Final Fantasy 16 Has No DLC Planned
Final Fantasy 16’s DLC plans, or lack thereof, are directly tied to one ofFF15’s chief complaints: at times, it seemed obvious entire sections of the game were cut and then repackaged as DLC. EachFinal Fantasy 15DLC explored the stories of key characters during pivotal moments they were missing, and at least in some part, the criticism of this approach played some role in thecancelation ofFF15’s DLC.Final Fantasy 16producer Yoshi-P seemed acutely aware of this prior to release, saying prior to release that it is a “one-off game. We’re asking players to pay the full price for this experience, and so we want an experience that’s going to equal the amount of money that players are going to be paying and we want them to have satisfaction equal to what they paid or even more than that.”
While this was well-received, despite disappointing some fans who were already hyped overFinal Fantasy 16, it’s worth highlighting how this was not the entire statement. Yoshi-P did follow up, saying this aboutFinal Fantasy 16’s DLC plans: “So while we always want to consider DLC or spin-offs or those types of things where you can learn more about the game, first we want to see if Valisthea and Clive are really things players around the world want to see more of and then make that decision.” Therefore, the statement makes it clear that there were, then, no plans for DLC, and it wasn’t a case that there was a plan for no DLC. Instead, Yoshi-P and Square Enix wantedFinal Fantasy 16to be a complete package, and it would evaluate if/how it could expand it from there, pending player reception. This avoids the common argument that developers hold back content to later release as DLC, which has never been entirely true, but it avoids that perception entirely.
It seems safe to say that the critical reception is more than welcoming for DLC.Final Fantasy 16reviewsare incredibly strong, with it having a “Mighty” OpenCritic rating, an 89 Top Critic Average, and 92% of critics recommending it per the review aggregate website. Because of this, it would not be surprising to see Square Enix move ahead with a DLC release or two despite that not being “planned.”
Final Fantasy 16 Has an Obvious DLC Direction Though
Without committing to a specific DLC plan or something like a season pass,Final Fantasy 16could get away without having DLC, with only having one or two, or with having a whole bunch, all without the perception that the game held back content. As always, DLC could go in any number of directions, but Leviathan the Lost is a clear setup for one nonetheless. Not only would it introducenew gameplay abilities forFinal Fantasy 16’s Clive, but it could explore a part of the story that expands on its core concepts without outright being part of it. And the mystery around Leviathan is incredibly enticing.
Final Fantasy 16lore establishes that Dominants will awaken their Eikonat some point in their life, some later than others, but it has never outright said why a Dominant would not awaken an Eikon. However, it seems less likely that Leviathan did not awaken and more likely that Leviathan’s last Dominant never died. Venturing into pure tinfoil hat territory, it would be fitting that Leviathan fell asleep on Valisthea’s ocean floor. The spreading Blight has some impact on the oceans too, so it would be interesting to see what the depths were like. It’s not necessarily likely that Clive adventures down to the ocean floor, although Mid could make it possible, but it could be that there’s an underwater kingdom affected by the Blight that sees Leviathan awaken. Encountering a Dominant who is hundreds of years old is interesting too, but no matter what, the Blight driving Leviathan to return to the surface would be a fun concept to play.
Torgal already takes after Fenrirand Odin plays a huge role in the story, meaning the Norse Mythology element ofFinal Fantasyis not being ignored, so it could also be that Leviathan has wrapped itself around the entire world on the ocean floor like The World Serpent. Or perhaps there are lands outside Storm and Ash that Leviathan has taken to. In other words, the possibilities are limitless, and it will be exciting to see whatFinal Fantasy 16does with Leviathan, should Square Enix choose to do anything with the Eikon.
Final Fantasy 16is available now on PS5.
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