Final Fantasy 14's development continues to march forward towards the MMO's expansion, Shadowbringers. Saturday saw Square Enix producer and director Naoki Yoshida kick off the Paris-based Final Fantasy 14 FanFest where he made announcements regarding upcoming content. The biggest surprise of the Opening Ceremony by far was when a familiar masked face popped up on the main screen, that of Yoko Taro, who was there to announce a special upcoming collaboration to bring Nier: Automata into the world of Final Fantasy 14.

Fans of Final Fantasy 14 may recall the popular crossover series of raids in the Stormblood expansion named Return to Ivalice. These raids were developed under the direction of guest designer Yasumi Matsuno, creator of Final Fantasy Tactics. Yoko Taro and Square Enix executive producer Yosuke Saito will be partnering with the Final Fantasy 14 team to create a similar project.

That project will be known as YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse, a series of 24-player raids to be featured in Final Fantasy 14's upcoming Shadowbringers expansion. The raids, and the story connecting them, will be based on Taro's cult hit Nier: Automata. All that was shared about the context of the crossover was a piece of key art showing Nier: Automata protagonist 2B, or someone who looks similar to her, confronting a number of unique looking YoRHa agents clad in black, as well as a giant robot looming in the background.

yoko taro

While YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse will be just the second such raid-based crossover event starring guest designers, Final Fantasy 14 is already well-known for its other cross-overs. Monster Hunter: World, Dragon Quest, and Assassin's Creed are perfect examples, as well as virtually every other Final Fantasy game in the franchise by now.  With Nier: Automata being a Square Enix-published game, it makes a lot of sense to bring Yoko Taro into the fold. And if it turns out that this is in part a marketing effort building up excitement for a potential new Nier game, all the better.

The Nier: Automata raids were just one of many announcements made as part of today's Final Fantasy 14 FanFest Opening Ceremony. The new Vierra race was shown off in full, the new Gunbreaker tank class was unveiled, and the Pixies Beast Tribe and its Primal Titania were shown off. Nine new dungeons will be added, as well as new raids that will be shown at a later date. The Restoration of Ishgard will offer endgame content for Disciples of the Hand and Land. Plus, a new "Trust" system enabling grouping with NPCs will be available, which ought to be perfect for solo players.

Final Fantasy 14 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The Shadowbringers expansion releases July 2.