Everything We Know About Final Fantasy VII Rebirth [Updated]

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second chapter in Square Enix’s long-awaited remake project of the hallmark 1997 PlayStation RPG. Slated to launch on PS5 on February 29, 2024, the game’s marketing machine is now kicking into high gear. To help answer some of your burning questions, we’ve collated this lengthy page full of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth details.

As fans know, this game’s predecessor, Final Fantasy VII Remake, made several surprising changes to the game’s established canon. As such, a lot remains unknown about this ambitious second chapter of FF7’s retelling. Here’s everything we know so far.

Latest Final Fantasy VII Rebirth news

• February 7, 2024: We’ve rounded up all the cheapest copies of FF7R we can find in Australia to help you find a bargain.
• February 7, 2024: Everything we learned from today’s FF7R centric State of Play. Also PSA: the free (and lengthy) demo is live on PS5!
• January 30, 2024: PlayStation announced new State of Play broadcast for early February. Could be see FF7R at the show?
• January 18, 2024: Cloud’s Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Actor Says Shippers Are Too Damn Horny – Stop shipping the characters so hard. You’re scaring the devs and the cast.
• January 16, 2024: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Trailer Drops Alongside Yuffie And Cait Sith Sneak Peeks – A new trailer for the game arrived, showcasing some new gameplay and a proper look at fan favourite characters Yuffie and Cait Sith.
• December 22, 2023: 7 More Things We Just Learned About Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – We simply like to learn things about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and maybe you do too! If you’re reading this, you almost certainly do!
• December 8, 2023: FF7 Rebirth Musical Performance Gives Us Our First Glimpse Of Cid – Fan favourite character Cid is confirmed for Rebirth, and the fans rejoiced.
• October 25, 2023: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Devs Have A Big Surprise Planned For Its Most Iconic Scene – You know the scene. You know the moment. Will it remain the same in the remake?

Does Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Have A Confirmed Release Date?

It does! Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will launch in Australia and around the world on February 29, 2024.

Is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth A PS5 Exclusive?

For the time being, yes, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will be a PS5 launch exclusive. Don’t despair though, as it is likely another timed exclusive. If it follows the trajectory of FF7 Remake, and there’s no reason to think that it won’t, an expanded version similar to Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade will eventually arrive on PC down the line.

Tell Me About The Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Campaign

Why not head on over to Emily’s preview right here to hear her thoughts?

The original FF7 was a three-disc game. What we’ve seen of the Remake saga so far is that FF7 Remake covered much of the Disc 1 content from the original game. Knowing that the Remake saga is intended as a trilogy, it’s easy to think that each game will cover the content of a single disc from the original game. Not so! Remake ends quite a way from the end of the original Disc 1 content, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth picks up the thread from there.

We’re told that the campaign will clock in around the 40-hour mark, and somewhere between 60-100 hours if players dive into all the side quests and optional activities. Director Naoki Hamaguchi has stressed in interviews that it is a game for players of every style, from those who only want to “dedicate themselves to the main storyline” to the completionists who must compulsively hunt every last Trophy.

We also know that your character progress from FF7 Remake will not carry over to Rebirth. Speaking to PlayStation, director Naoki Hamaguchi said that “each game’s balancing is done independently, and a player’s levels and abilities will not carry over from one game to the next.” Regardless, Hamaguchi teased “a little something extra” for folks who have completed 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake. Presumably some special loyalty skins or preorder bonuses.

Interestingly, it seems Final Fantasy VII Rebirth takes some inspiration from another wildly popular open-world RPG: 2015’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Speaking with Game Informer, Hamaguchi said that The Witcher was a particular influence on how he thought about Rebirth. Consequently, Rebirth is expected to contain a large number of side quests, and the ability to explore the wider world to hunt. The current expectation is that these hunts will be similar to those in Final Fantasy XV and XVI, but we still don’t know for sure.

How Big Is The Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Map And What’s In It?

As those who’ve played the original FF7 are well aware, the game significantly opens up once Cloud and co depart Midgar. As we saw from the end of FFVII Remake, this is the moment that serves as the starting gun for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. But let’s obviously not get ahead of ourselves: Rebirth is not an open-world game, in the same way that the original FF7 wasn’t open-world. Rather, the world map gives players access to seamless exploration across different regions.

Here’s director Naoki Hamaguchi from an interview with Game Informer:

While each section of each region – in this case, Grasslands and Junon – is labeled on the map as separate areas, you can seamlessly walk between them. “We thought that it would be easier for players to go to just one region, and so from a U.I. perspective, we have it separated – Junon and Grasslands – but in actuality, you can traverse, and they’re all connected with each other.

If you’re the kind of player that is easily distracted by finding things to do in the world, not to worry. In an interview for the PlayStation Blog, Hamaguchi noted that it will “be possible to return to any of the regions in the world even after the main quest moves on from that area, so you don’t have to worry about leaving things behind or unfinished.”

This obviously also mirrors the original FF7, which was perfectly happy to let you blast through the main quest and then have a poke about the world after. However, it may not play out in the same order the original game did. One major example is Wutai, home town of Yuffie Kisaragi. Originally Disc 2 content, Hamaguchi says that branch of the story has been held in reserve for the third and final part of the Remake trilogy.

But that’s not all. Hamaguchi also told Game Informer that Rebirth will feature “totally new cities that did not exist in the original to go deeper and create this whole worldview of Rebirth.” These new spaces seem to add to the larger worldbuilding and create an opportunity to explore more sidequests and participate in minigames.

What About Playable Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Characters?

It does! Cloud, Tifa, Barrett and Aerith return from Remake, with some fresh faces joining the party. Red XIII, an NPC in Remake, will now be a fully playable character in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Also joining the party: Yuffie Kisaragi and Cait Sith.

You might have seen that the long-time fan favourite Vincent Valentine makes an appearance in Rebirth. It’s true! He does! He will not, unfortunately, be playable, falling into a similar NPC role as XIII did. The same can be said of Cid Highwind, who made his first appearance in a recent trailer.

Sephiroth will also be playable, but only in select flashback sequences during the story, similar to the original game.

Does Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Really Come On Two Discs?

Yes, it does! It becomes one of the first current-gen games to ship its physical copies on a pair of blurays. The complete install size will clock in at around 150GB, so make sure you clear some space on your PS5’s SSD.

Are There Any New Mechanics In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth?

One of FFVII Rebirth‘s big changes is the inclusion of a new relationship meter called the Affinity System. Back in the original FF7, players could have Cloud influence relationships with his various companions. Whoever wound up his closest companion would unlock special one-time-only scenes. All of this was done behind-the-scenes though. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth puts Clouds’ social engineering front and centre, creating more opportunities for Cloud to have meaningful connections with his party and for you to gauge how they’re feeling about him.

I can already hear the Tifa shippers scribbling notes and drawing up complex diagrams for how to get Cloud to finally take her on a date.

Is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Going To Make Any Changes Around Character Death?

Maybe! Hard to say!

One thing that Tetsuo Nomura has made clear is that, in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, death remains a matter of permanence and that the themes of death and loss are still central pillars of the story. Here’s a quote from Nomura in a recent interview with Game Informer:

“Prior to Final Fantasy VII, there have been other titles where characters have experienced tragedy, but many of them have come back or been revived in some way. But I believe that loss is something that happens unexpectedly, and it’s not something so dramatic or drawn out, but is something in which a person that you have just conversed with is suddenly gone and never to come back. I believe that the person who dies should not return in this title, and that is what we did with the original.”

It’s an interesting assessment. Final Fantasy 7 Remake famously scrambled player expectations of who among its cast could be killed, and when. It appears that Square Enix is still looking for opportunities to have those gut-punch moments, and still have it be a surprise to players.

Does Zack Fair Really Get His Episode In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth?

He does!

Zack has always had an important role to play in the original Final Fantasy VII backstory but doesn’t feature much in the original game. The character got a taste of the spotlight in Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core, and again in the 2022 remake Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII – Reunion. However, as those who’ve finished FFVII Remake will know, Zack appears to have a much larger part to play in the ongoing story of the Remake trilogy. Producer Yoshinori Kitaste recently confirmed this in an interview with IGN.

We see at the end of Remake that [Zack] has appeared, which, you know, is quite a difference from the original title. And as for Rebirth, there will be a new episode with [Zack], that will contain even more of him than [Remake].

Ok But Does Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Bring The Mini-Games Back?

Yes, it does!

The original FF7’s extensive mini-games made its world feel memorable and lived-in, particularly at the Gold Saucer, an enormous amusement park filled with games and rides.

Thus far, we’ve seen glimpses of boxing, Chocobo racing, and an arcadey spin on Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s motorcycle chase scene. Rebirth will also feature a deck-building card game not too dissimilar to The Witcher 3’s Gwent, which allowed players to challenge various NPCs to a game of cards.

Which Editions Of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Are Coming To Australia?

There are a total of three versions of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth available for preorder in different parts of the world. They are:

• The standard edition (just the game on its own)
• The Deluxe Edition (comes with an artbook, a mini soundtrack and a steelbook case)
• and The Collector’s Edition (which comes with a large Sephiroth statue, some Materia, the Moogle Trio and Magic Pot, and a pair of in-game items — a Reclaimant Choker accessory and an Orchid Bracelet.

But here’s the rub. Only two of these editions is available in Australia, the standard and Deluxe. The Collector’s Edition, it appears, will not be making the journey down under unless you’re lucky enough to import one (which would be difficult, because it also appears be sold out wherever you look overseas). Questions about the Collector’s Edition began to pile up so much that EB Games had to address the matter directly.

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Final Fantasy VII Rebirth ships on February 29 for PS5. Get in the comments, let us know if you’re keen to play it!