Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Review: A New Chapter in an Old Tale

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Square Enix is on a roll with their ambitious RPG trilogy Final Fantasy. They have recently launched the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which offers an epic-scale adventure with plenty of hours of exhilarating gameplay.

If you haven’t tried the latest release for yourself and are not sure whether to try the game out or not, here is a Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Review that will help you make that decision.

Table of Contents

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Review

The Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will provide you with several moments where you’ll be hit heavily by nostalgia. It offers these little moments where you can recapture your distant childhood, be it standing atop the mountains or the scaffolding with the iconic cast of characters, and hope to escape back to the past.

At first, you will feel like it’s a world where you will rekindle with nostalgia, forgetting about the future; however, it’s the exact opposite. The game will no doubt hold onto the past, but at the same time, it leaves it behind somehow.

In short, it brings a new reimagining to the game, doing justice to the title, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

The Narrative – Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Since the game is a reroll of the original Final Fantasy 7, it uses the past game and films as the foundation for its narrative and brings a new and improved story to the table. You will notice similarities to Crisis Core and Advent Children but from a different perspective.

Furthermore, you will be able to use your prior knowledge of the game, be it the existing characters or the locations, and piece together the narrative of Rebirth.

There are a total of 14 chapters, and having played through these, I can assure you that you will be impressed by how the tale unfolds and the way it is historically versed in melodrama.

Apart from the expanded lore and compelling character arcs, you will be moved by the cutting-edge PlayStation pixels that are picture-perfect and turn Midgar and its surrounding biomes into something magnificent.

The storyline of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth picks off from the FF7 Remake, where you will find Cloud Strife and friends in the town of Kalm to recall their memories with Tifa and Sephiroth.

A cutscene is triggered at the start, where Cloud Strife learns his true fate at the hands of Shinra and Jenova, and Sephiroth murders everyone in sight, burning his hometown to the ground.

However, after the cutscene, you will notice a change and begin to doubt the reliability of this character. It will feel like the events and the characters from the original game have somehow changed.

You will be impressed by how Rebirth constantly adjusts with set pieces, characters, and locations that seem familiar on the surface, but nothing is as it seems, as there is much more hidden beneath.

Square Enix has skillfully utilized the foundation of the previous titles to breathe life into Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, sprinkling storytelling and lore across an oddly restrained open world where every little quest and discovery is worth seeking out.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Regions

The game has a total of six regions outside of Midgar. These regions range from deserts, where you will find lands sucked dry to the extent of the eye, to dense jungles with vegetation all around.

Furthermore, you will also find populated towns to explore within each region that will have various side quests to complete and secrets to discover. All of it is filled with action, be it the quick-time events or the lethal boss fights.

What I personally liked in all these tons of content is that all these things the game has to offer are not overwhelming; instead, they are inviting as there are various rewards for uncovering the edges of the map.

You will find yourself frequently dipping into the menus to read dossiers on locations and characters to catch up to past events and to comprehend the context of the storyline fully.

Additionally, you will develop a fondness for the mundane in Rebirth’s world because it feels so alive. Every settlement Cloud stumbles across is filled with a mixture of named characters and other NPCs.

Another feature I absolutely love is the fact that the towns are updated once you have completed the main storyline, providing you with all the reasons to revisit the old haunts beyond chasing new side quests and boss fights.

In my experience, this is by far the best work on any Final Fantasy game; there is no doubt that nostalgia plays an integral part in how you perceive the game, but even if you’re new to the franchise, you will find it equally amazing.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Combat

This title picks up the slack from the awkward fumble of Final Fantasy 16 and takes things further than ever in terms of both the storyline and the combat. When you’re not exploring the world in Rebirth, you’ll be in combat, taking part in a number of optional and mandatory minigames.

The FF7 combat is mostly unchanged, with a few improvements. It provides you the option to switch between characters and issue commands at any moment, providing battles in real-time instances.

The most significant change in terms of combat is the synergy attacks. They consist of brutal offensive movesets and buffs where you will join a party member and deliver a lethal attack together.

Additionally, you can tap into less potent synergy abilities with a press of the shoulder button. It is devastating, but it requires some time to recharge before you can use it again. To fully enjoy the game, it is recommended to try out new characters rather than relying on Cloud for the entire game.

The attention to detail provided in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is incredible. The best example of this is the unique musical themes that are there for each new bird.

When you reach the end of the game, things will start to become more interesting, and you will unlock the flying abilities, which is by far the best experience, and trust me, it feels incredible.

The only flaw I observed in my hours playing that game is that you will notice an awkward platforming across the open world. However, that isn’t a deal breaker at all because that, too, is balanced out with other elements.

That’s is all for the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth review without giving any sorts of spoliers from the storyline. Given what the game has to offer, it deserves a chance to be tried, and once you start it, I can bet you won’t rest until you reach the end.

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Muhammad Uzaimah

As an RPG enthusiast, I immerse myself in the captivating worlds of virtual adventures uncovering hidden secrets and mastering game mechanics. Together, let’s explore compelling worlds and embark on an adrenaline-packed journey.