Final Fantasy XIV’s next expansion is creeping up on us, so that means we get another FanFest, and the final one before Evercold, no less. A few hours ago in Tokyo, Japan, producer and director Naoki Yoshida stepped out on stage to reveal more of this new instalment of the Warrior of Light’s adventures, including the premiere of the full trailer for the game, the second new Job, and – most excitedly – a release date.
First was the full trailer for the expansion, which I’ve thrown above. Not only is this gorgeous, with an incredible first listen of the full theme for Evercold, but it does pose a lot of questions about the expansion. What can the Warrior of Light do to aid the Fourth? What are the worryingly clean-looking robots flying around the world? Who is the mysterious woman that looks suspiciously like Ysayle? When did Estinien learn that incredible dropkick?
Obviously though, the big reveal is the second new Job coming with Evercold, the crossbow and bird-wielding Zephyr. Falling into the ranged melee DPS, this Job will start at level 90 and will be obtainable in Gridania. It appears to have some fun mobility options, and Yoshi-P outlined that it will have party support utility, so this might be the new Job for me in Evercold after I lost that bet at Berlin FanFest.
The next big reveal was that we finally have a release date! It’s roughly three weeks later than the team wanted, but Yoshida really pressed the point that they wanted a little more time to polish certain elements of the game. Therefore, the tentative release date for Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold will be Tuesday 23rd February 2027, with Early Access beginning on Friday 19th February.
Additionally, we got more information about game features such as the new Raid difficulty, now titled “Fierce”, which will fit between Normal and Savage difficulty. This segment also showed more of the areas you will be exploring in the Fourth, more information around the updated gameplay systems like the Evolved Combat Mode, a reminder about the Collector’s Edition of the game, and new concept and key art for the expansion.
Finally, we got to get another look at the upcoming crossover Raid series for Evercold, the Evangelion content titled Ghosts of Desire. The new trailer gave us basically no new information, but it looked pretty damn good nonetheless. I think I’m happy to go into this unseen to be honest, so the lack of reveals for this sits nicely with me, especially as we saw so much during this keynote address already.
So, in summary, we had the following revealed over the keynote:
- New Job: Zephyr – a physical ranged DPS
- New Areas in the Icebound Realm of the Fourth
- New Raid Series: New artwork for Beyond the Lifestream – a crossover with the FINAL FANTASY VII Remake Series.
- New EVANGELION – Ghosts of Desire Trailer
- New 8-Player Battle Content – High-difficulty 8-player battles featuring reworked encounters with bosses from alliance raids.
- New Raid Series Difficulty: Fierce – A new level of difficulty, between the Normal and Savage difficulties.
- Evolved Combat Mode – A new way to play your Warrior of Light that highlights each job’s unique identity.
- New Reward System: Seasons – Seasons bring a significant change to how item rewards are obtained, providing a higher level of freedom to play the way you want to play.
- Improved Character Creation & Character Action Skins – Expanded character customisation and Character Action Skins allow new ways to express your character’s personality.
- Miscellaneous Updates – Expanded housing features, PvP updates, a revamped companion chocobo system and much more beginning in Patch 8.1
Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold is creeping ever closer now, with that 23rd February release date only a few months away. The journey to the Fourth looks to be an exciting one for the Warrior of Lights both in-game and out, and I genuinely cannot wait for it. Will you be picking up the new expansion, or making the switch to Zephyr or the other new Job, Bastion? And what did you think of the FanFest Tokyo keynote?
