The Final Fantasy series has some of the coolest worlds to explore. Gold Saucer, for example, looks like a fun amusement park in Final Fantasy 7. Then there’s the entirety of Final Fantasy 10’s world, Spira, that looks like a tropical paradise. Not every location in these games inspires awe though.
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Sometimes Final Fantasy can be quite creepy or at least a little eerie for one reason or another. They’re not going to send players into a coma from sustaining frights unlike a Silent Hill game, but they will leave lasting memories. Let’s highlight some of the spookiest Final Fantasy areas, dungeons, towns, and so on. There will be spoilers.
6
Zanarkand Ruins (Final Fantasy 10)
Tidus Confronts His Past
- Released
-
December 17, 2001
- Engine
-
PhyreEngine
- ESRB
-
T for Teen: Mild Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence
- How Long To Beat
-
45 Hours
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Strong
Final Fantasy 10 starts with protagonist Tidus living in the height of Zanarkand when one day a giant whale-like monster causes a tidal wave. Tidus ends up on a beach, meets Yuna and her Guardians, and then begins a quest to Zanarkand to get answers. After the long pilgrimage, Tidus is shocked to see Zanarkand is in ruins.
The once thriving metropolis is no more and is instead infested with tons of little wisps, Faith, which are essentially ghosts. This location is haunting for Tidus and certainly a bit unsettling for players too as they have to face up to reality. While not the scariest location in the series, it is deeply unwelcoming and leads to some final confrontations.
5
Lionel Castle Oratory (Final Fantasy Tactics)
The Real Battle Begins
- Released
-
June 20, 1997
- Developer(s)
-
Square
- Publisher(s)
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Square, Sony Computer Entertainment
- Engine
-
Luminous
- ESRB
-
t
Final Fantasy Tactics is one of the darkest and most mature entries in the series. It explores themes of war and religion unlike any game did before in a land known as Ivalice. While there is some blood, albeit in pixelated form before this location, Lionel Castle Oratory is where things take a major turn in the story.
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It’s here that Ramza and his crew will face Cuchulainn, a demon transformed from a man using one of the Zodiac. Powerful stones based on the Zodiac can transform people into monsters, easily creating some of the hardest bosses in the game. Between transformations, music, and dungeons, these locations add up to some of the creepiest in the game and it all starts at Lionel Castle Oratory.
4
World Of Ruin (Final Fantasy 15)
Waking Up From A Confusing Map
Final Fantasy 15 borrows a lot from the other entries in the series in terms of mechanics and themes. One of them deals with the World of Ruin, a post-apocalyptic setting that happens in the final chapters of the game. From about Chapter 9 on, the game progresses from an open-world experience to something more linear.
In this final chapter, Noctis, the protagonist, must go to sleep and wakes up years later to find himself in a nightmare. The world is sunk into a never-ending night and plagued by monsters roaming around everywhere. People are rightfully scared, but the most disorienting thing is the loss of time that players and Noctis have to equally wrap their minds around. Again, it is a linear progression through this period, so this end-of-the-world scenario doesn’t force players to linger in it for too long thankfully.
3
Shinra Building (Final Fantasy 7)
In The Jailhouse Now
Final Fantasy 7 is another mature game that overall packs a lot of weird and unsightly areas and themes into its story. There are too many off putting places to count from watching Cloud’s hometown, Nibelheim, burn to the confusing structure of the Temple of the Ancients. The part that turns things on its head happens when Cloud and the others infiltrate the Shinra Building which feels like an end-game event.
Eventually, everyone is caught and sent to jail, and upon waking up, Cloud sees his cell door is open. He follows a blood trail to the lab which is covered in blood and bodies. Also, the team continues to follow this blood trail to find President Shinra killed by what looks like Sephiroth’s sword. It’s all a bit disorienting and it doesn’t let up from there.
2
Burmecia (Final Fantasy 9)
Genocide Is A Hard Pill To Swallow
Final Fantasy 9 was like a love letter to the early games in the Final Fantasy series and a goodbye to the PS1 generation. It’s mostly a lighthearted adventure filled with sky pirates, mischief, and good old-fashioned turn-based battles. There are some moments where the game hits unreasonably hard though like when the party makes it to Burmecia, a kingdom ruled by a rat-like race.
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Part of the game’s central plot revolves around Garnet, a princess of Alexandria, escaping her war-hungry mother, Queen Brahne. In her lust for power, Queen Brahne targets Burmecia and when the party arrives, they find it in a horrible mess. No living souls are around, bodies are everywhere, the city is in ruins, and the rain will just not stop. Later, players will learn a good portion of the Burmecians escaped to their hideout in Cleyra, but that too is destroyed leading to a near extinction of this rat-like race. Genocide is as heavy as it gets in a story.
1
World Of Ruin (Final Fantasy 6)
The Original Post-Apocalypse
While Final Fantasy 15 borrowed it, Final Fantasy 6 created the idea of the World of Ruin. Halfway through the game, the party will make it aboard a floating continent and are forced to stop Emperor Gestahl and his right-hand clown, Kefka, from making a huge mistake. In an act of defiance, Kefka kills the Emperor and moves some ancient statues in a way that sends this floating continent into the land below.
When it does, the impact creates the World of Ruin. In this post-apocalypse, most towns were destroyed, continents were ruptured, and the land was no longer capable of creating vegetation. A once beautiful land of blue and green turned into a nightmarish land of orange and purple overnight. For once, the bad guys won which is the scariest reality any hero can face. The party prevails in the end but they still have to live in this nightmarish land.
