Square Enix has just released the final DLC for Final Fantasy XVI, The Rising Tide, and as the name suggests, this DLC will involve the Warden of Water, the lost Eikon Leviathan. Out of the two, this has to be my favourite release, and even though Echoes of the Fallen was good, The Rising Tide offers even more.

To begin with, the DLCs are only available once certain quests are complete. You must be up to the main quest, ‘Back to Their Origin,’ and have completed the side quest, ‘Priceless,’ which you get through completing ‘Cut from the Cloth,’ ‘Phoenix, Heal Thyself,’ and ‘Where There’s a Will.’ Once the leg work is done you can begin ‘The Rising Tide’ quest from the Hideaway, starting your journey to uncover the reason behind the disappearance of Leviathan.

I won’t say anything about the story, as it’s probably the best part, and the reason I liked it more than ‘Echoes of the Fallen,’ but besides the obvious new Eikon abilities you gain, there is no change in gameplay. The Leviathan abilities you gain give Clive a ranged option, similar to how you press circle and gain access to Odin’s swords, and once activated, Clive has a small version of Leviathan’s head appear on his offhand that he uses to shoot enemies with water bullets. At first, I was a little disappointed, but that swiftly changed to pure joy – the new abilities are so fun and almost a little overpowered. Not only does the main attack knock back weaker enemies, but you also have an ability that knocks enemies together, as well as a continuous dodge ability that makes you almost unkillable.

As you can also imagine, the Eikon fight was brilliant, and as always, even a little difficult. It was probably the hardest Eikon fight so far, which is great, and you have to be pretty spot-on with your damage to beat Leviathan.

The whole DLC is both difficult and easy at the same time, and with your new abilities, it’s easy to get complacent. That’s when you’re more likely to be defeated, and some enemies can pretty much one-shot you, or at least deal some pretty significant damage.

Somehow the game looks even more amazing with the new landscapes and visuals on offer, to the point that it makes the character models feel downgraded, especially Clive for some reason. At first it was normal, but when you arrive at the new location, bam! It’s like they stepped into a 4K world while they’re still HD. It’s nothing bad, but it was very noticeable.

Make sure that you complete every side quest as well. You’ll unlock pretty much everything, but then check out the Arete Stone in the Hideaway. Just make sure you have completed the base game. This will unlock secret abilities and the Kairos Gate, with twenty levels that increase in difficulty, but giving you the chance to earn new materials and weapons, so make sure you check it out.

You will even go on a global scoreboard for all the competitive types out there, and to add a little extra spice, if you can achieve S Rank on all stages in Final Fantasy mode, you will unlock a secret stage with a secret boss, so good luck.

With the launch of ‘The Rising Tide,’ patch 1.31 was released with some cool new additions, and I’ll list some of my favourites. We can now create skill sets, so if you want to change up your Eikon abilities but don’t want to change your go-to abilities, you can now create other sets and switch between them.

There is now a quick complete function, so once you complete a quest and have to hand it in, you can choose to fast-travel straight back to the NPC. It’s not always necessary, but it comes in handy. Finally, the new additions to the Orchestrion roll list, which is a personal favourite for me. Others may be less enthusiastic about it, but I love Final Fantasy music.

This DLC gets top marks from me, and though there is no impact on the original story, it’s nice to get to go on a few more adventures with Clive and the gang. Now, I know a lot of people are hoping that the story can continue, and I am one of them, but an exciting thought occurred to me of Final Fantasy XVI-2 taking place a hundred years in the future after the world has been reborn since its corruption. It’s just an idea anyway, but either way, it feels like Final Fantasy is going back to its Fantasy roots, and I am here for it.

Written by: Adam Brasher