Even with remakes as firm fixtures on the release calendar, it seems overly self-conscious for a developer to have its game’s title state as much. So when Square Enix did exactly that with Final Fantasy VII Remake, the first chapter in a three-part retelling of this classic RPG, it should have been a clue that this wasn’t going to be a scene-for-scene refurbishment. With second instalment Rebirth being framed as an “unknown journey”, the gloves seem well and truly off.
Still, it would be unwise to alienate an audience that is still mostly showing up to experience one of videogames’ most beloved stories with a current-gen glow-up. So despite an initial curveball with news coverage of a natural disaster befalling a previously unseen sector in Midgar, Rebirth’s focus is on leaving behind that dystopian metropolis and venturing into the wider world that, at least on the surface, hasn’t been completely polluted by megacorporation Shinra’s activities.
It makes a refreshing change to have Cloud and the party wandering through lush forests and flowery meadows rather than the rocky caverns and metallic corridors that made up much of Midgar’s environments, though we suspect these routes will only offer the illusion ofwas set in one location, stretching the original’s first five hours to feature length, you might assume this picks up the pace to tick off all the stops that need to be made, from the village of Kalm to the observatory in Cosmo Canyon, with chocobo available to speed up your journey. Yet a glimpse of the boggling scale of Junon’s military base suggests Square Enix won’t be cutting corners; likewise the fact that is set to come on two discs, surely an incentive for PS5 owners to upgrade their SSDs.
