Watch Another 20 Minutes of Final Fantasy 16? You Must Be Mad | Push Square

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Final Fantasy XVI is easily my most anticipated PlayStation game. Hell, it's probably the most excited I've been for a PS5 game to date. So when Sony confirmed a new State of Play broadcast featuring over 20 whole minutes of fresh Final Fantasy XVI gameplay, I turned away in disgust.

Why? Because I feel like I've seen half of the bloody game already. From characters to locations to battle systems to full-on boss fights, I'm genuinely worried I've had impactful moments spoiled through official press materials.

Now look, that's a bit melodramatic. You would hope that Square Enix knows what it's doing, and that what we've been shown so far is just scratching the surface of an immense RPG. But I still feel like modern game marketing has a bad habit of showing too much.

I've seen a few trailers in recent years that have featured key story moments or even twists, and at the time, you might not think much of it. But then when you're playing the game, and you realise you've already seen what's unfolding on screen, the experience can definitely be diminished. Just off the top of my head, SEGA's managed to do this once or twice with the newer Yakuza / Like a Dragon titles — and they're all about the story!

I get it, though. In Final Fantasy XVI's case, Square Enix probably feels like it has to go hard on marketing. It's not that the game won't be a hit, but the publisher does have to convince some people that this new direction for its beloved series is justified. From that perspective, a deep-diving 20 minute gameplay presentation makes sense.

But if you've been keeping up with Final Fantasy XVI over the last month or so, you'll have probably seen all of the raw, uncut gameplay clips from the developer's PAX panel. If you add all