‘Final Fantasy 14’ Dawntrail expansion and Xbox version announced

Square Enix showed off the next Final Fantasy 14 expansion, Dawntrail, in a Fan Fest 2023 event hosted in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 28.

The setting is the tropical region of Tural as the Scions and the Warrior of Light seek a fabled city of gold somewhere in the jungles. At the same time, there is tension over the line of succession in Tural as the player becomes embroiled in the debate of who will take over from the two headed Gulool Ja Ja, the leader of the Mamool Ja.

Gulool Ja Ja appeared in Final Fantasy 11, and so they will be familiar to Final Fantasy fans. The new hub city is Tuliyollal, placed in the northern reaches of Yok Tural, and boasts a historical sea route to Old Sharlayan.

In addition, the new allied tribe is the Pelupelu. As “natural entrepreneurs” who are well-known for their eclectic masks, they are producers of tea, coffee and mezcal.

The fifth expansion to the immensely popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game will include new melee and ranged magical DPS jobs, treasure hunts, quest-synced sidequests, dungeons, enemies, gear, recipes, raids and more.

Dawntrail is not out for a long time, however. Producer Naoki Yoshida shared that the expansion is targeting a launch in summer 2024, timing with the game’s upcoming major graphical update that will address higher-resolution textures, shadows, materials, and “aesthetic appeal”.

Lastly, there is an Xbox Series X|S version of Final Fantasy 14 in the works. Arriving in spring 2024, it will be a digital-only release sporting 4K support on the Xbox Series X and faster loading.

The open beta for this will be scheduled with patch 6.5X. As such, there will be a change to the PC system requirements to reflect these improvements, but PlayStation 4 will still be supported in its current state.

In other gaming news, Baldur’s Gate 3 revealed its third shape-shifting antagonist, played by award-winning actress Maggie Robertson.