Today, Square Enix revealed several details of “Evercold”, the next expansion coming for its popular MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV.
The info was shared directly by Director and Producer Naoki Yosida during the keynote of the first Fan Festival 2026 in Anaheim, California.
The English title “Evercold” is, as usual, different from the Japanese one, which translates as “Wanderer of the Silver.” Above, you can check out the official logo.
Earlier today, we saw the teaser trailer of the expansion, and we learned that it’ll release in January 2027.
We also learn that we’ll go to another reflection, and it’s the Fourth. It’s a reflection that has fallen into ruin and is slowly succumbing to ever-spreading ice.
Square Enix appears to have learned from the lessons taught by Dawntrail, and the role of the protagonist will return to the Warrior of Light, basically, our player character, which is certainly a change of pace that many will appreciate.
Incidentally, the main story questline that will come with update 7.5 will introduce the story of the expansion.
We get to see a bunch of screenshots and concept art showing off the new setting.
We then move on to the gameplay design changes that will come with the expansion.
Yoshida-san explained that Evercold will change the direction of the game, which has been pretty consistent basically since 2.0. The idea is to take Final Fantasy XIV “to the next level” throughout the 8.X series of updates.
Below, you can check out the new user interface for the “Adventurer Activity.” Of course, you can see level 110, which means an increase in the level cap.
The game will switch from a daily-based system to a weekly-based system to better fit the different lifestyles of users. There will be a series of weekly activities with missions.
Increasing your activity level will let you earn all sorts of rewards. Interestingly, the content will be repeatable, so players will be able to stick to the content they like.
The system will also let you earn unearned points from the previous week after you earn all the available points in the current week.
There will be new ways to increase your item level, and more details about this will come at the Fan Festival in Tokyo in November.
There will be a season system, but it has nothing to do with season passes. The game is “absolutely not” going the free-to-play route.
Two patches will form a “season.” This actually works similarly to what we have today with even-numbered and odd-numbered updates.
Version 8.0 and version 8.1 will form the first season, and the team will try to make the time gap between patches shorter. More details about this will be shared at a later time.
The character will be fully poseable in the menu, but more importantly, there will be an update to the armory system.
In 8.0, you’ll still have to level up jobs separately, but you’ll be able to reflect your highest Item Level to other jobs. This won’t include the stat boosts given by materia.
Another new element will be character action skins. Via the new reward system, you’ll be able to customize your actions with new animations. More details about this will come during the Fan Festival in Berlin.
Even more importantly, character creation options will be broadened.
We’ll get a color picker for eye, hair, and skin tone, improved customization of eyes and lips, on top of an eye shadow feature, and face paint layering, on top of the ability to toggle on and off select parts of gear pieces.
These options are planned for 8.0, but there will be more added in subsequent patches. We got a tease of the much-requested “butt slider,” but we don’t know if it was a joke.
The player experience in the public field areas will be improved, adding more dynamic events and more content in each area.
Quests will also be enhanced with quality-of-life features, and more details about this will come in Berlin.
Battle content will evolve as well. There will be a third difficulty level for 8-person raids (more details will come in Berlin) between normal and savage.
The progression routes for 24-person raids will be adjusted (more details will come in Tokyo), alleviating the time burden on players. On top of that, all-new types of battle content will be added.
Another addition will be same-region player matching. Player matching will include all worlds across an entire region. This includes party finder and world visits. This is actually coming before the expansion, during the 7.5X series of patches. The first stress test will be done in the Japanese region, and then it’ll be expanded to the US, Europe, and then China.
Of course, there will be two new jobs. One tank and one physical ranged DPS. Both will be FFXIV originals that won’t come from previous Final Fantasy games. The first will be announced in Berlin.
Incidentally, Yoshida-san wore a shirt portraying Rhitahtyn sas Arvina, who fights with gunshields. This is traditionally considered a tease of one of the new jobs. 6
A new job action system has been announced in the form of Reborn Mode and Evolved Mode. These will not be available for limited jobs (Blue Mage and Beastmaster).
Reborn Mode includes the actions and action rotations that we have used so far.
Evolved mode is designed to emphasize individuality and will have different rotations, with fewer inputs. It won’t be an “easy mode” or simplified. The two modes have similarities and action overlaps, but also different actions and rotations.
You’ll be able to toggle between modes at any time outside of battle. Job level and gear are shared.
Evolved mode will become available immediately as soon as you unlock a job. All content can be cleared in both modes.
All new jobs introduced with 8.0 will only have the Evolved Mode, which will be slightly stronger. The evolved mode will be showcased in the development panel later today.
FATEs, Hunts, and Treasure hunts will still come, but will be evolved. For instance, there will be fewer FATEs, but they’ll be bigger.
There will be plenty of dungeons, on top of new gear and crafting recipes, new enemies,
The expansion will come with a new 8-player raid, a new ultimate raid, and updates to PvP.
Duty Support will be updated, and we heard a tease about letting players enter dungeons in pairs.
A new Alliance Raid series will also come, and it’ll be titled “Ghost of Desire.” It’ll be a crossover with the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. The content will be developed by Square Enix and supervised by studio Khara.
The PC system requirements won’t change. That being said, while 8.0 will run smoothly on PS4, the game is approaching the data limit of the console.
The current belief is that PS4 players will be fine up to update 8.3, but they should start considering upgrading to PS5.
We go back to the 7.5X series of updates with the reveal of the next Ultimate raid, Dancing Mad (Ultimate), focusing on Kefka. Tetsuya Nomura will help with the character design and the voice supervision. It’ll come in patch 7.51.
Below you can find a summary of upcoming patches before Evercold.
- Patch 7.5 (releasing April 28) – New main scenario quests, new Trial, and Echoes of Vana’diel Part 3
- Patch 7.51 (releasing June 2) – New Cosmic Exploration Star “Auxesia,” new Custom Deliveries: Tiisol Ja, and Dancing Mad (Ultimate)
- Patch 7.55 (releasing July 28) – New updates to Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures quests, the debut of Occult Crescent: North Horn, and new Phantom Weapon quests
- Patch 7.56 (releasing Sept. 8) – New main scenario quests and introduction of beastmaster
We also learn that the Korean version of the game will be synchronized with the global version in terms of patch releases.
Of course, Shadowbringers will be added to the Free Trial with the release of Evercold.
Toward the end of the keynote, Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu walked on stage, announcing that Final Fantasy XIV is coming to Nintendo Switch 2. We won’t even need to wait for Evercold, as the version of Nintendo’s console will release in August with a short early access period of about a month.
During the early access period, the subscription will be free. The official service will come immediately after.
Due to discussions with Nintendo, the Switch 2 version of the game will require a separate subscription, while the existing platforms will still be covered by a single subscription.
Nintendo Switch Online membership won’t be required, and existing subscribers playing on other platforms will be able to enjoy a 50% discount on the Switch 2 version.
Below, you can check out the first Switch 2 gameplay, showcased on stage. At the bottom of the post, you can also find a gallery of images released by Square Enix via press release.
Final Fantasy XIV is currently available for PC, PS5, PS4, and Xbox Series X|S.
It’s worth mentioning that we’ll soon get update 7.5 in two parts, which will ferry us toward the expansion. The first part will launch on April 28. You can watch the trailer, read about the content, and enjoy the first gameplay.
