Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC review: The definitive way to experience the journey beyond Midgar

The highly anticipated Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC port is finally here, making the critically acclaimed JRPG more accessible. As someone who loves the 1997 original and has a lot of hours on 7 Remake, I was looking forward to playing Rebirth since its 2024 release on the PS5. I couldn't experience the game when it was released on Sony's console, but my time with it on the PC has nothing short of being a joyride.

The Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC version looks fantastic thanks to it being able to fully utilize the power of the PC platform to unleash its potential. The game has more graphics settings compared to its PS5 counterpart, which will let you tweak the visual-performance metric to your needs.

Albeit, the Final Fantasy 7 PC version isn't without its flaws, as performance issues persist for certain hardware. From my experience, some issues might hinder the experience, but not by much. It is still a superior port compared to last year's Final Fantasy 16 port and a worthy addition to any PC gamer's library.

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The Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC port is a well-made and excellent addition to the platform, but not without its problems

Performance: Is the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC port any good?

Game runs pretty fine, for the most part (Image via Square Enix)

The biggest concern for many can be the game's performance of the game. Both Final Fantasy 16 and 7 Remake's PC versions launched in a broken state that left many, including myself, unhappy. Thankfully, the developers took their sweet time optimizing the game this time around, and the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC version runs extremely well.

I don't have a top-of-the-line PC, but the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC port ran smoothly for most cases at 60 FPS, with the frames dipping to 45-50 in the various towns and settlements. I faced no notable stutters, besides a few cutscenes, and the game ran extremely well for me. I was playing on medium-high settings with the following hardware:

Ryzen 5 5600X
AMD RX 6600 8GB VRAM
32 GB RAM DDR4

Albeit, where performance was mostly fine, I did notice some issues with a few visual bugs. There was a weird lighting issue where one time it was suddenly very dark and the next moment, after I rotated the camera, it was back to normal. These aren't dealbrakers, but the lack of support for AMD cards was somewhat disappointing.

While Nvidia GPUs had the option to turn on DLSS, the game lacks support for FSR for the AMD cards. This, is a missed opportunity as the PS5 version supports FSR. There is also the fact that last year's Final Fantasy 16 PC port had support for AMD's upscaling tool but Rebirth lacking it seems even weirder.

Another key thing I noticed is that the performance on AMD cards is slightly worse than that on Nvidia GPUs. I have no idea why this is the case, but I hope future patches will address this problem.

Regardless, compared to the PS5 version, the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC port brings a lot of new graphical settings you can tweak and adjust. You also get the option to run the game at 120 FPS, which makes the experience even smoother.

You have your three default presets of Low, Medium, and High, and you can toggle between the various options to see what works best for you. Even at the lowest settings, the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC version looks glorious and beautiful.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC also supports various controllers besides the mouse and keyboard, including the DualSense and Xbox controllers. I have used the latter for most of my playthroughs and noticed no input delays — it functions perfectly fine, showing the buttons correctly.

A journey carried by its phenomenal characters, gameplay, and music

FF7 Rebirth features one of the best stories told by any RPG (Image via Square Enix)

In our original Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth review, we talked about how the game improves upon 7 Remake's mechanics to deliver a fantastic experience. The cast is the core part of the story told, and suffice to say, like its predecessor, Rebirth does a stellar job of establishing our key players.

As many can tell, given the Remake trilogy is set to follow a different storyline from the original, a lot of new elements in the mix kept me playing as I wanted to learn more. Cloud and his gang's journey through the world of Rebirth is carried by the game's phenomenal storytelling, emotional moments, and well, an ending that perfectly sets up the next part of the series.

The gameplay also sees some stark improvements, as the combat seems more fluid now, with significant quality-of-life changes that speed up the battle. Given Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is an open-world title, the developers have made significant changes to how the characters move to fit with the game's setting.

What makes a solid JRPG is not only its story and presentation but also the music. Nobuo Uematsu's classic tracks receive an overhaul for the modern-day, but they remain as powerful as the ones from the original OSTs. I got beyond hyped every time a rendition of Let the Battles Begin played and every soundtrack from the game has been on repeat for the last week.

Side content: There's a lot of activity to partake in

Chadley makes his return (Image via Square Enix)

An open-world game is incomplete without its fair share of fun side content and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC has a lot to offer. While FFXV's world felt quite boring and unnecessary from my experience, I cannot tell you about the countless times I got lost exploring the world of Rebirth.

From side quests and content to the Queen's Blood card game, there is always something in this game that keeps me hooked without getting bored.

Thoughts on the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC port from Sportskeeda’s original reviewer

A phenomenal RPG experience (Image via Square Enix)

Jason Parker, our original Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth reviewer, offered his thoughts on how it all feels on PC:

By this point, I’ve put around 250+ hours into Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, between the review period, up until now, on PC. I’ve played it through twice on PS5 and experienced the changes/updates for the PS5 Pro. Despite all that, I have to concur that the definitive way to play FF7 Rebirth is on a PC. It’s well-optimized, and I’ve only seen one or two tiny crashes at the most.

There’s been only one moment of slowdown, and no real issues beyond that. From what I understand, it plays great on a wide variety of PCs, and mine is no exception. You’d think I’d be burnt out on Rebirth by now, but as it turns out, I can’t stop playing! It’s gorgeous, the story is fantastic, and the gameplay is shark and responsive. There’s never been a better time to be a Final Fantasy fan.

In conclusion

Let the journey begin! (Image via Square Enix)

I'm not the only one in this thought, but like many, I feel the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC version is the best way to enjoy the fantastic journey throughout the planet. Not only does it look great but also runs extremely well compared to Square Enix's last few Final Fantasy game ports.

There are a few hiccups on the road, namely the lack of key features for AMD cards and a few visual bugs. But, honestly, I will take those over an unoptimized game that will hamper my experience even further. I cannot appreciate how well Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC runs on my machine where previous ports struggled.

It's been 28 years since the release of the original game way back in 1997, and it still remains a testament to the fantastic storytelling the media can possess. Given this was one of my very first foray in the JRPG genre, I love this game and I cannot be more grateful to Square for making Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth.

The Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC version is the definite way to experience this fantastic RPG, and I can't wait for the third game in the series to see how the story plays out. I highly recommend playing the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC version to experience this masterpiece in its full glory.