Review: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Feels Like 2024’s GOTY

Calling a title “the best game of 2024” may come across as rather shortsighted when done so in February. I don’t care. I’m going to say it. I believe Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the best game we are going to see in 2024, and it also gives me faith in the future of the series. I was concerned about what modern Final Fantasy games will look like after Final Fantasy XVI being so linear and borrowing so heavily from media like Game of Thrones. But as long as developers at Square Enix are also making entries like this one, we’ll be more than fine. 

Square Enix starts Final Fantasy VII Rebirth with a shock, then spends the rest of the game surprising the player. After a brief segment in Midgar proper, Cloud explains his history with Sephiroth and Tifa in Nibelheim that led to a hero becoming an unhinged monster. However, the party doesn’t get time to dwell, as Shinra is still on everyone’s heels. The only clue they have is hooded individuals in black robes tied to Sephiroth and mumbling about a “reunion.” Searching for answers, insight, and the legendary SOLDIER, the group travels around the world, visiting various cities to learn more about their allies and enemies along the way.

Like Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth isn’t a straightforward retelling of the original 1997 PlayStation classic. Instead, it builds upon that foundation. Some of the changes are relatively straightforward and offer a more fully fleshed-out take on the events we already know. Other elements help incorporate new NPCs or characters from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII to tie in better with the massive number of works and spin-offs connected to the game. I’d say that’s probably my favorite part, given how much more there is to certain characters and events.

The personalities, relationships and additional insight into the people and lore is fascinating, and I feel it helps create a better understanding of everyone and everything. At the same time, Square Enix has stayed faithful to the original characters, so the newer plotlines never feel forced. However, like the original, there are also times in which Final Fantasy VII Rebirth attempts entirely new things. This part could end up being divisive for some. I absolutely adored it. There were moments when I genuinely squealed or felt astonished by some of the developments that built on past games and ideas. I even felt like maybe it could have helped better explain some of the things certain characters were going through due to their backgrounds and history. Some moments with Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith especially got to me emotionally.

While each region in the game has its campaign quests, there are also an array of sidequests. Chadley has World Intel ones for each region. These tend to involve the sort of open-world staples, such as the Remnawave Tower activation that shows other major objectives in the area, exploration to find certain materials and information about the area, notable enemy fights, and Chocobo acquisition. The Protorelic series is the most fun and memorable, but I genuinely appreciated the rewards from these optional experiences. They kept them from feeling like typical Ubisoft filler. I enjoyed ticking these boxes and benefitting from the additional crafting recipes, insight into the region, and summon bonuses. 

Each town you visit also offers its own sidequests associated with it. These can show up on the message boards in each town, though others are tied to notable NPCs you’ll see. Some of these can involve fetch quests, and your mileage may vary when it comes to enjoyment of them. A few of these quests can even be a bit lengthy or tedious. (A series connected to a certain Costa del Sol character comes to mind.) However, I felt that most side quests are intertwined with fun character interactions with members of my party or rewards that made that effort worthwhile. This is helped by those optional missions also boosting relationship values with party members, as well as not every one of these missions being a fetch quest. 

I’d also consider Queen’s Blood a major storyline and arc on its own. There are so many opponents, such an array of cards, and so many different supplemental challenges tied to the minigame that it felt like a compelling supplemental campaign on its own. The nature of it, due to it involving territory claiming and management, deck management, and gradually building up a collection of cards that can bolster or destroy others, is exceptionally satisfying. It is like the developers looked at how, say, Triple Triad was handled in Final Fantasy VIII and decided to do everything possible to improve upon that. It isn’t just things like the interactions between characters, development of the story, and the wide world to explore that keep Final Fantasy VII Rebirth captivating.

The combat system is genuinely great as well, with every character feeling like they fit well in different roles. Cloud is an all-rounder, of course. Tifa is a heavy hitter who is fantastic at building up the stagger gauge. Yuffie may not pack a punch as hard as Tifa does, but she’s able to more easily hit aerial enemies and I’m in love with the versatility of her ninjutsu and Doppelganger ability. It felt like I really did want to constantly keep switching between characters to take advantage of their innate natures and abilities. I wanted to experiment with builds to make Aerith and Barret into different types of ranged mages. Building up the ATB and unlocking more Synergy Abilities felt satisfying, both because of the interactions and because of the in-battle bonuses.

I also loved how Square Enix forces your hand to make sure you realize the potential of every character. I admit early on that I defaulted to Cloud, Tifa, and either Barret or Aerith, depending on the situation. However, there are a handful of campaign missions that force certain parties or put someone other than Cloud in charge, and I really appreciated it. It meant I got to see how these people played off each other and that they formed these genuine connections. There was one situation that got a bit frustrating and involved someone else taking the lead. So, while I appreciated this person getting “face time,” that segment had some puzzles that didn’t feel as well executed as the ones when others were in charge.

Honestly, I can only think of a handful of “flaws” I encountered while playing Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but they also are the sorts of things that bothered me a bit but might not annoy others. One is that, yes, the Performance mode didn’t look as pretty. I was going with the Graphics option, however, so it didn’t affect me until I purposely tested it, and a patch released during the review process did help with that. The other is that there aren’t that many enemy encounters in the overworld, open-world areas. However, in context, that makes sense, and there is a great balance of enemy encounters when I’m in places where you’d expect the team to be in more danger. 

Some might find they could have used more weapons. I found the majority of mine via quests, exploring during certain campaign quests, or minigame currency acquisition. However, in defense of that range of equipment, I will say that some don’t “age out” as you progress through the game. Instead, they become useful for specific character builds. Not to mention, there is a good selection of bangles and accessories, especially when you factor in the Item Transmuter crafting, so that helps with diversity.

I’m even fine with the Chapter system returning for the story in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth because it never really truly walls you off from past content. Yes, there may be times in the midst of campaign quests when you’ll be locked into an area and unable to travel fast. Once you get to a new region of the world, you’ll also typically need to play for a bit or take on a certain side quest to gain access to a fast travel option to a past region. But there’s always the option to go back and take care of something you missed or see if something new opened up. You’re never walled off permanently.

However, I will acknowledge that it can feel like Square Enix expects all Final Fantasy VII Rebirth players to be up on their general awareness of the original game. If you played Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII recently or are familiar with the PlayStation classic, you are going to get so much more out of it. You’ll see where things are going, how situations change or are improved, and have more of an awareness when things start happening. If you don’t have that prior knowledge, it is still a fantastic game. You’ll just be missing out on the additional context.

Now that I’ve beaten Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, I know there are other games ahead that I need to play for work and should play because they will likely be fantastic. However, all I really want to do is go back and replay this remake at a more leisurely pace. I’m in love with the game, and the approach Square Enix is taking with this trilogy. I’m also incredibly excited for the future of the three Final Fantasy VII remake games, especially given how much Final Fantasy VII Rebirth incorporates and accomplishes.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will come to the PS5 on February 29, 2024. Its demo is live now. The game’s PS5 exclusivity arrangement expires on May 29, 2024.