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Amazon Games’ New World–which seems to be one of the only projects the company has kept from being canceled–is due out this August, and the game is going to have a real-money store. However, the development team is soliciting players’ feedback regarding this store are trying to be transparent about future plans.

The game’s recent alpha-stage patch notes made mention of the in-game store, and studio director Rich Lawrence released a statement on Twitter to explain how it would work.

“All store items at launch will be exclusively cosmetic in nature,” Lawrence said. “We are introducing the storefront in alpha in order to test these items and their value. No selections in the store or their indicated cost (during testing there is no real cost in any case) is final. Our purpose is quality assurance and gathering player feedback, so please share your thoughts once the system is introduced.”

It’s possible that future paid content will be more than cosmetic, however, such as “rested XP” or fast-travel, though Lawrence said this will not be the only way to get this content, and he added that the team wants to keep listening to feedback as it decides how to move forward. Down the line, a battle pass-style system may be introduced to combine certain items, but it will be tested first to ensure it doesn’t cause issues with gameplay.

New World, set to release for PC on August 31, is a huge MMORPG that Amazon Games has been developing for several years, and many of the studio’s other projects have been canceled. This includes a separate Lord of the Rings MMO which was reportedly canceled over a dispute with Tencent, as well as the shooter Crucible, which took the unusual step of actually releasing before it was then removed from sale and shut down.

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, the next expansion for the Square Enix MMORPG, will launch on November 23, 2021. However, those who preorder the expansion will have early access four days ahead of launch starting on Friday, November 19. Director and producer Naoki Yoshida led the opening keynote presentation for Final Fantasy Fan Fest 2021 and detailed a slew of information for FFXIV: Endwalker including these launch dates.

There will be four different editions of FFXIV: Endwalker as well–the Collector’s Edition, the Collector’s Box, the Digital Collector’s Edition, and the Standard Edition. As expected, there will be no physical version of the game itself and all editions come with digital download codes. Whichever edition you preorder, you will be able to start playing on the November 19 early access date.

Several details were revealed during the Fan Fest 2021 keynote, including (but not limited to) the new melee DPS job Reaper, the additional zones like Thavnair and Old Sharlayan, parts of the upcoming story dungeons, new mounts, and the next alliance raid series called Myths of the Realm. You can also see all the wild implications for the story of FFXIV Endwalker in the full intro cinematic above.

We’ll have more coverage of Final Fantasy Fan Fest 2021 throughout the weekend–stay tuned.

In true Naoki Yoshida fashion, the director and producer for Final Fantasy XIV kicked off a Fan Fest by giving the keynote presentation cosplaying as a new job featured in an upcoming expansion. For Fan Fest 2021, Yoshi-P came out in a Bloodborne-esque getup holding a huge scythe to represent the fact that players will be able to take on the new Reaper melee DPS job in Endwalker. The presentation showed off the Reaper in action with a video and with several details on how this job works.

Reapers use a scythe as their main weapon to deal most their damage from close range, and they also summon a ghostly avatar from the Void to fight alongside them. Yoshida-san explained that Reapers can temporarily channel the power of their Voidsent avatar and become a host for it–although we don’t know exactly how this will work, this will be a key gameplay mechanic for the job. As for armor and gear category, Reapers will share equipment with the Lancer/Dragoon.

In order to play as a Reaper in FFXIV, you’ll need to have the Endwalker expansion on your account and have one other job/class at level 70 on your character so you can initiate the required job quest–that job quest will be found in Ul’dah.

Reaper is a completely new job/class for the Final Fantasy franchise and doesn’t reference anything from previous games, other than the scythe weapon. Aesthetically, the Reaper’s glamour draws a lot of similarities to the Victorian-era gothic horror stylings of Bloodborne–and honestly, it just looks cool as hell. The villain Zenos yae Galvus was revealed to take on the role of a Reaper in the story as seen in the full Endwalker trailer.

We previously got details on the other new job coming to FFXIV: Endwalker during the February presentation, which is the Sage. In case you missed it, the Sage is a healer job that uses floating knife-guns called nouliths and barriers to buff and protect party members. There was also a segment from the February presentation that outlined how the Sage works. Key character Alphinaud assumes the role of Sage in the Endwalker story as well, and you can see him in action in the cinematic trailer.

For more on what’s new with FFXIV, be sure to check out my breakdown of the full Endwalker cinematic trailer. Endwalker also got an official release date of November 23–those who preorder can get early access starting on November 19. Final Fantasy Fan Fest 2021 continues through the weekend, so stay tuned for more coverage of FFXIV.

Final Fantasy XIV players are thriving right now with Fan Fest 2021 kicking off and plenty of new details of the upcoming Endwalker expansion, which is set to launch on November 23 (and November 19 for those who preorder). The full intro cinematic trailer for Endwalker started the show and it contains some wild implications for where FFXIV’s story is going.

A shorter teaser version was first shown back in February this year, but this new version is the official six-minute Endwalker intro, and you can watch it below. Be warned, however–the trailer contains spoilers for those who are not caught up to at least the end of the 5.3 story content.

This full version starts similarly with the Warrior of Light walking on the moon, then showing Alisaie fighting beastly creatures on their home planet as the Warrior of Light and Alphinaud–who’s sporting the new Sage healer job–come in to join her fight.

The theme song shifts to a big Heavensward callback, then transitions to a new scene with Estinien and his dragon companion Vritra fighting off an army of succubus-like creatures. This looks to be one of the new zones, and it’s made of up of islands floating in the sky (which was teased later in the keynote presentation).

With a big Stormblood leitmotif, the cinematic then goes to a familiar scene with villain Fandaniel looking over a burning map in a creepy, bio-organic underground dungeon (which could be related to the nature of Hydaelyn), and going up an elevator to see his partner-in-crime, Zenos yae Galvus, sitting on a throne watching the world burn.

Another new scene shows Urianger meeting with Thancred in Thavnair’s Radz-at-Han city-state, a zone that’ll be added with Endwalker. Urianger is as clairvoyant about damning information, implying the world is doomed.

The following scene contains a significant reveal for a new zone that long-time players have been awaiting–Old Sharlayan is shown as a massive, beautiful, and almost too-good-to-be-true paradise surrounded by clear water, lush vegetation, and pristine architecture. Sharlayans are known to be incredible scholars, and deep within its libraries, you see G’raha Tia revealing that he’s uncovered secrets about the nature of their realm. Meanwhile, Y’shtola meets with the Sharlayan council to warn them of the impending calamity, but known to be isolationists, the council leader (whose identity has not been fully revealed yet) says that they’ll be fine, refusing to help the fight.

The cinematic returns to villains Fandaniel and Zenos watching the world burn and looking up to the moon, which also reveals that Zenos has been revamped as a Scythe-wielding Reaper, the new playable melee DPS job coming to Endwalker. As the camera zooms into the moon’s reflection in Zenos’ eye, it cuts to the Warrior of Light on the moon fending off a massive sandworm-like creature before revealing the canon job change to Paladin while overlooking the home planet.

As expected, Endwalker seems to be tying together all story threads throughout FFXIV’s lifespan, which makes sense given that this is the end of the Hydaelyn-Zodiark story arc that’s been ongoing since the start of the game. You can hear it in the samples and leitmotifs in the Endwalker theme song, and you can see it in the characters and how they’ve evolved. This is a rather simple breakdown of the Endwalker cinematic and there is definitely more to parse that could reveal more details about the events surround the expansion’s story. If you noticed something yourself, let us know in the comments below.