Keeping the trend of amazing experiences, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (2024) carries its weight, and then improves every single aspect of its predecessor. Here is our Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth review.
What is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth?
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the second in a trilogy of games, aiming to give the most heartfelt recreation of 1997’s Final Fantasy 7. With one of the biggest cult followings in gaming history, this ambitious project aimed to take the PlayStation classic and push the boundaries of gaming once again with the impressively realistic capabilities of the PlayStation 4 and 5.
And so came Final Fantasy 7 Remake (2020), an almost ideal recreation of the Midgar events of the original game. To say that it blew up would be a disservice to the love that went into this title. It gave every character much more life, realism, and personality than ever before; pushing the length of the game to new heights.
The sequel somehow took these new heights, and kept building upon them. Now with an even better grasp of the hardware, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth asks Remake to hold its drink. It’s hard to say anything bad about it in this Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth review, especially with its size, graphics, creative story, fresh battle loop, and some of the best and most iconic video game characters in the history of the medium.
Revamping the Entire World (Graphics/Open World)
It’s nice to take a dive into the world again, with fresh new faces sprouting all over the game fans fell in love with years ago. There’s a reason people love photo modes, and this game proves it’s because of how genuinely beautiful it is. It’s hard not to pause for a second or venture to the highest peaks because of how fantastically realistic these graphics are. Yes, there are some parts that are too dark, but it’s the added effects of realism that overshadow many of those nitpicks.
The open world is massive, challenging even Final Fantasy XV (2016)‘s Eos in terms of sheer expansiveness. In all honesty, it’s intimidating at first, but proves to be the best part of interacting with the world. There are more than enough fast travel locations to speed things up, and hopping on the back of a Chocobo can never do a player wrong. It’s got a diverse landscape that knows when to introduce a new point of interest or chest-hunting segment, and when to chill down and relax for players to take in the scenery.
For completionists and leveling up alike, the overworld quests are interesting and satisfying to complete. The amount of quests – ranging from tower and lifestream hunts to chest spelunking and monster hunting – prove to be intriguing peeks into the lore and worldbuilding. Though it is scary to see so many icons pop up on the map at one time, especially right from the get-go, completing these challenges prove more than useful for adapting to the world.
Combat isn’t too abrupt either, giving players a new “first strike” mechanic that either gives them an advantage, or allows them to ignore an encounter entirely. This streamlined the entire experience, and reduced the tedium of some of Chadley’s overworld quests. Gone are the days of irritating random encounters, and hello to refined combat mechanics.
Remembering to Get Off-Track (Side Quests/Minigames)
If there’s one thing that flourishes from this open world experience, it’s the side-quests. Players can take into account world activities, including climbing towers or hunting monsters, but chasing those for too long can really start to get tiring, and a little repetitive. It’s nice to chase those occasionally, but the main focus here should be in experiencing all these almost charismatic characters.
There are so many stories to take on and pursue, shining light on any characters that the player wants to form a higher bond level with. The mini games are challenging, the new card game Queen’s Blood is more addicting than anyone would expect, and the world really feels full of colorful adventures, some absent from the original. It breathes so much new life into a world that was already bright and colorful, making this collage of amazing digital colors all that more engaging.
There are also so many small and large incentives to take on the little odd jobs here and there, and in such beautifully designed landscapes such as Corel, there’s no doubt fans will fall in love with this crew all over again.
Side stories are definitely at the heart of this game. It’s these quests that will level up the party to be able to advance to the next story beat or region. Although it is possible to rush through the story, it’s going to be much harder to do so, especially when there’s exclusive rewards, bosses, and exciting minigames to pursue. Although Chadley may initially present the player with fetch quests that may harbor some tedium, the game makes sure that the experience is personal. Every nook and cranny has something to offer, and a new little story to pursue. It does get very tiring to chase many of these down though, and begins to get repetitive after a while. Fear not though, because at least they vary in both difficulty and benefits.
The actual side-quests are a mixed bag, either proving really interesting and introducing mystery, or feeling like the 70th request to fix something or run an item around. This game is dependent on them, and shows some amazing scenes of the characters you are closest to by the end of them, though they may seem a little uninteresting at first.
One of the best mechanics this game has is a version of friendship that can evolve down the line: the affinity meter. Make sure your party members are happy with you, because however they interact with the world, and how Cloud responds in conversation truly matters down the line. Each member has their own line of side quests that really give them more meaningful screen time, and really highlight the honest side of these fictional characters.
Long story short, make sure to take advantage of everything this game has to offer, because the supposed “side” content harbors a majority of the charm.
Re-Entering Combat
When the original PS1 version of FF7 pushed most of the story behind a bland battle system, it was hard to really appreciate everything this world had. Remake fixed that, with its awesome new main gameplay loop that knocked every little thing out of the park.
Now in Rebirth, there’s a lot to manage and keep up on, with new backline mechanics and synergy attacks, but it’s organized well and provides a break in certain moments to strategize during this fast-paced action RPG. It’s got a great formula with fresh new takes on beloved characters, some of the most creative being Yuffie and Cait Sith. Both of them had specific playstyles that either felt super speedy or unpredictably charming with some cat-like kitty wallops. Abilities not only capture the character in this game, but establish concrete play styles that will help determine the overall party connectivity.
The one quality many fans will be able to appreciate is the urgency of this game. Almost instantly after beating the first chapter, players are thrown into an expansive world teeming with adversaries ready to fight. And it doesn’t hold back. Right from the start the enemies can prove challenging, but rewarding in the end. It’s satisfying to build up a synergy attack and ATB gauges to unleash a critical flurry of blows.
The combat system is relatively the same as before, but is refined to fit into a new open world with freedom in mind. The new mechanics introduce a layer of complexity to take advantage of, perfect guards are scarily useful, and when the world is designed around the idea that the player will spend time interacting with it – upgrading their party rank, individual powers, materia, and weaponry from the side-quests before ramping it up to face the story points – these characteristics end up meshing together in an interesting way.
Revamping a Legendary Story
The story is an interesting case, since it was compact in Remake, even though it proved to have benefits in the long run. The variety and genuine goofiness of this world is refreshing, and can get serious when it needs to. You’re mainly chasing the hooded figures around, but they work as a trigger for the rest of the game.
Nibelheim was a great chapter to start with, and without getting too in-depth to avoid spoilers past the demo, a great reminder of the quest ahead of the player. The mix of quicktime story-focused sequences, though they may feel out of place in many games, was honestly a welcome inclusion. They made the events slow down and really resonate with the characters, especially showing the light in Cloud’s young eyes begin to fade. It establishes a fun dynamic between the main protagonist and antagonist, adding stakes to the overall story and events that take place in the main course.
Not to mention just how fabulous it is to see such a brightly colored world done so well. Certain locations such as Junon and the Golden Saucer push past what game art direction ever has, and creates a fascinating environment that no other fantasy game has ever achieved. Genuinely, it’s beautiful. All while benefiting the cutscenes and world throughout.
The plot may seem like it’s just about chasing some mindless dudes in robes about forever, but what events take place because of them really add to this game’s charm. Though it starts a little slowly, the first grasslands of Kalm prove to be nowhere close to the peak of this game. Put simply, and to avoid story spoilers as much as possible, it’s really good. Although it is better to play Remake first, a newcomer would be able to enjoy it too.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Review: Final Thoughts
There was always a reason Final Fantasy 7 was regarded as one of, if not the best JRPG of all time. Its characters and world were creative, deep, and dynamic, really surpassing the PS1-era landscape. Though it definitely aged, with some combat that drags and interesting takes on random encounters, the effect it had on the gaming community was mind-bogglingly large. It’s so close to many hearts that even daring to do a remake is a tough task. Especially after the success of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, the sequels were given immeasurably large shoes to fill.
But Square Enix more than delivered. The entire world is chock-full of life, and every piece of the direction culminated into this amazing experience. With so much love for the franchise sprouted into a connected open world game, there’s no doubt that the final fantasy 7 remake series has one-upped itself with Rebirth. Though some quests may seem intimidating, and the tedious beginnings can hold many back from the amazing main course, Rebirth really ended up knocking the entire genre out of the park. It just begs the question, how are they going to make a game this great a third time?
Holding strong yet again, our Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth review scores 9.5/10.
Where to Find Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is available now on PlayStation 5, remaining as an exclusive. Keep up to date with the latest information on the Final Fantasy 7 Remake titles through Square Enix and PlayStation on all social media platforms.
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