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 primarily control Cloud Strife, a former Shinra soldier who joins the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE to fight Shinra, who has been draining the Planet's life energy, and is drawn into a conflict with the legendary SOLDIER Sephiroth, who has returned after being presumed dead.^[3][4] Like Remake, Rebirth reimagines elements of the original game while expanding upon character development and the overall narrative structure.^[5][6]

The game features real-time exploration and combat, with a more open-ended overworld compared to the linear progression of Remake's Midgar. Objective markers appear in the heads-up display, highlighting main story quests and sidequests to complete along with their respective distances from the party in the overworld. In addition to walking on foot, the party can ride on Chocobos as a faster means of traversal. Rebirth expands on the hybrid of action-focused melee combat and the Active-Time Battle (ATB) system introduced in Remake, in which the player takes control of a party of characters that can be freely switched between during gameplay. During combat, characters use both physical attacks and magic, and can consume items for offensive, defensive and resuscitative purposes from a menu while gameplay is suspended around them. The "Synergized" mechanic, first introduced in the downloadable content (DLC) "Episode INTERmission" campaign for Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (2021), returns, allowing party members to synchronize their attacks.^[7]

Setting and characters

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth continues the overarching narrative first introduced in Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020), which reimagines the plot, world, and cast of the original Final Fantasy VII (1997). The game takes place on "The Planet" and centers on the journey of the main characters as they seek to end the tyranny of the Shinra Electric Power Company, which controls the megalopolis of Midgar by weaponizing the Lifestream, and defeat Sephiroth (Tyler Hoechlin/Toshiyuki Morikawa), a legendary veteran of Shinra's elite SOLDIER unit who was presumed dead and seeks to summon Meteor to wound the Planet, enabling him to attain godhood by uniting with the Lifestream. Rebirth spans the events from leaving Midgar to the Forgotten Capital; however, the order in which locations are explored is changed from the original game. For example, the visit to Wutai will be saved for the third installment.^[8]

The protagonist and leader of the party is Cloud Strife (Cody Christian/Takahiro Sakurai), a former member of SOLDIER's 1st Class who now works as a mercenary assisting the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE, which opposes Shinra's exploitation of the Planet and its resources. Accompanying him are two of its members: Barret Wallace (John Eric Bentley/Masato Funaki), its brazen but empathetic leader, and Tifa Lockhart (Britt Baron/Ayumi Ito), Cloud's compassionate but shy childhood friend who works as a bartender at the 7th Heaven in Midgar and is a practicing martial artist. They are joined by Aerith Gainsborough (Briana White/Maaya Sakamoto), a flower merchant who previously lived in Midgar's Sector 5 Slums and is the sole survivor of the ancient Cetra; Red XIII (Max Mittelman/Kappei Yamaguchi), an intelligent quadruped from Cosmo Canyon who Shinra held captive as a lab rat; and Yuffie Kisaragi (Suzie Yeung/Yumi Kakazu), an expert Materia thief and ninja from Wutai who resolves to join the team to realize Shinra's downfall after losing her partner Sonon Kusakabe in a failed attempt to extract the "Ultimate Materia" from their headquarters.^[9] Supporting characters play roles throughout the story, including Zack Fair (Caleb Pierce/Kenichi Suzumura), Aerith's boyfriend and the previous wielder of the Buster Sword, who escaped with Cloud after Shinra experimented on them using the cells of the extraterrestrial life-form JENOVA; Cait Sith (Paul Tinto/Hideo Ishikawa), a robotic cat remotely controlled by Shinra's Head of Urban Development Reeve Tuesti (Jon Root/Banjō Ginga); Vincent Valentine (Matthew Mercer/Shōgo Suzuki), a former member of the Turks who Professor Hojo (James Sie/Shigeru Chiba) experimented on; and Cid Highwind (J. Michael Tatum/Kazuhiro Yamaji), a grizzled pilot from Rocket Town and an ex-Shinra rocket scientist who is dedicated to achieving spaceflight.^[10][11][12] Other characters include Bugenhagen (Frank Todaro/Yōhei Tadano), the elder of Cosmo Canyon; AVALANCHE member Biggs (Gideon Emery/Shūhei Sakaguchi), who, unlike in the original game, survives the Sector 7 Plate's collapse in Midgar and now seeks revenge against Shinra for the deaths of his friends;^[13] Dyne (Dave B. Mitchell/Kenjiro Tsuda), a childhood friend of Barret from Mt. Corel and the biological father of his adopted daughter Marlene;^[14] and Elena (Piper Reese/Megumi Toyoguchi), a new recruit of the Turks who seeks to apprehend Cloud and his allies.^[15]

Synopsis

Following the events of the previous game, Zack Fair reaches Midgar with a comatose Cloud, and it is revealed that he resides in a timeline where the end of the world is imminent as a result of the Planet's mako having been depleted entirely. Shinra has captured Barret and Tifa, while Red XIII sacrificed himself to free a comatose Aerith. Zack takes Cloud and Aerith to Aerith's mother Elmyra's house to hide out and tracks down Biggs, the last survivor of AVALANCHE, who is revealed to be from the original timeline, having been transported to Zack's timeline due to the Whispers' intervention. After Shinra troops kill Biggs and Marlene gives an ominous prophecy that Sephiroth will kill Aerith, Zack is left conflicted on whether to focus on saving Cloud or Aerith.

Back in the original timeline, Cloud and his friends rest in Kalm, and he tells them about his past with Sephiroth. Five years earlier, Cloud and Sephiroth were posted to Cloud and Tifa's hometown of Nibelheim to investigate its mako reactor. There, Sephiroth went insane after discovering that he was actually an artificial being created from Jenova's cells and set fire to Nibelheim, then murdered many of its inhabitants, including Cloud's mother and Tifa's father. Cloud pursued Sephiroth to the reactor where Jenova's body was stored but has no memory of what happened afterward. Later, Tifa confides in Aerith that while the events five years ago did occur, she has no recollection of Cloud being present for them.

The next day, Shinra forces raid Kalm in search of the party, forcing them to flee. They decide to follow the trail of the mysterious "black robes", former Shinra test subjects who Cloud believes are congregating towards Sephiroth's location. The party follows their trail through various locations, including the Shinra-occupied port city of Junon, the resort city of Costa del Sol, Barret's hometown of Corel, the Gold Saucer amusement park, Zack's hometown of Gongaga, Red XIII's hometown of Cosmo Canyon, where they learn Red XIII's real name is Nanaki, and a rebuilt Nibelheim. They also meet and recruit new members into their party: Wutai ninja Yuffie Kisaragi, remote-controlled fortune-telling robot cat Cait Sith, freelance pilot Cid Highwind, and ex-Turk supersoldier Vincent Valentine.

During their journey, the party discovers that the Planet has manifested its guardians, the Weapons, to protect itself, and that with the absence of the Arbiter of Fate, a schism has formed between the Whispers, with one side aiding Sephiroth and the other trying to protect the Planet. Rufus is inaugurated as Shinra's new president and continues the company's search for the Promised Land in a bid to surpass his father, as diplomatic relations between Shinra and Wutai worsen, threatening war. Eventually, the party discovers that Sephiroth's ultimate plan is to use the Black Materia to summon Meteor to destroy the Planet. The party races Shinra to an ancient Cetra Temple and obtains the Black Materia, only for Sephiroth to mind-control Cloud into handing it over. He tells Cloud and Aerith that countless alternate worlds were created following the destruction of the Arbiter of Fate, allowing him to carry out "Reunion" by forcibly fusing them into one world to create the paradise he seeks to rule over.

Aerith finds that the Whispers have depleted her ancestral White Materia, which can counter the Black Materia. An alternate Aerith summons Cloud to her world, where she confesses her feelings for him and gives him her White Materia as a replacement. Aerith attempts to perform a Cetra ritual to thwart Sephiroth's plans, but he ambushes her. Although Cloud blocks his sword and disarms him, reality distorts into one where he succeeds in killing Aerith as the White Materia falls into the water. As Cloud and the party fight Sephiroth, Cloud and Zack's timelines briefly converge, and they fight Sephiroth together. Sephiroth banishes Zack back to his timeline, only for an alternate Aerith to arrive to aid Cloud. Sephiroth is defeated and retreats as Zack is confident that he and Cloud will cross paths again. Meanwhile, Rufus realizes that Sephiroth caused the recent tensions between Shinra and Wutai to distract him as more black robes congregate in Nibelheim. The party is left despondent by Aerith's death, with Cloud seemingly unaware that he is the only one who can perceive her, though Nanaki briefly senses her. As the party prepares to pursue Sephiroth further north, Cloud fuses the Black Materia into the Buster Sword and parts ways with the alternate Aerith, who says she will stay behind to find a way to stop Meteor.

During the promotion of Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020), Square Enix confirmed that it 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".^[16] Game director Tetsuya Nomura cited a "massive undertaking to reconstruct Final Fantasy VII from the ground up with the current technology" as the reason why a remake was not possible for some time. He went on to elaborate that fully remaking its content in a single installment would necessitate cutting various elements to suit the target hardware and gameplay design, by which point a remake would be considered pointless. He additionally expressed a desire to expand on the original game's depiction of Midgar for one game, wanting players to explore various areas that were previously inaccessible in the original, 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 Remake as a reimagining that would "get the fans of the original version excited".^[17]

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). He stated that Remake's structure would differ from that of XIII's due to its nature as a remake of a pre-existing narrative centered on a central protagonist, 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.^[18] Kitase would subsequently reveal the Final Fantasy VII Remake project to encompass a trilogy, between Remake, its sequel, and a third, final entry.^[19][20] The development team had initially conceived of remaking it across two games rather than three, citing the indecision on direction as a primary reason for their lack of clarification on how many parts the remake would have. 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.^[21] The follow-up to Remake had begun active development by November 2019 prior to the game's initial release on PlayStation 4.^[22] According to Nomura, the game was designed with newcomers in mind.^[23]

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".^[24] 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.^[25][26] 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".^[27]

Rebirth was revealed alongside Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, a remaster of Crisis Core for modern platforms using Unreal Engine 4 which implements quality-of-life improvements to gameplay and presentation to bring the game in line with Remake. This includes Remake's English voice cast, who replace the original actors from other media in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.^[28][29] Reunion was part of the Final Fantasy VII Remake project and served 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.^[30][31] 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 non-controlled party members in Final Fantasy XII (2006).^[32]

Final Fantasy VII 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 Final Fantasy VII 25th Anniversary Celebration livestream.^[33][34][35]

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 Remake.^[36] 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.^[37][38] On September 14, 2023, a trailer premiered during PlayStation's State of Play presentation revealing the game's release date of February 29, 2024. A new trailer was revealed at The Game Awards 2023, which showcased the song "No Promises To Keep" by Loren Allred, as well as new gameplay footage, including Vincent Valentine and Cid Highwind.^[39][40] Also revealed at The Game Awards was a collaboration with Apex Legends.^[41]

Rebirth was released for the PlayStation 5 on February 29, 2024, as a timed console exclusive for at least 3 months.^[42][43][44] Alongside the standard edition, a physical Deluxe Edition was available to purchase from participating retailers, while a Collector's Edition was 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.^[45] The game was one of the first major video game releases to release on Leap Day.^[46]

Downloadable content

The Collector's Edition of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth includes access keys for downloadable content (DLC) items that can be equipped on the party earlier in the game. These include a Summon Materia DLC pack unlocking the Moogle Trio and Magic Pot Summons for use in battle, and various accessories and equipment for the characters such as a Reclaimant Choker and Orchid Bracelet armor set.^[47] Additional Summon Materia are available as early unlocks to players who have save data from either Final Fantasy VII Remake on PlayStation 4 or Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade on their PS5 console when launching Rebirth. Players with save data from the aforementioned games can unlock the Leviathan Summon Materia from the start of the game, while players on PS5 with save data from the "Episode INTERmission" story DLC for Intergrade also have access to the Ramuh Summon Materia.^[48]

Critical response

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.^[49]

Sales

In Japan, the game was the highest-selling new release during its first week, selling over 260,000 units.^[68]

Accolades

• Official website