PS4

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

Role-playing (RPG)

Time to beat: about 60 hours

Overview

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is the third expansion pack to Final Fantasy XIV, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square Enix for macOS, PlayStation 4, and Windows, then later on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2. It was released on July 2, 2019, two years after Stormblood. As before, Naoki Yoshida served as director and producer and Masayoshi Soken composed the soundtrack. It released as a standalone product for current players; for new players, the "Complete Edition", originally launched with Heavensward, was updated to include all available expansions.

Shadowbringers takes place on the First, a parallel dimension on the brink of collapse, where the player character is summoned to rescue and restore the world. Several comrades accidentally trapped there join them, as well as Emet-Selch, an immortal villain who seeks to harness the First's apocalypse to restore his deity, Zodiark. Emet-Selch accompanies and tests the player character, confident despite their meddling. In addition to adding new areas, the expansion pack increased the level cap, debuted two character classes and two playable races, and introduced the ability to explore dungeons with non-playable "Trust" companions.

Shadowbringers received widespread critical and popular acclaim, particularly for its writing and focus on player accessibility. By December 2019, the title had reached a cumulative total of 18 million player accounts. As with its predecessors, major content patches were scheduled for every three months. These updates expanded the main story, added new features, and premiered secondary storylines including a crossover written by Yoko Taro that features characters and elements from Nier: Automata and the "Restoration of Ishgard", a long term campaign to rebuild the embattled nation in the aftermath of the Dragonsong War. The third major content patch had its release delayed by two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.