Square Enix is gearing up to kick off a brand new era of Final Fantasy 14 with the release of the Evercold expansion. The beginning of the “Godless Realms Saga” story arc, it arrives after the epic conclusion of a decade-long saga, and follows on from Dawntrail which laid the groundwork for this new adventure.
Game producer and director Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida has already teased the new threat players will face in the DLC, which I’m beyond excited for, as well as a number of incredible quality-of-life system updates, new content, and improvements to outdated gameplay features.
It’s looking to be a mighty expansion that will hopefully draw in even more players when the massively multiplayer online game (MMO) officially hits Nintendo Switch 2 next month, but there are a few things I’m particularly eager to experience.
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Final Fantasy 14 story spoilers ahead
After a decade of buildup, the Shadowbringers and Endwalker expansions saw the pieces of an overarching story finally come together and conclude the Hydaelyn-Zodiark saga, resulting in one of the best Final Fantasy stories ever to be told.
While some events were wrapped up with resolute endings, some lingering questions were left open that presented new possibilities for the MMO, and it all starts with the Reflections: mirror worlds created by the Sundering, a great calamity that saw the Source shattered into 13 Shards.
Players have visited other Reflections in past expansions, but in Evercold we’ll visit the Fourth Reflection, which was beset by a calamity of ice. This means an entire new world to explore, and from the trailers and concept art, it appears that SE is leaning heavily into the fantastical style I adored in Shadowbringers and Endwalker, and drawing from what looks like Norse mythology for inspiration.
A new, unexpected threat to all Reflections has also emerged with the recent release of Patch 7.5, the Solstice, which will bring about the natural Rejoining of the Shards and threatens to wipe out all life on the Source and its Reflections.
“In the time of the Ancients, Etheirys was divided across ten and three reflections to avert a terrible calamity,” the expansion description reads. “Thus, for twelve thousand years did the star survive, and by its enduring hope did the Warrior of Light at last thwart its Final Days. Yet victory comes at a cost, and fate now demands its due.
“Faced with the new threat of the Solstice, the Warrior of Light is summoned to the Fourth reflection. But what do they hope to gain from wandering a world lost to ice?”
It’s a bold move on the writers’ part to thrust players back into a situation where they’ll be dealing with the end of the world again; however, Dawntrail‘s subsequent patches have done a great job of building the foundations to make it a story worth telling.
I’m a FF14 player who looks forward to new story content most of all, and in Evercold, with the way the main scenario has been playing out, I’m certain our trip to the Fourth will open new avenues to explore and deepen the lore of the Ancients, which had been drip-fed to us over the years. In particular, the mystery behind the creation of Ethos, the key that opens up the path to these Reflections, and how this new ability to world-hop will play into the larger story.
Alongside these huge stakes, we’ve got a new “big bad” to face, the Winterers and the Ascian Halmarut, who are working in the shadows to prevent the Solstice.
Halmarut is unique in that she is sympathetic to mankind’s current state and will do anything to ensure it survives the Solstice; however, her plan of controlled Rejoinings comes at the cost of mass death and destruction, believing that it’s better to sacrifice some lives so humanity has a chance. But as the Warrior of Light, we can’t go along with that idea.
Interestingly, unlike other Ascians before her, Halamurut encouraged the player to find their own way to deal with the Solstice. The Ascian was only introduced in recent patches, but given how superbly the writers developed its past villains (namely the best Final Fantasy baddie ever, Emet-Selch), I’m eager to see how SE will handle another multidimensional antagonist with a world-ending goal.
Raid content galore
FF14 has always excelled at crossover raid content, whether that be the Yorha: Dark Apocalypse Alliance raid series, developed in collaboration with Nier developers Yoko Taro and Yosuke Saito, or the major raid series inspired by previous Final Fantasy games, like Final Fantasy 3, Final Fantasy 8, Tactics, and more.
Dawntrail‘s major Alliance raid series, Echoes of Vana’diel, wrapped up with the latest patch, a 24-player crossover celebrating Final Fantasy 6, that offered incredible bosses and a challenging yet rewarding experience.
For Evercold, SE revealed that the Alliance raid series will be based on the hit series Evangelion, titled “Ghosts of Desire”, which acclaimed director and animator Mahiro Maeda will join as a special guest artist and designer. Like the Nier raid series, I’m expecting a high-quality experience with some unbelievable boss encounters that push the boundaries of the MMO; however, I’m more excited about the eight-player raid series SE has just announced at FanFest EU.
In the next expansion, FF7 Remake series director Naoki Hamaguchi and Yoshi-P took to the stage to unveil “Beyond the Lifestream,” a FF7-themed raid series.
It feels like I’ve waited years for a proper FF7 collaboration, and the series will come just in time for Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, the final installment in the remake series.
Ahead of Evercold‘s release, FF14 will also be getting a FF7-themed adjacent feature in the MMO’s Gold Saucer on October 28, Keybound Brawler, a new mini-game that will reward players with a glamour bundle inspired by Tifa and Barret’s outfits from FF7; a teaser for what’s to come.
While SE has yet to share the full raid details, I’m expecting the usual crossover gear (I’m begging for Cloud, Sephiroth, and Aerith outfits, please!), elaborate boss fights inspired by some of FF7‘s most iconic moments; a confrontation with Safer-Sephiroth while a remixed medley of the FF14 and One-Winged Angel themes plays in the background is surely a given.
Raid maps are also always incredible in FF14; I remember my first time entering the first raid of the YoRHa series and being blown away by the scale of the set pieces and attention to detail, so with Hamaguchi’s team working alongside the FF14 team, I’m anticipating something next-level; hopefully a recreation of the dystopian metropolis of Midgar?
It’s time for improvements
FF14 has been running for more than a decade after it was rebooted into A Realm Reborn in 2013. Since then, the MMO has seen innumerable changes, including to Jobs, a huge graphics overhaul that modernized the game’s visuals, not to mention the upcoming expanded character customization options that players have been yearning for.
But some things have always remained the same, primarily the battle system and activity features. With the release of Evercold, FF14 will receive a significant overhaul with the introduction of the ‘Reborn’ and ‘Evolved’ modes.
Reborn mode will be based on the current combat system and Job mechanics, while Evolved mode offers greater emphasis on “job identity”, updating combat rotations and changing some abilities, and will only apply to existing Jobs.
It’s an exciting new change, because while Jobs occasionally get rebalanced, this is the first time the game is getting a significant gameplay revamp that will allow long-time players to experiment with a new way of playing, and newcomers have two options at their disposal.
What’s more, the expansion will also see an overhauled gear progression system with the introduction of ‘Adventurer Activity.’ In its current state, FF14 requires players to log in every day to complete daily roulettes to earn XP and accrue their weekly cap of 450 Allagan Tomestones, which are exchanged for high-level gear; however, this can be a downside, especially for players who can’t log in every day.
With Adventurer Activity, this redesigned framework will change from a daily to a weekly-based reward system, remove the exhausting grind of completing daily roulettes, and instead offer more player freedom.
Adventurer Activity (which may look like a battle pass system, but Yoshi P insisted it absolutely is not!) will let players complete a series of missions to amass activity points instead, whether it be dungeons, PvP, Trials, and more, and SE is even considering allowing unearned points from previous weeks to be collected if players miss out.
This is perfect for people like me who sometimes don’t really feel like running roulettes and also gives players a chance to explore other content they wouldn’t normally engage with.
Final Fantasy 14: Evercold will arrive in January 2027 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
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