Sony’s latest State of Play ended with an extended look at the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the highly-anticipated follow-up to 2020’s remake of the seminal JRPG. The new trailer showcased several Final Fantasy VII icons, including the Gold Saucer, the Weapons, and several summons. It also gave us an in-depth look at the game’s massive world now that the party is leaving Midgar in the sequel. There are plenty of blink-and-you-miss-it moments in the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth release date trailer, so here’s a breakdown of all the key reveals.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Finally Has a Release Date
The main point of this trailer is to reveal Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s official release date: February 29, 2024. Square Enix made sure to flex once again that the game will be released on two discs on PS5, which is one of the first titles to do so. That means it’ll have an absolutely massive install size if you’re going digital for this one since a single PlayStation 5 disc can hold 100GB of data.
If you haven’t played Final Fantasy VII Remake yet, there’s a Twin Pack available for pre-order on the PlayStation Store now. It includes Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade — the enhanced PS5 port featuring Yuffie’s DLC — and a pre-order for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. There’s no mention of Crisis Core though, so you’ll have to pick that one up separately if you’re not already familiar with Zack’s story. You should probably do that too, since Zack is featured prominently in this Rebirth trailer.
Sephiroth is a Playable Party Member
Sephiroth’s role in Final Fantasy VII Remake was a bit different than his original 1997 incarnation, and that trend seems to continue in Rebirth. Sephiroth was revealed as a playable party member in an extended combat sequence with Cloud. The pair even has unique team-up moves and special animations during combat. It’s unclear if Sephiroth will remain a permanent party member (he likely won’t), but he’ll be available during some key battles during the story.
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The trailer also gave a look at new Final Fantasy VII party members who weren’t present in 2020’s Remake. Yuffie was playable in the Intergrade DLC, but we got a look at her fighting alongside the main party during the trailer. Cait Sith’s combat style was also shown, and we got a look at the ever-so-edgy Vincent Valentine’s debut cutscene. Red XIII was also shown off as a main party member, so fans will finally get to keep him around permanently after the brief tease in the final hours of Final Fantasy VII Remake.
The Gold Saucer Looks Awesome
Other than the release date and story reveals, the main highlight of this trailer was the Gold Saucer. It’s one of the most iconic things from Final Fantasy VII, and Rebirth is doing it justice. The Saucer itself is gorgeous, matching the pre-rendered cutscenes from the original game perfectly. Rebirth seems to be expanding on the Saucer’s minigames, however, and it looks like the Gold Saucer will play a much larger role in Rebirth than in the original.
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Chocobo Racing was shown off as a Mario Kart-like minigame similar to its Final Fantasy XIV version, and there’s a motorcycle combat racing minigame that uses the motorcycle mechanics from Remake. Breaking away from the game’s hyper-realistic graphics, there’s also a boxing minigame that features incredibly charming high-res versions of the original game’s low poly models.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will also add plenty of new story content and cutscenes to the Gold Saucer. There were multiple scenes shown off in the trailer that weren’t in the original, including two dance numbers similar to the ones featured in Remake. There are also some bits with Yuffie and the girls dressed in costumes, so there’ll likely be some shenanigans going on in the background once the party arrives at the Gold Saucer.
