Formally announced during the celebration of Final Fantasy 7’s 25th anniversary in 2022, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the second installment in the remake trilogy and, between you and me, it’s starting to get For real interesting. While Final Fantasy 7 Remake took us on a new journey through the familiar slums of Midgar, Rebirth sees us leave the corrupt city in search of greener pastures – and Sephiroth.
There’s a lot we don’t know about Rebirth, including what events it will cover, how faithful it will be to the original game, what the open world will be like, and how handsome Vincent Valentine will be. While we wait for these questions to be answered, here’s a rundown of everything we know, including trailers and how to pre-order the upcoming game.
Publication date
While Square Enix has yet to reveal the release date of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, it did provide us with a window: Winter 2023. For those keeping up with it at home, this is nearly three and a half years after the first installment in Final Fantasy 7 Remake- trilogy was released. While no release date has been given for the third and final installment, it could mean we’ll have to wait quite some time before we get to see how this new show ends.
Platforms
Right now, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth appears to be a PlayStation 5 exclusive. While it’s not particularly surprising (the current-gen console will be out for a little over three years at the time of release), this could be disappointing for fans who have played the first part of the Remake trilogy on PlayStation 4.
Once the game’s timed exclusivity is over, the game will likely be released on PC as well. However, since the first installment in the series is still not available on Xbox, I don’t expect Rebirth to make its way there.
What do we know?
Not much, which honestly makes this game even more exciting! Those of you who have played Final Fantasy 7 Remake know that this series is not a direct remake of the original game, but rather a reinvention that runs parallel to it and explores fate and determinism in a pretty interesting way. Not to dive too deep into spoilers, but after the events of Remake, our ragtag team no longer has to repeat the same events – meaning the game doesn’t necessarily do that either. While it seems safe to assume that the game will still be very similar to the original and revisit the same locations, it’s not entirely clear what exactly will happen.
Interestingly, creative director Tetsuya Nomura says players don’t need to play Final Fantasy 7 Remake to understand and enjoy Rebirth. In June 2020, the official Final Fantasy 7 Twitter account shared a tweet stating: “Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is designed so that people can enjoy this game whether they know the original game or not. New players can even enjoy starting their Final Fantasy 7 journey with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Cloud and his friends are embarking on a new journey in this game and I believe the scenes they see after they leave Midgar will give players a fresh new experience.”
However, assuming the game is doing following the trajectory of the original, the next stop for our party is Kalm, a sleepy town northeast of Midgar. We can also assume that Rebirth will be much closer together than Remake, as Remake only covers about the first seven hours of the original game, leaving the last two entries a lot of soil to cover. I assume Rebirth will end just after the City of the Ancients, meaning we’ll get a chance to see the new and improved Junon, Mount Corel, The Golden Saucer, Cosmo Canyon, Nibelheim, and Rocket Town – as well as a potentially devastating scene. We’ll most likely also get the chance to add Yuffie, Vincent and Cid to our party, completing the original Final Fantasy 7 team.
followers
So far, there’s only one trailer for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Unveiled during Final Fantasy 7 25th Anniversary Celebration in 2022, this trailer briefly follows Cloud and Sephiroth as they embark on their final mission together as SOLDIER. It then asks the question, “What is fact and what is fiction?” before jumping to a new scene: Zack carrying an incapacitated cloud to Midgar. Based on this trailer, it looks like Rebirth will follow the events of Final Fantasy 7 closely as it references some pretty big reveals and iconic moments. It’s also worth noting that this trailer shows a noticeable improvement in graphics, proving that Square Enix is making good use of the PlayStation 5’s upgraded hardware.
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH – First Look Trailer
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Development
Shortly after the first trailer was revealed, producer Yoshinori Kitase confirmed that the remake series will be a trilogy. Kitase shared this news and how it affected Rebirth on Twitterto write:
“Making the middle part of a trilogy comes with its own challenges, but there are plenty of classic second parts in the movie world that are defined by stunning story twists and deeper explorations of their characters. Often these second parts become fan favorites in the same In our spirit, we strive to make Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth an even more engaging and memorable experience than Final Fantasy 7 Remake.”
On June 16, 2022, director Naoki Hamaguchi confirmed: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is in ‘full production’ so fingers crossed that the company can keep that release date for the winter of 2023.
Pre-order
Trust me, I’m as ready as you are to play this game, but unfortunately Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth isn’t available for pre-order yet. Rest assured, once pre-orders increase, we’ll post a guide on how and where to pre-order your copy, as well as any extras you’ll receive for doing so.
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