Whenever Sony events roll around, there’s always a twinge of anticipation among players that we may see new footage of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Square Enix’s sequel to Final Fantasy VII Remake, which itself was the first chapter of its trilogy of games that are not-so-faithfully remaking the 1997 classic. And that’s exactly what we got during today’s State of Play event stream.
The new trailer shows new footage of Cloud meeting everyone’s favorite human-sized plush cat, Cait Sith, who joined Cloud in battle alongside Sephiroth (as an ally?), as well as some choice scenes of Zack carrying a K.O.-ed Cloud, and the teensiest peak at Cloud’s red-cloaked, gun-toting companion, Vincent Valentine. Or at least his back. And what a glorious back it is. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which was initially slated to release this winter, will now be released on February 29 2024 for PlayStation 5. You can check out the trailer below.
The last time we got a crumb of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth footage was during this year’s Summer Games Event. In it, we saw pleasant scenes of Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret, and Red XIII traversing Juno, visiting Cosmo Canyon, and riding some Chocobos. We also saw less pleasing sights, like Shinra TV news footage of Barret and Tifa carried into an ambulance and Tifa on her back foot in a fight with Sephiroth. Suffice it to say, FFVII Rebirth looks to continue to remixing story beats from the original game, which’ll have fans on the edge of their gamer chairs.
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A Quick FAQ About Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Now that we’ve gotten an eyeful of some new FFVIIR scenes folks are sure to be fast at crafting intricate fan theories, art, and memes, so here’s a quick recap of everything we know about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth takes place after the events of Remake, in which a bunch of events from the original game—like the deaths of Zack Fair and Aerith —seem to not be happening this time around. Or at least not yet, god forbid. Rebirth appears to continue to play with scenarios that deviate from the original 1997 game, chief among them being a scene where Cloud and Sephiroth are traveling through the wilderness together. Weird.
According to a series of posts answering fans’ questions on the official Final Fantasy VII Twitter account, we know that the remake’s take on the original game’s planet-spanning world will be large enough that “players will be able to journey across the wide and multifaceted world with a high degree of freedom.” A part of that odyssey will include a “chain of narrative developments” involving “each character’s destiny.” The account went so far as to claim Squeenix “made preparations” so that players won’t necessarily have to play Remake to “fully enjoy” playing Rebirth. Given the bonkers timeline changes at the end of Remake, I reckon players should play Remake before Rebirth.
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Something else players can look forward to with Rebirth is that the game will feature “new comrades.” However, the official tweet saying, “new comrades will join you in battle and you can cooperate with other party members in even closer ways than before” is vague as all hell, so it remains to be seen what that all indicates.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is due out for PlayStation 5 on February 29 2024, while the third, currently unnamed entry in the FFVII Remake trilogy will be released in the future.