2023 Video Game Innovations EVERYONE Should Copy

7. Active Time Lore - Final Fantasy XVI

final fantasy 16
Square Enix

Let’s face it, Final Fantasy games are complicated. Like, really complicated. It seems like even Square Enix have opted to climb on board with that one as they implemented a fascinating new feature.

Said feature is called Active Time Lore which allows you to, at any point during gameplay, pause and receive relevant lore about the people, locations, or references in any given scene. You can utilise this feature even in cutscenes if you need a refresher and, let’s face it, with the level of nuance in politics, war, social disrest, and general bucketloads of connections between characters and general lore, you’re going to want to check this one out.

Just tap that touchpad and you’ll get all the info you need so Square gets to keep their wildly complicated story and you get to understand it! Hopefully.

Interestingly, this is a feature that also pops up in Pentiment where you can click on names, locations, and other oddities to get more information but more on that game later.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Jess has been a journalist and content creator in the games industry for over 15 years and has been WhatCulture's resident Australian import and sorry cop since 2020, upping the quotient of swearing and apologising in WhatCulture Gaming's annual blooper videos considerably. She previously worked at GameSpot for 10 years, most notably hosting GameSpot News in addition to E3 live shows, and PAX panels. She regularly livestreams a variety of games on her 'jessmcdonell' YouTube and Twitch channels and hosts the 'Do It On The Day' podcast. She has won awards for her news and feature work in gaming as well as an accolade for her comedic writing (likely an admin error). She can be found on X at @jessmcdonell and Instagram at @jessicamcdonell sharing her current videogame fixations, industry insights, and videos of her cat, Karma.