Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second in a planned trilogy of games remaking the 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII. It begins after the events of Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020), following the party's escape from the metropolis of Midgar.[1][2]

Players will primarily control Cloud Strife, a former Shinra soldier who joined the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE to fight the Shinra Corporation, who had been draining the planet's life energy and is now drawn into a conflict with the legendary SOLDIER Sephiroth, who was thought to be dead.[3][4] Like Remake preceding it, Rebirth reimagines multiple elements of the original game as well as significant expansions to character development and the overall narrative structure.[5][6]

Exploration and combat scenarios both take place in real-time, with the game's overworld also expanding into a comparatively more open-ended environment compared to the linear progression of Remake's Midgar. Objective markers appear in the heads-up display at all times, highlighting main story quests and various ongoing sidequests to complete along with their respective distances from the party in the overworld. In addition to walking on foot, the party are able to hitch rides on Chocobos as a means of faster traversal by equipping the specialized Chocobo Lure Materia. Rebirth builds on the hybrid of action-focused melee combat and the Active-Time Battle (ATB) system introduced in Final Fantasy VII Remake, involving players assuming control of a party composed of characters that can be freely switched between at any point in gameplay, and using a mix of conventional physical attacks during combat, as well as casting magic and consuming dedicated items for offensive, defensive and resuscitative purposes, from a dedicated menu while the gameplay is suspended around them. The "Synergized" mechanic first featured in the downloadable content (DLC) "Episode InterMISSION" campaign for Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (2021) is integrated into Rebirth's battle system, enabling party members to sync up their attacks at the expense of the speed at which an ATB bar fills.[7]

During the promotion of Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020), Square Enix confirmed that the game would not cover the original's complete story, but rather act as a standalone first game in "a multi-part series, with each entry providing its own unique experience".[13] Game director Tetsuya Nomura cited a "massive undertaking to reconstruct Final Fantasy VII from the ground up with the current technology", in regards to why a remake was not possible for some time. He went on to elaborate, that fully remaking FFVII's content in a single installment would necessitate cutting various elements of the original game to suit the target hardware and gameplay design, by which point a remake of the game would be considered pointless. He additionally expressed a desire to expand on the original game's depiction of Midgar for one game, wanting for players to explore various areas of the city that were previously inaccessible in the original, and with heightened detail due to the increased power of newer generation hardware. While Nomura understood the nostalgia behind the original game's story, he envisioned the game as a reimagining that would in turn, "get the fans of the original version excited".[14]

Producer Yoshinori Kitase likened the remake's "multi-part" structure to Final Fantasy XIII (2009) being followed by Final Fantasy XIII-2 (2011) and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (2013), stating that Final Fantasy VII Remake's structure would differ from that of XIII's due to the game's nature as a remake of a pre-existing narrative centered on a central protagonist like Cloud Strife, as opposed to the multiple perspectives focused on across the XIII trilogy. He also anticipated each game in the Remake series to be approximately as long as one of the Final Fantasy XIII games.[15] The Final Fantasy VII Remake project would subsequently be revealed by Kitase to encompass a trilogy, between Remake, its sequel and a third, final entry.[16][17] The development team had initially entertained the idea of remaking FFVII across two games as opposed to three, citing the indecision on direction as being a primary reason for their lack of clarification on how many parts the remake would be. Kitase explained that this was due to the difficulties in determining development scheduling due to the lack of understanding regarding the project's overall scope.[18] The follow-up to Remake had begun active development by November 2019 prior to the game's initial release on PlayStation 4.[19] According to Nomura, the game was designed with newcomers in mind.[20]

Nomura later stated in July 2020 that the intent was to produce a higher quality game than its predecessor, while also ensuring it was released "as quickly as possible".[21] In regards to the technical improvements made in Remake's enhanced 2021 port, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Nomura noted that while environmental effects such as fog were added to the port in order to, "further enhance the sense of realism and immersion in the world", he advised fans to wait for future entries that would take proper advantage of the PS5's hardware and features in both gameplay and graphics.[22][23] Game director Naoki Hamaguchi separately expressed a desire to leverage the new gameplay and battle mechanics introduced in the downloadable content (DLC) episode INTERmission, such as team-up attacks performed by Yuffie Kisaragi and Sonon Kusakabe, in the next game, as he felt they made for a "different feel in battle strategy".[24]

Rebirth was revealed alongside Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, a remaster of the PlayStation Portable game for modern platforms rebuilt in Unreal Engine 4, and implemented numerous quality-of-life improvements to gameplay and presentation to bring the game in parity with Final Fantasy VII Remake, notably sharing the English voice cast from the aforementioned game, who replaced the original actors from other media in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII metaseries.[25][26] Reunion was part of the Final Fantasy VII Remake project and acted as a prequel to the main trilogy, with the remaster designed to familiarize players with the story of Zack Fair ahead of his appearance in Rebirth where he would play a more significant role.[27][28] In April 2023, lead battle programmer Satoru Koyama spoke on the potential of incorporating improved party A.I. in the battle system for Rebirth and its sequel, remarking on its potential to multitask between physical attack techniques and magic casting, while expressing a desire to surpass the 'gambit' system used for the non-controlled party members in Final Fantasy XII (2006).[29]

Rebirth was announced by Square Enix as the second installment of the Final Fantasy VII Remake project, alongside Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion and the Steam version of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, in June 2022 during the publisher's Final Fantasy VII 25th Anniversary Celebration livestream.[30][31][32]

In June 2023, the official social media handles for the game began posting a series of developer messages. Game director Naoki Hamaguchi promised that Rebirth would feature a "wide and multifaceted world with a high degree of freedom" with multiple story routes, in comparison to the more structured, linear progression throughout Midgar in Final Fantasy VII Remake.[33] A gameplay trailer was presented on June 9 during that year's Summer Game Fest live show hosted by Geoff Keighley, unveiling the game's exploration and combat mechanics, teasing various story elements, as well as detailing characters set to appear in the game.[34][35]

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is scheduled to release for PlayStation 5 on February 29, 2024, as a timed console exclusive for 3 months.[36][37][38] Alongside the standard edition, a physical Deluxe Edition will be available to purchase from participating retailers, while a Collector's Edition will be distributed in limited quantities exclusively through the Square Enix Store. Both editions bundle the game with a special steelbook case for the game discs, a mini-soundtrack CD and an artbook. The Collector's Edition includes the aforementioned content alongside a collectible statue of Sephiroth and downloadable content (DLC) keys for additional in-game items.[39]

• Official website