Square Enix blew us away when it released Final Fantasy VII Remake in 2020, a gorgeous update to a game that has echoed through gaming history as one of its most revered stories.
It only ever tackled the first few sections of the original, mammoth title, though, so more instalments were always going to come. Now we know that there will be three in total, and the next is on its way – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Find out all the key details, right here.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth release date
Square Enix held a 25th anniversary celebration for Final Fantasy VII in mid-June of 2022, and it was during this livestream that it announced Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the next part of its reimagining of the base game.
That was a pleasant enough surprise on its own, but we were particularly pleased to see it accompanied by a release window, rather than just an ominous “coming soon”. The game is slated to release in Winter 2023, according to Square Enix.
We’ll update this article as soon as that window becomes a more precise release date, of course. As it stands, this means 2023 will be a huge year for fans of the franchise, with Final Fantasy XVI also coming out at some point.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth trailer
The first trailer for the game isn’t a hugely long one, and is quite ambiguous, featuring voice over from Aerith discussing whether Cloud and his friends have any ability to change the future. We also hear from Cloud, discussing Sephiroth’s nefarious plans.
We don’t get to see any action or battle gameplay, although the footage of Cloud and Sephiroth walking through a landscape together does give the impression of being live rather than pre-rendered, suggesting the game will look mighty fine indeed.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth platforms
The first part of Final Fantasy VII’s remake trilogy came out on PS4 only before being upgraded and repackaged for the PS5 as the Intergrade edition featuring Yuffie.
Now, Rebirth is slated to come exclusively to Sony’s PlayStation 5, confirming it as a fully next-gen title that will be able to make the most of the console’s quick SSD and graphical might.
There’s no indication that it will come to Xbox at any point, but we’d expect it to reach PC players too, since the first part has now come out on PC.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth story and gameplay
The first part of Square’s remake of FFVII ended with an intriguing explosion of multiverse possibilities, and the suggestion that we might not have been playing a straight remake at all, but rather experiencing a different timeline.
This means that certain events that we’ve been assuming are set in stone (such as the famous fate awaiting Aerith) might not actually be as inevitable as we’d think.
That’s a theme that the reveal of Rebirth picks up and runs with, albeit in a very brief trailer. We know that we’ll be exploring beyond the bounds of Midgar since we left the megacity at the end of the last part.
It also looks like flashbacks are in store to clarify the relationship between Cloud and each of Zak and Sephiroth himself.
We haven’t seen any substantial gameplay clips yet, but it’s a safe bet that things won’t change too drastically from the first game’s systems, which offered up amazing real-time combat that provided a great twist on the turn-based history of the game.
That means you can expect more action-packed combat that lets you swap between characters on the fly or manage their abilities while you stick with Cloud, depending on how you like to play.