final fantasy 7 rebirth

There are only a handful of video games throughout the still young history of this industry that can put a claim on the tag “game-changer”. These games are the best of the best – the crème de la crème. But more importantly, these games define or otherwise popularize their genres, set new standards, and push the industry forward one way or another. One of such games is, without a doubt, Final Fantasy VII. No “Best Video Games of All Time” list is complete without FF7, and many would fight you to hell and back that it is the best video game of all time. Admittedly, the Final Fantasy series, and the JRPG genre as a whole, was already popular back in the 1990s. But FF7 launched them both into the stratosphere. It set new standards for storytelling, worldbuilding, and character development through the medium of video games. It became so popular that it turned into a series of its own, spawning several spin-offs and tie-ins across various media. (Advent Children, anyone?) Not to mention how many 12-year-olds could never get over their crush on Tifa, Aerith, or both.

So, in line with the modern trend of milking nostalgia to death, ahem, I mean, preserving the history of our favorite hobby, Square Enix, in a move that surprised no one, decided to remaster and then remake FF7. If your first thought after hearing this was, “There’s no way they could jam those four CDs into one remake,” Square Enix would gladly agree with you. The boringly named Final Fantasy VII Remake was released in 2020. And the second entry in the planned trilogy, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, has recently been released.

Just like Remake, the main focus of Rebirth is on storytelling and worldbuilding. Midgar – the cyber-/steampunk dystopian metropolis that is the setting of FF7 – is brimming with lore. And there’s no shortage of fan-favorite characters, to the point the developers were probably having a headache deciding how much screen time each one should get. The foundation laid out decades ago is so solid that it’s virtually impossible for Square Enix to screw this one up. But if there’s one thing we learned from Remake, it’s that the developers have the guts to stray from the safe path. Neither Remake nor Rebirth are exact 1:1 replicas of the original. While the overarching plot remains the same, expect some minor (or even major) beats to be different. It should be noted that Rebirth is a direct sequel to Remake, so you might want to play that one first in order to understand what in the world is going on in Midgar. Having said all that, if what you expected out of Rebirth was an engaging story told in a skillful way, you won’t be disappointed.

However, there’s one caveat to all of this. Rebirth’s pacing makes it what some people would call a “slow burner”. You would have to remain patient for a good chunk of time in order to get to the “good parts”. Now, I would argue that the reward is well worth the patience, and I bet you there are some people out there who would fight tooth and nail to convince you that the slow setup is essential to the emotional bang the payoff is going for. However, I also understand why such pacing might be a turnoff for some players. If that is not your cup of tea, you’ve been warned.

In terms of gameplay, Rebirth takes small but sure steps forward. Compared to Remake, the environments are bigger, more varied, and less linear. There are more nooks and crannies to explore and more enemies to fight. If you’re a proponent of “bigger is better”, you’ll be happy with Rebirth.

But I would argue that FF7’s characters are, and have always been, its brightest stars. In Remake, there was your usual stable of playable characters to choose from, such as Cloud, Tifa, and Barret, each having their own unique moves, skills, and fighting style. Rebirth adds new playable characters to the mix, such as Red XIII, Yuffie, and Cait Sith, all of whom are, in my opinion, fun to play as, which adds to the variety and replayability of the game. What’s better is that Could’s bonds with these characters are reflected on the way they fight. What more could you ask for?

The main story offers dozens of hours of quality entertainment, but as true RPG nuts will have you know, side quests and mini-games could make or break a game. Rebirth’s side quests are better than Remake’s, which isn’t saying much, as they weren’t exactly the model of fun side quest design. However, the mini-games are a different story. They’re fun, varied, and definitely a legit threat to distract you from the main story for longer than you would like to admit. You could argue that they make up for the relatively lackluster side quests.

Rebirth not only offers a fun game to play and a captivating world to immerse yourself in, but it also looks gorgeous. Just like the first entry in the trilogy, this game is also made with Unreal Engine 4. With most developers moving to the next big thing that is Unreal 5, it’s easy to forget how powerful of an engine Unreal 4 still is. If you look for it, I bet you’ll find some posts online trying to convince you how outdated the models in Rebirth look, bundled with a bunch of meaningless stats and a long list of Unreal 5’s new features which you didn’t care about. But if you trust your eyes, the eye test will tell you that FF7 Rebirth looks beautiful.

Square Enix seems to be going in the right direction, at least regarding the Final Fantasy IP. Now, you could argue that developers and publishers should explore new ideas instead of just remaking this, remastering that, rebooting this. And you’d definitely have a point there. But the FF7 remake trilogy, at least the first two entries, are not lazy cash grabs. Not only are they worthy remakes that do the original justice, they’re actually pretty good games regardless of whether or not you’ve ever heard the name Final Fantasy VII before. So, be it nostalgia, masterful storytelling, immersive worldbuilding, engaging combat, or distracting little mini-games that are more fun than you’d like to admit, Rebirth has something to offer to players of all generations.

Rating: 90/100