Final Fantasy VII Remake

Final Fantasy VII Remake is the first in a planned series of games remaking the 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII. It covers the first section of the original game, set in the metropolis Midgar. Players control Cloud Strife, a former Shinra soldier turned mercenary who joins the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE to fight the Shinra Corporation, who have been draining the planet's life energy. Every element has been remade, using real-time polygonal graphics as opposed to the pre-rendered environments of the original. Exploration and battle mechanics both take place in real-time, like Final Fantasy XV. The game features an altered Active Time Battle (ATB) system from the original, which gradually fills up slowly, or can fill faster with attacks. Once it is filled, the player can halt the action and use special abilities such as magic, items, and special moves. The player can assign these special abilities to shortcut buttons, allowing them to play in real-time without pausing. Each special ability uses up a segment of the ATB bar. The player can switch between party members at any time during battle. Each party member has their own individual skills, such as Cloud's close-quarters melee attacks and Barret's long-range distance attacks. Players are able to use magic and summons of large creatures, and a Limit Break gauge allows characters to perform more powerful attacks once charged. While the game has more real-time elements, strategic elements still remain, such as selecting weapons and magic for each character to wield. ==Plot==

Cloud Strife (Cody Christian / Takahiro Sakurai) is a former member of SOLDIER, the elite warriors of the Shinra Electric Power Company. Shinra uses Mako, a refined form of the Planet's spiritual energy harvested by massive reactors, to power the metropolis of Midgar and develop cutting-edge technology. Disillusioned with Shinra, and at the request of his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart (Britt Baron / Ayumi Ito), Cloud takes a mercenary job for a splinter cell of AVALANCHE, an ecological resistance organization, led by Barret Wallace (John Eric Bentley / Masahiro Kobayashi). Barret believes excessive Mako harvesting harms the planet and leads a bombing attack on Mako Reactor 1. Cloud is continuously haunted by memories of Sephiroth (Tyler Hoechlin / Toshiyuki Morikawa), an enigmatic former SOLDIER, and meets florist Aerith Gainsborough (Briana White / Maaya Sakamoto) in the aftermath of the bombing. Strange ghost-like entities, who alternately help and hinder Cloud, cause him to be recruited for another attack on Mako Reactor 5, but he goes missing in action. Cloud meets Aerith again and protects her from Shinra forces. After reuniting with Tifa, the trio learns that Shinra plans to collapse a piece of the "plate" onto the Sector 7 slums. AVALANCHE fails to stop Shinra's plan, and the plate falls. Aerith helps most of the population, including Barret's daughter Marlene, evacuate in time, but is captured by Shinra. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret infiltrate Shinra headquarters and rescue Aerith from being used as an experiment by Shinra scientist Hojo (James Sie / Shigeru Chiba). She reveals that she is the last descendant of the Cetra, a near-extinct precursor race who resided in a "Promised Land," which Shinra covets for its boundless Mako reserves. The group meets a talking feline-like creature called Red XIII (Max Mittelman / Kappei Yamaguchi), who explains that the ghostly entities are called Whispers. They exist to ensure that the course of destiny is not altered by correcting any deviations from this course. Meanwhile, Sephiroth infiltrates Shinra and steals a mysterious entity known as "Jenova," connected to the extinction of the Cetra. In a confrontation at the top of Shinra headquarters, Sephiroth murders the president of Shinra. Shinra's son Rufus (Josh Bowman / Tōru Ōkawa) assumes control of the company and fights Cloud, but is defeated. Cloud and his allies flee the scene via the Midgar Expressway but find Sephiroth waiting for them at the end. After defeating Whisper Harbinger, an entity formed by an amalgam of Whispers, Cloud's group battles Sephiroth. Sephiroth separates Cloud from the group, asking him to join him and defy fate. Cloud refuses and fights Sephiroth, but is defeated, although Sephiroth spares him and departs. Meanwhile, as Cloud's group leaves Midgar to stop Sephiroth, SOLDIER Zack Fair (Caleb Pierce / Kenichi Suzumura) ends up alive and defeats an army of Shinra forces, and departs with Cloud to Midgar. Intermission Shortly after the bombing of Mako Reactor 5, Yuffie Kisaragi (Suzie Yeung / Yumi Kakazu), a ninja working for Wutai, arrives at Midgar and meets up with her partner Sonon Kusakabe (Aleks Le / Yoshimasa Hosoya) in order to steal Shinra's "Ultimate Materia." With the help of a local AVALANCHE cell, Yuffie and Sonon infiltrate the lab under Shinra headquarters and fight through Shinra's forces before discovering that the Ultimate Materia is not yet complete. As they try to escape, they are confronted by a Shinra supersoldier named Nero (Sean Chiplock / Ryōtarō Okiayu). Outmatched, Sonon sacrifices himself to ensure Yuffie can escape, leaving her distraught. She leaves Shinra headquarters just in time to see the Sector 7 plate fall. Sometime later, Yuffie has left Midgar and muses that to achieve her desire to see Shinra's downfall, she will need a team to help her. In the post-credits scenes, Cloud and his group arrive at the town of Kalm after hitching a ride with Chocobo Bill, while Zack enters the Sector 5 church in Midgar to reunite with Aerith, only to find a group of locals in mourning. ==Development==

Background Final Fantasy VII was developed by Square for the PlayStation console and released in 1997. Demand for a remake grew following a PlayStation 3 tech demo at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, showcasing the opening of Final Fantasy VII with Square's new Crystal Tools engine, which was at the time known under its codename, "White Engine". Further demand came during the game's impending tenth anniversary in 2007. On both occasions, Square denied that any remake was in development, Design , Aerith Gainsborough, Cloud Strife, Barret Wallace, and Tifa Lockhart. Final Fantasy VII Remake entered full production by late 2015, led by Business Division 1, an internal production team within Square Enix. While the team had the option of simply remastering Final Fantasy VII with better graphics as many fans had requested, they noted that its graphics and many of its mechanics had become dated by modern standards. With this in mind, they decided to do a full remake, rebuilding the systems to suit contemporary tastes and using current gaming technology to recreate the world. The team aimed to retain all of the gameplay mechanics popular, including Active Time Battle, and merge them with the action-based system. Tifa Lockhart's original appearance was changed to make her look more realistic, as the developers realized her design would not fit fight scenes. Instead of creating a new engine, Square Enix licensed Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4, with Square Enix and Epic Games Japan working together to optimize the engine for Remake. Yoshinori Kitase refrained from explaining the reason for the changes from the narrative: "I want to let you know is that all of the lore from the works created after the original game, the [Compilation of Final Fantasy VII], that's all very much in the base of the canon for the remake, and going forward it will be too". The main characters' personalities were adjusted in various ways for Remake. Rather than the "cool and collected" Cloud as seen in other games, Remake depicts his apathetic attitude as a façade to mask his insecurities. Nojima wanted to convey that his standoffishness could be seen as lame. Tifa's desire for revenge against Shinra is complicated by her reluctance to enact violence. Barret's passion and charisma rallies other characters to follow his lead. It was important to Hamaguchi to include a scene wherein Cloud has an intimate conversation with one of his teammates based on the player's choices in homage to the "date" scene from the original game. The development team avoided playing favorites between Tifa and Aerith, treating them both as main heroes. In addition to returning characters, the team decided to expand the role of minor characters and write new characters. Cloud's interactions with AVALANCHE members Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie further his character development and deepen the world of the story. However, Kitase reasoned that the original's Jaws-like approach would be ineffective because even new players were too familiar with the character. For the English dub, Cody Christian commented on replacing Steve Burton as the voice of Cloud, stating, "Steve, you paved the way. You made this character what it is and have contributed in shaping a legacy". He shared his intent to not "let [Burton] down" with his take on the character. John Eric Bentley voiced Barret, a character he admired when he played the 1997 game. He felt his familiarity with the original work improved his performance, aided by the translators who explained the context for his scenes. He wanted his portrayal of Barret to be multifaceted and serve as a positive example of Black representation in games. Briana White (Aerith) studied Maaya Sakamoto's acting in order to appeal to fans. Meanwhile, Britt Baron had little knowledge of Tifa when being cast, but grew to like her character. Other prominent actors include Erica Lindbeck (Jessie), Gideon Emery (Biggs), and Matt Jones (Wedge). An algorithm adjusts characters' facial motions while speaking to automatically match lip syncing and emotion in every language. Music The soundtrack consists primarily of arrangements of pieces Nobuo Uematsu wrote for the original Final Fantasy VII, with original tracks by several other series veterans, such as Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki. Uematsu contributed one new track: the theme song, "Hollow". It was the first time Uematsu and Kitase had worked together since Final Fantasy X (2001), with Kitase initially believing Uematsu would refuse, as he had long since left Square Enix and found success as an independent composer. It was performed by Yosh, the vocalist for Survive Said the Prophet. Hamauzu also expressed honor in doing the music alongside Uematsu, as the original game was his first exposure to the series. Remake employs adaptive music, wherein multiple arrangements of a particular track are played simultaneously, fading in and out with the player's actions, such as entering or exiting a battle. ==Release==

Following years of rumors and fan requests, Final Fantasy VII Remake was announced during Sony's conference at E3 2015. It won three awards at the Game Critics Awards for Best of Show, Best Console Game, and Best Role-Playing Game, as well as the best looking Unreal Engine game at E3 2019. Extended footage of the demo, as well as an additional trailer, was featured at the 2019 Tokyo Game Show. Final Fantasy VII Remake was initially PlayStation 4 exclusive until 2021, with no further details about its release on other platforms at the time. The release date was pushed back from March 3 to April 10, 2020. A demo was released on the PlayStation Store on March 2, 2020, covering the first chapter. In March 2020, Square Enix revealed that Europe and Australia would receive physical copies of Final Fantasy VII Remake early, due to growing concerns of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on distribution. This did not apply to downloads, as they were not directly affected by the global supply chain. Artwork of Cloud was used on buildings in Los Angeles. In June, a scene from Final Fantasy VII Remake was reproduced for the 8-bit NEC PC-88 computer by Japanese programmer Soba P. An upgraded version of Remake for the PlayStation 5, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, was released on June 10, 2021, featuring improved visuals and shorter load times, available at no additional cost to owners of the PS4 version. It includes a PS5-exclusive DLC expansion, Episode Intermission, featuring the playable character Yuffie Kisaragi, who does not appear in the Midgar segment of the original game. The DLC expansion is included with the purchase of Intergrade, but must be purchased separately if using the free upgrade from the PS4 version. Intergrade adds the ability to use traditional turn-based controls while in the normal difficulty mode, a photo mode, and better overall performance in framerate and resolution. and later collected in a 3-disc physical bundle released on December 4, 2025. A port of Intergrade was released for Windows on December 16, 2021, via the Epic Games Store. While anticipation was high, the port was criticised by players and critics for its stuttering and lack of customization, both stemming from a lack of optimization. It was released on Steam on June 17, 2022. Square published a novel focused on the backstories of Tifa and Aerith, Final Fantasy VII Remake: Traces of Two Pasts. A port of Intergrade for Nintendo Switch 2 was announced by Square Enix and Nintendo during the April 2025 installment of Nintendo Direct.It was announced for release on Xbox Series X/S and the Microsoft Store on Windows by Square Enix and Microsoft during the Xbox Games Showcase in June. Both versions released on January 22, 2026. These ports introduce an additional difficulty option called "Streamlined Mode", which maximizes the party's HP, MP and Active Time Battle (ATB) gauges and enables all attacks to perform 9,999 hit points on enemies, allowing new or inexperienced players to progress through the story without the intensity of the combat encounters. Streamlined Mode was added to Intergrade on PlayStation 5 and Windows through an update alongside the launch on other consoles. For a limited time until January 31, 2026, digital purchases of Intergrade on Switch 2 and Xbox come bundled with the original Final Fantasy VII as a bonus game, based on the 2019 ports for Nintendo Switch and Xbox One, respectively. A playable demo, which is similarly structured to the one available on PlayStation 4 since 2020, was released for Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S on December 16, 2025. The Xbox release supports Play Anywhere cross-progression between Xbox Series X/S and the Microsoft Store versions. Intergrade is also available physically on Nintendo Switch 2 as a Game Key Card, with pre-ordered copies coming with a Magic: The Gathering play booster card set from the Final Fantasy line in limited quantities. Remake is the first in a planned trilogy of games remaking Final Fantasy VII. The second, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, was released on February 29, 2024. The final entry is currently in development for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows. A prequel, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion – a remaster of the 2007 game Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII – was released in December 2022. Music from Remake was included in the 2023 rhythm game Theatrhythm Final Bar Line. ==Reception==

Critical response Final Fantasy VII Remake received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic, Tom Marks of IGN called Remake a "complete reinvention", praising the combat system. Nahila Bonfiglio of The Daily Dot regarded it as one of the best games of 2020 based on multiple aspects that would appeal to the audience. EGM said it was captivating like the original. Destructoid agreed about the cast, most notably Aerith, noting her fun characterization. Enjoying the option of playing directly with the sidestory, Destructoid found Yuffie instead likable to the point of coming across as realistic and enjoyed her own style of gameplay. PC Invasion also praised the framerate, making the PC version highly recommendable to play rather than the other ones. Sales Final Fantasy VII Remake sold over 3.5 million units worldwide within three days. This made it one of the biggest launches for a PlayStation 4 game and the fastest-selling PS4 exclusive, surpassing the launch sales of ''Marvel's Spider-Man (3.3 million; 2018) and God of War (3.1 million; 2018). By August 2020, that figure had increased to over on PS4. By September 2023, Remake had sold over 7 million copies worldwide. As of March 2025 it had sold 8.7 million copies In Japan, Final Fantasy VII Remake'' sold over a million copies during its first week, selling out in many stores. In North America, Remake was the top-selling game of April 2020 and the third best-selling game of 2020, behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) and Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020). It became the fastest-selling Final Fantasy game, surpassing the record previously set by Final Fantasy XV (2016), and was the most downloaded PlayStation 4 game of April 2020 in the United States. In the United Kingdom, Remake debuted at the top of the weekly sales chart, selling an estimated 60,000 physical units in its first weekend. German trade association GAME reported that it took Final Fantasy VII Remake only a few days to sell more than 100,000 units within Germany, for which it won a Gold Sales Award. It was the fourth most downloaded PlayStation 4 game of April 2020 in Europe. It was also named IGN Japan's Game of the Year in 2020. Anime News Network and Siliconera and RPG Site listed it as one of the best games of the year. ==Notes==