Japanese Video Game Company Square Enix has recently announced that "A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV" is going to be made available for free through the PlayStation Store and the Xbox Store on March 1, 2017. The game title was previously released as a bonus for pre-ordering "Final Fantasy XV" when the game officially launched in November of 2016.

According to Digital Trends, "A King's Tale" is a spin-off that focuses on the backstory of King Regis, the father of Final Fantasy XV protagonist, Noctis. The game deliberately avoids the franchise's traditional role-playing mechanics in exchange for side-scrolling beat-'em-up gameplay inspired by classic titles from the 80's and 90's.

The game is also using a framing narrative that depicts King Regis telling his son bedtime stories about his epic adventures with familiar characters like Cid, Clarus, and Weskham. The game is also going to last a little less than an hour for most players, which is, no doubt, on the short side, but fitting of its earlier status as a pre-order bonus game.

However, on March 1 only, anyone who is interested in learning a bit more background about King Regis will be able to fully download A King's Tale for free. The game will be available to everyone, whether or not you have purchased "Final Fantasy XV," according to a report from Silicon Era.

While the game doesn't feature any resemblance to "Final Fantasy XV" in terms of gameplay, it seems that Square Enix is expecting that releasing it for free will attract players into trying out the main game. It is a teaser for the main plot, as well as a treat for beat-'em-up fans who feel underserved by the current console generation.

It's pretty clear that Square Enix has certainly gone all out on "Final Fantasy XV," even disregarding the fact that the game spent ten years in development. Aside from "A King's Tale," the game was also accompanied by a web series entitled "Brotherhood," which is a feature-length movie called Kingsglaive.

Related