The game entered production in November 2019 prior to Remake's release, and was announced in June 2022. All of the previous game's lead staff return in the same positions, but with Tetsuya Nomura as creative director instead of director, and Naoki Hamaguchi as director instead of co-director.

The original script of Final Fantasy VII, written by Sakaguchi, was rather different from the finished product. Sakaguchi wanted to craft a story that told of how someone having passed away does not mean they are gone, and to show a realistic death rather than a "Hollywood" sacrificial death that previous games in the series had done.

With Final Fantasy 7 Remake bringing the group together in Midgar, it makes perfect sense that Rebirth would go all in on the bonds they form in and out of combat as journey together into the wider world. In terms of the story, I only got to see a few examples of this party bond system in action during my time in Kalm – which also includes a feature that lets you illustrates characters' feelings about you by bringing up a little smiley face emote above their heads – but what I did see only makes me more excited for what's to come.

One of the byproducts of the extraction and refinement of mako energy is materia, a concentrated form of mako that allows the wielder to harness its magical properties.

Yuffie Kisaragi takes center stage in this additional episode, which takes place concurrently with the main game.

The world is economically, militarily, and politically dominated by the powerful conglomerate of Shinra Electric Power Company, which profits from the use of mako reactors.

Using them in combat really makes the whole party feel unified, and it instills a sense of camaraderie that also effectively feeds into the way Rebirth is making bonds as one of its main themes. 

We wanted to clearly communicate things like: where is the player is from the Sentinel’s perspective? Is that the right place to stand or the right distance away? Does that position poses a danger or not?

After writing about all things tech and games-related, I then did a brief stint as a freelancer before I landed my role as a staff writer here at GamesRadar+. Now I get to write features, previews, and reviews, and when I'm not doing that, you can usually find me lost in any one of the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games, tucking into another delightful indie, or drinking far too much tea for my own good. 

Or if the person Cloud finds is Tifa, she asks if the flower he had given her was from Aerith and cries over how Shinra has again taken everything away from them while Cloud embraces her. Or if the person Cloud finds is Aerith, he is surprised and wonders if it is a dream. Aerith talks about the importance of living in the moment as everyone dies one day, and warns Cloud not to become too attached to her as she may not be able to stay with him for long. As she touches his face, she disappears, and Cloud wakes up in the the guest room.

Minigames also happen outside of the Saucer. E.g. in Junon the player must perform CPR, participate in a parade, free Tifa from a gas chamber, and partake in a slap fight between Tifa and a Shinra antagonist.

As Cloud and Tifa are rescued from the Lifestream the restored Cloud returns to lead the party, revealing to the others he is not an ex-SOLDIER, as he had not been mentally strong enough to qualify.

The party reaches the seemingly empty office and finds President Shinra hanging on the side of the roof, offering them wealth to save him. Barret pulls President Shinra up and tells him to confess to the Sector 7 plate collapse and that there is pelo Avalanche-Wutai link, only for President Shinra to hold Barret at gunpoint while scoffing at him for only wanting to clear his name rather than asking the company to shut down all mako reactors. Sephiroth appears behind President Shinra and kills him before stabbing Barret in the chest with his sword when he tries to protest.

The group keeps pursuing the rumors of a man in a black cape and final fantasy 7 rebirth arrives at Nibelheim, finding it fully rebuilt by Shinra and populated by Shinra employees posing as the villagers to cover up the incident five years ago. The town is infested with people robed in black who rant on about Sephiroth, the numbered Sephiroth-clones Professor Hojo had created after Nibelheim's torching to test his Reunion theory.