Hands-on review: Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition packs a lot of extra content

When the vanilla version of Final Fantasy XV first came out in late 2016, many players pointed out that it was an incomplete video game. The game felt like it was rushed and there was a lot of cut content in the missions and even in the main story. Needless to say, many players were disappointed with how linear the end missions were like.

Fast forward over a year later and a ton of new content has been added to the game as DLC. Season Pass owners have had access to four paid DLC packs that finally fills in some of the gaps in the story. Not to mention many free updates have been released to prolong the longevity of the game's lifespan.

Now Square Enix has decided to release an even more complete version of Final Fantasy XV calling it the 'Royal Edition'. Not only does this version of the game include all of the previously released DLC packs, but it also adds new content of its own for players to experience.  One of the new things that have been added is a new extra dungeon that is sure to challenge both new players as well as veterans. A previous area of the game has been expanded letting you see things that was not previously included in the original version of the game.

Another cool new feature added to the Royal Edition is a 'first-person mode'. From my experience, this is the first time in any Final Fantasy game that you have been able to play it fully from a first-person perspective.

I managed to explore the game's world on the PS4 Pro and looking at the beautiful environments is pretty cool seeing it for the first time in first-person mode. This feature isn't available via PlayStation VR, but it would be cool if it was a feature added in the future.  The only thing that prevents the first-person mode from being great is the fact that it's not very useful to use during combat. Noctis moves too fast when he fights and it can be very dizzying during combat if played from the first-person perspective.

Aside from lots of DLC extras like bonus weapons items and more, the final major thing the Royal Edition includes is making the Royal Vessel boat fully controllable. You can now explore the waters between the islands of Cape Caem and Altissia. Players can also try and fish in this area too.

Anyway, I never played the Season Pass content before so it was great to finally play through the paid DLC packs for the first time in this Royal Edition. The story of the game is far better now playing through all of the DLC packs thanks to it filling lots of holes that the original game didn't expand upon.

Overall though, Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition is the definitive version of the game that fans should pick up. It adds loads of new content for you to experience and is far more complete compared to the standard version that came out in late 2016.

Verdict: 8.5/10