Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second part of the three-part Final Fantasy VII remake project, whose goal is to remake the 1997 RPG Final Fantasy VII. The game follows Final Fantasy VII Remake and is the second of three parts, released on Feburary 29, 2024 for the PlayStation 5.^[1]

The title was announced in 2022 during a small presentation celebrating the 25th anniversary of the original Final Fantasy VII, alongside the reveal of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion, the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake on Steam and details relating to Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis and Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier.^[1] A demo version was released on February 6, 2024. On February 21, 2024, the demo was updated with an additional section.

Gameplay

Main article: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth battle system

Synopsis

Setting

Rebirth takes place in the world of Final Fantasy VII; however, unlike its predecessor Remake which was confined to the dystopian metropolis of Midgar, Rebirth's narrative spans across the Planet. As part retelling of the original Final Fantasy VII, the player visits many familar locales, including the city of Junon, Costa del Sol, the Gold Saucer and others.

Characters

Playable characters

Story

Shinra News from FFVII Rebirth — Shinra News report on the chaos in Midgar.

Cloud Strife and the members of Avalanche make their escape from the headquarters of the Shinra Electric Power Company via motorbike. Branded "terrorists" by Shinra News Network, the group is blamed for the appearance of destructive tornadoes that rip through the city of Midgar, deemed "weather warfare" by Midgar's mayor, Domino.

Elsewhere, Zack Fair transports a comatose Cloud into the Sector 5 slums, where he catches the news broadcast and spots his girlfriend, Aerith Gainsborough, unconscious and being wheeled into a helicopter on a stretcher. He entrusts Kyrie Canaan with Cloud's care while he rushes off to save Aerith. Meanwhile, Red XIII regains consciousness within the helicopter and attacks the crew, causing the helicopter to crash on the outskirts of the sector. Zack recovers Aerith and hides her and Cloud at Elmyra Gainsborough’s house.

Sephiroth in the Shinra library from FFVII Rebirth — Sephiroth reads up on "Jenova Project".

In the town of Kalm in a different reality altogether, Cloud tells his friends about him and Sephiroth. Five years prior, Cloud was assigned a mission alongside his hero and fellow SOLDIER to investigate monsters that had spawned around the mako reactor in Cloud's hometown of Nibelheim. At the Nibel Reactor halfway up Mt. Nibel, Sephiroth finds a room with mako-filled pods, supplied via tubes from a sealed room labeled with the name of Sephiroth's mother, Jenova. Sephiroth discovers, after a week of research in the Shinra Manor basement, the origins of the Jenova Project, learning he was conceived as an effort to resurrect the Ancients using cells from a being named "Jenova" that was excavated from a 2,000-year-old rock layer.

Infuriated and emboldened by the truth of his origins, Sephiroth burns down Nibelheim, killing Mayor Zander, Cloud's mother, and Tifa's father, making his way to the reactor to reunite with his "mother". Outraged at the loss of her family and home, Tifa Lockhart attempts to kill Sephiroth with his own sword, but Sephiroth easily overpowers her and cuts her down. Cloud confronts Sephiroth about the loss of his town, his mother, and Tifa, but the outcome of their confrontation is unknown.

Aerith and Tifa in Kalm inn from FFVII Rebirth — Tifa confides to Aerith about Cloud not being in Nibelheim during the "incident".

Cloud's story leaves the group with many questions, including how Sephiroth could still be around despite the news reporting on his death. Tifa in particular notices many inconsistencies with Cloud's story, and confides to Aerith when they are alone that Cloud never came to Nibelheim five years ago, wondering if the Whispers have something to do with her and Cloud's inconsistent recollections as Aerith has also lost a great deal of her knowledge to them. Before Tifa can discuss her misgivings with Cloud, Sephiroth appears before him, mentioning that according to Cloud's memories Tifa should be dead. When Cloud accuses Tifa of being an imposter, she is hurt by Cloud's lack of trust, providing him with proof that her survival is the truth by showing her healed scar.

The next morning, the group explores the town of Kalm before Shinra Electric Power Company sends in an air raid to locate the Avalanche fugitives. With the help of innkeeper Broden, a former SOLDIER member who begrudges Shinra, they flee Kalm and head into the Grasslands Region. They rent a chocobo from Choco Bill to help them cross the swamplands, but are ambushed by the Midgardsormr, a colossal snake that lurks in the water. Despite defeating the giant serpent, it constricts Cloud and drags him underwater. Sephiroth comes to Cloud's aid, killing the serpent by impaling it on a tree, but no one but Cloud is aware of this.

Robed man with Barret and Red XIII from FFVII Rebirth — Barret and Red XIII try to help a robed man in the mines.

The fugitives find a group of hooded men, whom Cloud insists are following Sephiroth. They follow the men into the now-abandoned Mythril Mines. A walkway collapses under the robed men, and Barret Wallace and Red XIII descend into the cave to render aid. Meanwhile, Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith stumble upon Elena of the Turks venting to Rude about their mission. Elena notices Cloud and crew eavesdropping, and they have a brief fight before Barret and Red XIII arrive, as well as Tseng to the Turks' side. The two groups have a brief standoff before Elena throws a grenade, which sends Barret and Red XIII into the depths. The two navigate back to the surface, fighting a Mythril Golem on the way up before reuniting with Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith.

The group emerges from the mine to the Junon Region, where one of the robed men is snatched by a giant condor. Hints about the robed men's next destination runs dry as they reach Under Junon, a rundown fishing village existing in the shadow of Shinra's fortress and giant mako cannon. Travel by both air and sea is under heavy surveillance by Shinra and Junon is preparing for the inauguration of Rufus Shinra. While getting rooms at the inn, a local girl named Priscilla alerts the group to a monster in the water, which is attacking Yuffie Kisaragi in a rowboat. Yuffie falls unconscious while Cloud and friends fight off the Terror of the Deep, but the local mayor Rhonda resuscitates her. Yuffie recognizes Barret and Tifa as members of Avalanche's controversial splinter cell, and the next day proposes that they join her in her plot to assassinate the new president. Rhonda used the bounty on the fugitives to fund this mission, but fortunately the SOLDIER member sent to collect the fugitives was Roche, who summons Cloud to a "dance" in a more fitting arena in the city above instead of taking them in. Priscilla, with the help of her friend "Mr. Dolphin", helps Cloud and his friends ascend to the city above.

Rufus's failed assassination from FFVII Rebirth — Rufus survives an assassination attempt.

Once at the Upper Junon, Cloud decides the best way to get close to Rufus is to join the parade while Barret and Red XIII search for a route down to the port. Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith disguise themselves in Shinra armor and gather troops from Midgar's Seventh Infantry to perform in the parade. Meanwhile, Rufus is met by Glenn Lodbrok, a man Rufus believed dead. Glenn implores Rufus to keep his father's promise of war with Wutai, so Rufus decides to fire the cannon in a ceremonial display that would effectively end the ceasefire. The ceremony begins with much fanfare, and Midgar's Seventh Infantry wins the presidential commendation. Winning the award was a setup for Rufus to propose a deal with Cloud: kill Sephiroth and remain out of Midgar, and Rufus would pardon the whole group. Before the deal can be finalized, Yuffie attacks Rufus with her shuriken. Barret shouting for Yuffie to stop alerts Heidegger of the attempt and takes the blow in the back, shielding the president. Rufus takes this as a betrayal from Cloud, but is hurriedly escorted off the stage. Cloud, with the help of the Seventh, rendezvouses with the others at the port. Aerith convinces Captain Titov that the group won a free trip to Costa del Sol aboard his ship, and Titov reluctantly lets them aboard alongside a group of robed men who are also looking to cross the sea.

On board the Shinra 8, Cloud and friends partake in a Queen's Blood tournament. Upon reaching the finals, Red XIII steals the show, disguising himself as a human in a Shinra uniform and dazzling the crowd with a flamboyant display and a final game of Queen's Blood. That evening, experiments from Professor Hojo's lab attack the passengers before fusing with the robed men, creating a hybrid abomination. Captain Titov relays the results of Hojo's experiment back to the scientist, but in the interests of his passengers decides to eliminate the remaining monsters, shooting and killing the remaining robed men (and narrowly missing a disguised Yuffie who has stowed away on the ferry). Despite being shot, the robed men fuse with the arm of Jenova and Sephiroth appears, taunting Cloud about Tifa again before transforming into Jenova Emergent.

Aerith's empty white materia from FFVII Rebirth — Aerith shows Red XIII her empty "white materia".

The group arrives at Costa del Sol, where the girls insist on having a fun day in the sun while Barret insists they continue their mission. In search of an inn, they find Johnny, who invites them to stay at his seaside inn—a rundown shack that Johnny had been scammed into buying and was now struggling to pay off. Barret finally agrees to a day at the beach, and he and Cloud change into swimsuits (Cloud obtaining his swimsuit through the Costa del Amor event). Aerith and Tifa shower, and Aerith reveals to Red XIII that the white materia from her mother has become transparent as the Whispers had taken her memories.

Everyone meets at the beach, where they find Hojo, who had traveled to the resort to continue his fusion experiments on the robed men. He captures the fused monsters as samples, terrorizing the beachgoers. When Cloud and friends try to stop Hojo, Hojo captures them all, planning to use them as samples. Johnny saves the day with the help of Yuffie, who clones Johnny and destroys the Grasptropod with her ninjutsu skills. The next morning, Yuffie officially joins the team, and they all set off up Mt. Corel.

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Music

Main article: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Original Soundtrack

Development

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth began development following the completion of Remake and its development overlapped with the third game.^[2]

A Launch date trailer was shown during the September 2023 PlayStation State of Play, after which Creative Director Tetsuya Nomura confirmed that the game would cover the events of the original Final Fantasy VII up to and including the Forgotten Capital, though the order of the events would be changed as well. Nomura also confirmed the presence of AI-controlled party members akin to Red XIII during the later half of Remake.^[3]

Kazushige Nojima wrote the plot based on requests from the scenario team, which included creative director Tetsuya Nomura and co-director Motomu Toriyama, and made adjustments based on feedback. The general plot for the entire remake project was already completed in the early stages of development for Final Fantasy VII Remake.^[4] The game was made semi-open world due to feedback of the first installment on players wishing they could have explored Midgar more, and in the end, the team was able to realize their original vision on the "world map". The design goal was to have "the smallest possible map that feels big". The team estimated that 30–40 activities per area would be needed, and then designed content from things from the previous game before adding World Intel spots and treasure caches to balance the concentration of activities around the map.^[5]

While the previous installment's battle system ended up being able to express everything battle director Endo Teruki wanted to, he felt that by keeping the number of actions the player could do low resulted in the game having less freedom than he had expected. Rebirth's battle system was designed with this in mind, while also being adaptable to different types of players: those who want to use various actions in combat and those who want to focus on using ATB commands. Even characters' moves and dodge mechanics were re-evaluated, so even the party members who appeared in the first game were adjusted.^[6]

Reception

Aggregator	Score
OpenCritic	93 (based on 89 reviews)^[7]
Metacritic	93 (based on 119 reviews)^[8]
Publication	Score
Eurogamer	4/5^[9] LeBlanc 2024
Game Informer	8.5/10^[10]
GamesRadar+	4.5/5^[10]
GameSpot	8/10^[11]
Siliconera	10/10^[12]
IGN	9/10^[13]
NME	5/5^[14]

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth received overwhelmingly positive reviews. With an aggregate of 93% on Metacritic after 119 reviews,^[8] it has the highest score of a Final Fantasy game since Final Fantasy IX, and the first single player entry to reach over 90% since Final Fantasy XII. Critics praised it for its improvements over Final Fantasy VII Remake across the broad, citing its combat system and character-driven stories as its strengths. It received some criticism for its ending, and for pacing with minigames.

Much praise was given to the combat, which critics praised as an elevation over Remake. Iain Harris of GamesRadar+ highlighted the Synergy abilities as the main evolution of the core combat, noting that they give more reason to swap characters midway.^[10] Jenni Lada of Siliconera concurred that more reason was given to switch party members, and noted that each had a distinct role.^[12] Michael Higham, writing for IGN, argued that though the amount of moves the game offers can at times be overwhelming, it offers an "embarrassment of riches without making you too overpowered when it really counts".^[13]

Another highlight was the character-driven stories in Rebirth. Tamoor Hussain, writing for GameSpot, found this to be the "soul of Rebirth's narrative and frequently exhibit excellent character work".^[11] Lada praised the interactions between the characters, saying that Square Enix has stayed faithful to their original character, meaning new plotlines involving them never felt forced.^[12] Harris noted how the sidequests with other party members "rewards you with greater intimacy with your own party, as a companion always takes an interest in what's happening and is keen to help".^[10]

Critics mostly praised the side content, but felt that they at times hurt pace. Writing for NME, Andy Brown called the side content and minigames "exceptional" and felt the wealth of them "make the world feel truly alive".^[14] Harris noted their inclusion was faithful to the original Final Fantasy VII, meaning the game "maintains the joy of going through a toy box".^[10] Conversely, Hussain, while noting enjoying the minigames, argued that the side-content in between the main narrative harmed the pacing of the story, finding it "hard not to get irked when the gang is playing carnival games, frolicking around in beachwear, or racing chocobo for hours on end while the fate of the world hangs in the balance".^[11]

Though critics enjoyed the character-driven parts of the story, disappointment was expressed regarding the ending. Higham believed that the game does "fumble the execution" of the ending due to being "caught up in the mess of its multiple twisting timelines".^[13] Hussain agreed, saying that Aerith was robbed a moment crucial to her character as "the message is lost among narrative noise".^[11] Harris agreed the convoluted story elements carried over as an issue from Remake, but argued that Rebirth had improved on the story padding issue, finding it "less noticeable and more enjoyable this time around".^[10]

Production credits

Producer	Yoshinori Kitase^[15]
Creative Director	Tetsuya Nomura^[2]
Director	Naoki Hamaguchi^[16]
Co-Director	Motomu Toriyama
Story & Scenario	Kazushige Nojima
Music	Mitsuto Suzuki Masashi Hamauzu
Theme Song & Original Music Composed By	Nobuo Uematsu
Art Director	Shintaro Takai
Battle Director	Teruki Endo
World Design Director	Masanori Sato
Lead Application Programmer	Daiki Hoshina
Lead Battle Programmer	Satoru Koyama
Lead Animation & Cutscene Programmer	Ryo Hara
Environment Director	Takako Miyake
Lighting Director	Iichiro Yamaguchi
Cutscene Director	Hidekazu Miyake
Cutscene Co-Director	Junichi Hayashi
Character Modeling Director	Masaaki Kazeno
Lead Rendering Programmer	Shuichi Ikeda
Lead AI Programmer	Yoji Shirakami
Animation Director	Yoshiyuki Soma
Facial Director	Akira Iwasawa
Lead Player Programmer	Toshimitsu Michikami
Lead Technical Programmer	Tomohito Hano
Lead UI & Localization Programmer	Takeshi Mouri
Lead System Programmer	Satoshi Kitade
Sound Director	Makoto Ise
Music Supervisor	Keiji Kawamori
Lead Dialogue Editor	Asako Suga
Movie Director	Hiroshi Kuwabara
Director of Photography	Yuuki Akama
Project Manager	Nobuyuki Ueda
Co-Producer	Shinpei Yashima
Lead Quality Assurance Coordinator	Takashi Kaneko
Marketing & PR Manager	Akiko Wada
Marketing & PR Lead Planners	Yumi Katsuyama Hiroko Ueda
Logo Illustration	Yoshitaka Amano
Theme Song Sung By	Loren Allred

Voice cast

Character	Japanese Voice Actor	English Voice Actor	French Voice Actor	German Voice Actor
Cloud Strife	Takahiro Sakurai	Cody Christian	Tanguy Goasdoué	Felix Mayer
Aerith Gainsborough	Maaya Sakamoto	Briana White	Céline Melloul	Manja Doering
Tifa Lockhart	Ayumi Ito	Britt Baron	Jessica Barrier	Shandra Schadt
Barret Wallace	Mahito Funaki	John Eric Bentley	Frédéric Souterelle	Tobias Brecklinghaus
Red XIII	Kappei Yamaguchi	Max Mittelman	Fabrice Fara	Peter Lehn
Yuffie Kisaragi	Yumi Kakazu	Suzie Yeung	Caroline Combes	Eleni Möller-Architektonidou
Cait Sith	Hideo Ishikawa	Paul Tinto	Emmanuel Rausenberger	Daniel Käser
Cid Highwind	Kazuyuki Yama	J. Michael Tatum	Bruno Ouzeau	Stephane Bittoun
Vincent Valentine	Shougo Suzuki	Matthew Mercer	Raphaël Cohen	Nils Kreutinger
Rufus Shinra	Toru Okawa	Josh Bowman	Bertrand Nadler	Nils Weyland
Professor Hojo	Shigeru Chiba	James Sie	Arnaud Arbessier	Axel Gottschick
Heidegger	Katsumi Cho	John DiMaggio	Gabriel Le Doze	Thomas Balou Martin
Reeve Tuesti	Banjo Ginga	Jon Root	Frédéric Popovic	Andreas Otto
Scarlet	Masako Katsuki	Erin Cottrell	Marie Zidi	Gisa Bergmann
Palmer	Naoki Tatsuta	William Salyers	Gérard Boucaron	Peter Weis
Tseng	Junichi Suwabe	Vic Chao	Stéphane Fourreau	Oliver Schmitz
Reno	Keiji Fujiwara	Arnie Pantoja	Jérémy Prévost	Martin Sabel
Rude	Taiten Kusunoki	William C. Stephens	Bruno Magne	Dirk Hardegen
Elena	Megumi Toyoguchi	Piper Reese	Alice Orsat	Samina König
Roche	Kenta Miyake	Austin Lee Matthews	David Krüger	Cédric Cavatore
Biggs	Shuhei Sakaguchi	Gideon Emery	Benjamin Gasquet	Erik Borner
Wedge	Takayuki Asai	Matt Jones	Mathias Casartelli	Sebastian Huther
Jessie Rasberry	Satomi Moriya	Erica Lindbeck	Marie Chevalot	Leyla Trebbien
Marlene Wallace	Otoha Umezaki	Brielle Milla	Adeline Chetail	Anni C. Salander
Johnny	Yasuyuki Kase	Yuri Lowenthal	Grégory Laisné	Toni Michael Sattler
Kyrie Canaan	Sumire Uesaka	Erika Harlacher	Isabelle Volpe	Franziska Trunte
Madam M	Yuka Komatsu	Mallory Low	Sabrina Marchese	Katrin von Chamier
Andrea Rhodea (Aniyan Kunyan)	Tomokazu Sugita	Trevor Devall	Jean-Alain Velardo	Oliver Wronka
Rashard Zangan	Hiroshi Fujioka	Jamieson Price	Loïc Houdré	Achim Barrenstein
Zander	Shin Aomori	Piotr Michael	Thierry Mercier	Christian Jungwirth
Broden	Masahide Fuji	Mick Lauer	Mathieu Buscatto	Thomas Friebe
Rhonda	Rei Igarashi	G.K. Bowes	Marie Bouvier	Birte Sieling
Priscilla	Rikako Ota	Reese Warren	Geneviève Doang	Nicole Silbermann
Captain Titov	Tsuyoshi Koyama	Jonathan Lipow	Luc Boulad	Detlef Tams
Regina	Riho Sugiyama	Amber May	Jennifer Fauveau	Sabine Schmitt
Mayor Kapano	Binbin Takaoka	Mick Wingert	Bertrand Liebert	Hanns-Jörg Krumpholz
Doctor Shieran	Wataru Yokoshima	Lloyd Sherr	Bernard Bollet	Aart Veder
Billy	Yusuke Shirai	Paul Castro Jr	Jimmy Costa	Sam Bauer
Chloe	Hisui Kimura	Trinity Bliss	Clara Quilichini	Jana Dunja Gries
Bill	Michio Hazama	Michael McConnohie	Marc Bretonnière	Stefan Müller-Ruppert
Dyne	Kenjirō Tsuda	Dave B Mitchell	Cyrille Monge	Marc Oliver Schulze
Solemn Gus	Setsuji Satō	Jonah Scott	Marc Saez	Felix Holm
Garth	Taisuke Nakano	Isaac Robinson-Smith	Jean-Michel Vaubien	Jonas Baeck
Esther	Sayaka Senbongi	Erin Yvette	Valérie Bachère	Julia Koep
Joe	Hiromichi Tezuka	Griffin Burns	Alexandre Coadour	Pascal Spielvogel
Geisel Bugenhagen	Yohei Tadano	Frank Todaro	Martial Le Minoux	Kurt Spielmann
Gi Nattak	Tayaka Hashi	Bruce Thomas	Antoine Tomé	Alexander Beck
Dio	Koichi Yamadera	Ian James Corlett	Serge Biavan	Heiko Grauel
Cissnei	Atsumi Nakada	Kayli Mills	Valérie Bescht	Andrea Dewell
Myrna	Michiko Kaiden	Francesca Meaux	Annie Milon	Alice von Lindenau
Ifalna	Risa Shimizu	Allegra Clark	Barbara Beretta	Leslie Vanessa Lill
Don Corneo	Yohei Tadano	Fred Tatasciore	Patrice Melennec	Frank Felicetti
Scotch	Kenji Kitamura	Greg Chun	Serge Thiriet	Peter Dischkow
Kotch	Subaru Kimura	Chris Jai Alex	Pierre Alam	Michael-Che_Koch
Sonon Kusakabe	Yoshimasa Hosoya	Aleks Le	Damien Boisseau	Brian Sommer
Nero the Sable	Ryōtarō Okiayu	Sean Chiplock	Romain Altché	Ferdi Özten
Chadley	Shuichiro Umeda	Sean-Ryan Petersen	Benjamin Bollen	Marco Rosenberg
MAI	Manaka Iwami	Grace Lu	Claire Baradat	Lisa Dzyadyk
Glenn Lodbrok	Daiki Hamano	Ben Diskin	Slimane Yefsah	Dirk Plönissen
Gilgamesh	Kazuya Nakai	Keith Szarabajka	Jérémie Covillault	Peter Wenke
Zack Fair	Kenichi Suzumura	Caleb Pierce	Fabrice Josso	Patrick Keller
Sephiroth	Toshiyuki Morikawa	Tyler Hoechlin	Bruno Choël	Florian Hoffmann

Gallery

Videos
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH – First Look Trailer First Look (EN) 『FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH』アナウンスメントトレーラー First Look (JP) FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH – Summer Game Fest 2023 Trailer Official Trailer (EN) 『FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH』Summer Game Fest 2023 トレーラー Official Trailer (JP) 『FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH』発売日告知トレーラー Release Date Trailer (JP) FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH - Release Date Announce Trailer Release Date Trailer (EN) FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH - Theme Song Announcement Trailer Theme Song Trailer (EN) 『FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH』テーマソング発表記念トレーラー Theme Song Trailer (JP) FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH – DESTINED FOR REBIRTH Destined for Rebirth (JP) FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH - Destined for Rebirth Destined for Rebirth (EN) 『FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH』ファイナルトレーラー Final Trailer (JP) FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH - Final Trailer Final Trailer (EN) FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Gameplay Video Gameplay Video (EN) 『FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH』ゲームプレイ紹介映像 Gameplay Video (JP) Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - State of Play - PS5 Games State of Play - Feb 6th

Packaging Artwork