Final Fantasy 14’s new expansion, Endwalker, revealed

The Final Fantasy 14 development team revealed the next expansion for the massively multiplayer game, titled Endwalker, which is slated for release sometime in fall 2021.

The new expansion’s trailer showcased the Warrior of Light as a Paladin, helping the twins Alisae and Alphinaud fight. Notably, Alphinaud was sporting a new weapon: a kind of laser-blasting contraptions called Nouliths that floated above his back. Final Fantasy 14 producer Naoki Yoshida confirmed that Alphinaud was demonstrating one of the two new jobs coming in Endwalker, a healer, Sage. The other new job coming will be a melee DPS, which Yoshida hinted at by wearing a shirt with a reaper or skeleton on it.

To find out more information about Hydaelyn and Zodiark, the primal entities, the Warrior of Light will be going to the moon. It’s entirely possible that some Final Fantasy 4-inspired story is going to take place during this expansion. Endwalker will close out the story on the Hydaelyn saga, with no extended story in later patches, like how past expansions had. Yoshida did note that in patch 6.1, a completely new story will begin.

As with all expansions, the level cap is being raised 10 levels, from 80 to 90. Players will also be able to purchase housing in Ishgard, now that the Ishgard restoration project has completed. While the area will open with the release of Endwalker, the new housing plots will not be able to be purchased until patch 6.1.

The team also showed a new city, Radz-at-Han, a smaller town for Endwalker. Radz-at-Han is in Thavnair, a desert island, where tons of existing clothes and crops in the game are from. They did not reveal the main hub city for the expansion, but they did show concept art of Garlemald, an area players will finally be able to explore.

Image: Square Enix

The next raid tier, called Pandaemonium, will seemingly focus on fighting Ascians, as the raid preview art showed Lahabrea.

There’s also going to be an “Island Sanctuary,” where players can enjoy some “slow living.” The teaser image showed a character on a vast farm with many minions and other animals around her. Not only will Final Fantasy 14 players be able to go to the moon in this expansion, but they’ll also be able to play Harvest Moon in this expansion. (Please laugh.)

Image: Square Enix

Patch 5.5, the final patch of the Shadowbringers expansion, will be released on April 13, and should set up the story leading into Endwalker.

Open beta for Final Fantasy 14 on PlayStation 5 will also start on April 13. The dev team also showed off the PS5 version, which promises improved visuals, faster loading times, and up to 4K resolution.

All of this information usually drops at Final Fantasy 14 Fan Festivals that take place around the world. The 2020 Fan Fests were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. More information will be revealed during a digital Fan Fest in May.