Over the past weekend, Square Enix announced the release date for Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers at the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival.

The expansion will be out the 2 July, 2019. Another notable addition to the MMO is the Viera race, and the Gunbreaker job, a class that uses Gunblades as their main weapon.

The Gunbreaker role is a new tank role that uses the Gunblade, a weapon Final Fantasy veterans would recognize as the main weapon of Squall Leonhart of Final Fantasy VIII. The weapon works like a normal sword, save for its gun mechanism which deals more damage using magicked ammunition when the wielder pulls the trigger during a slash.

Gunbreakers can use abilities by spending magicked ammunition. The class has a starting level of 60 and the job quest starts at Gridania.

New areas were also introduced with the addition of Shadowbringers, namely the “Il Mheg” and “The Rak’tika Greatwood”.

Here’s a look at the Il Mheg…

…and here’s a look at the Rak’tika Greatwood:

Another pleasant announcement is the reveal of the Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Collector’s Edition as well as the Early Access dates.

The Collector’s Edition, planned for both PS4 and PC, will include a special art box with art by Yoshitaka Amano, a 9-inch (23 cm) Dark Knight figure, an art book, a Shadowbringer logo sticker cling, and a deck of playing cards featuring artwork from A Realm Reborn through Shadowbringers

Proud owners of the Collector’s Edition would also receive in-game bonuses such as a Grani mount, a wind-up Fran minion, as well as a Revolver Gunbreaker weapon, Squall’s iconic gunblade makes a return exclusively for Gunbreakers.

Early Access for Shadowbringers is slated to begin on the 28 June, 2019, shortly before the expansion officially releases.

The last bit of surprise came in the form of “YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse”, which would be the next alliance raid series. This is clearly Square Enix’s way of doing a FFXIV crossover with NieR: Automata.

Final Fantasy XIV is immediately available for PS4 and PC while Shadowbringers enters Early Access on 28 June 2019 and would be fully released on 2 July 2019.