Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth preview: A whole new world for Cloud and friends

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is one of the most highly-anticipated video game sequels in recent memory. The next installment of Square Enix’s epic retelling of FF7 is something fans have been waiting to get their hands on for more than a year. I recently flew to New York to preview the game through a pair of demos.

These were available at Tokyo Game Show as well, but this is one of the first times it’s been playable in the West. I explored two key moments of the upcoming sequel's early parts, as well as interviewed Director Naoki Hamaguchi.

The interview is coming soon, but today we’re going to focus solely on the game itself. There’s a fair bit to discuss, and I have to say, after playing it, I’m very excited for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. The world feels more real, more lived in. The confines of Midgar are gone, and there’s a whole new world for players to explore.

While I only had a limited amount of space to play in, I can tell that there’s going to be so much to see and do in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Here’s what you can look forward to, from storytelling nuance to gameplay.

Note: This contains mild spoilers and gameplay footage from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

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What’s in the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth demos?

Why play as anyone else but the One Winged Angel? (Image via Square Enix)

We took part in two Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth demos while meeting with Square Enix this week. The first was shorter and was definitely a pivotal moment in the game. When Cloud and the gang get to Kalm, the former tells the story of how he and Sephiroth returned to Nibelheim and investigated the Mako Reactor.

That means we got hands-on with Sephiroth to see exactly how a legendary soldier is supposed to fight. He had an incredible moveset, and why would you even bother playing Cloud at that point? Just switch to Sephiroth, and Zanshin/Hell’s Gate your way through to victory.

After that, there was a longer, more open-world section of the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth demo. It takes place on the outskirts of Junon and also allows you to enter the Lower Junon village. Square Enix recommended we take the time to explore the world, and I’m glad I did. I planned on it anyway, to be honest.

This portion of the game showed off several new features, like being able to set up Chocobo Stops, trading Gold Feathers for cool chocobo cosmetics, new Materia, and “Fiend Sightings.” These are essentially notorious monsters that you complete challenges for, to receive cool rewards.

This demo ended after defeating The Terror of the Deep, the mysterious fish monster that shows up in the waters of Lower Junon. However, instead of rescuing a young girl who lived in the village, you rescue a familiar ninja: Yuffie!

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The combat of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth feels greatly improved thanks to new combat mechanics

Battle has never been this fast and furious (Image via Square Enix)

I already enjoyed the FF7 Remake combat, and it feels much the same going into the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth demos. However, there were new combat abilities and game mechanics that make things way more interesting.

For example, you have Synergy Skills, which act as team-up moves between two characters. We had access to a wide assortment of these team-up moves, and you can do these pretty much whenever you feel like. However, they also have a variety of ranges, so you can completely miss with them.

Then there are Synergy Abilities, which use up specific amounts of your ATB gauge. These were used less frequently, but were far more powerful. They also came with excellent little cutscenes to show these powers off. I wish they had slightly different names, but both mechanics are wildly useful.

Another thing I noticed is perhaps a sort of a silly thing. Cloud had access to the Morph ability, which was a Command Materia in the original game. It, and Ragnarok before it (in Final Fantasy 6), can transform enemies into items. This time it actually works as intended! You just have to get them to around 5% health. It’s hard to do, but it worked, and I felt so happy seeing that trigger.

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It’s worth it to explore the open world of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Ever want a ShinRa Chocobo? (Image via Square Enix)

I think the most important thing for me is that the world is worth exploring. Midgard was such a tightly confined space, and it could feel claustrophobic. Despite it being a huge megacity, there’s only so much you can do while there. However, as soon as you throw open the gates of that city and step into the world, there’s so much waiting for you.

One of the first things I noticed was all the crafting materials just lying around on the ground. At first, I didn’t realize it was a crafting system - until I opened the menu. You can make a huge assortment of potions and cushions (used at chocobo stops to heal). It made exploring the world feel worth it, other than to just see the sights and grind experience points.

Don't let that chocobo chick down! (Image via Square Enix)

You can also follow chocobo chicks that lead you to chocobo stops! They were so adorable! That led to having more teleportation points - and that’s never a bad thing; not in a world as big as this one will be. Even just the Greater Junon Region was pretty massive.

There are also Notorious Monsters/Rare Monsters that appear to challenge the party. You can easily spot and get to them by riding a chocobo or running around on foot. Each one has a series of challenges to complete for rewards, and while I didn’t get all of them done, we did have three monsters to fight.

These were far more challenging than the normal monsters in the world, and that’s fine - that’s how it should be. It was worth doing, though, and that’s what matters. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s world just feels more alive.

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Much Ado About Cloud

Something's off about Cloud here (Image via Square Enix)

While I was talking with Hamaguchi-san, the subject of Cloud came up. I noticed that during the Sephiroth demo, Cloud’s tone and speech were weird. It wasn’t accurate - wrong somehow, but his tone was very familiar.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth makes the big twist of Final Fantasy 7 much clearer, earlier on in the game. Cloud’s tone and dialogue is a direct copy of how Zack Fair speaks: light-hearted, kind of a dork. There’s also that lone ShinRa grunt that does nothing but get Tifa out of the way before the Materia Keeper boss fight.

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Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s world is gorgeous

The world of Gaia is really breathtaking (Image via Square Enix)

As this is a PlayStation 5-exclusive, there’s no need to reduce the quality for older systems like the PlayStation 4. The overworld outside Junon was gorgeous. From the little details like light shimmering down onto the land, the monsters, and party members, everything looked and sounded amazing.

There was a nuance to how characters spoke, especially the above example with Cloud, and I appreciated that. This is a game that is not going to let players down when February 2024 rolls around.

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In Conclusion

While I can’t give Final Fantasy Rebirth a rating, I can tell you I adored playing it. I’m still not a fan of items being on an ATB charge, though - that’s going to be a sticking point with me forever.

I love that you can craft items though, and it feels like there’s so much more you can do in battle in this sequel. There are certain things that make me sad, like Cid and Vincent not being playable, but I’m still excited. There’s a very interesting story unfolding, and I can’t wait to see what happens.