Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Crisis Core remaster announced

Square Enix dropped a lot of news during their 14-minute stream celebrating Final Fantasy VII’s 25th Anniversary. The biggest story is the announcement that Final Fantasy VII Remake‘s sequel is officially named Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (and it’s coming next year!), but there’s the equally exciting reveal that PSP prequel Crisis Core is getting a modern-gen remaster. We’ve also got updates on the mobile-exclusive titles Ever Crisis and The First Soldier, as well as the Remake’s Intergrade expansion coming to Steam. It’s a lot to take in, so let’s break it down game by game.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

FF7 Part 2 has a name, and a tentative release period. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth presumably follows on from the conclusion to Remake. We currently know nothing about the story or gameplay, but we do know that Rebirth is the second title in a trilogy. We also know that Rebirth will be released for PS5 “next winter” (summer for us Aussies), probably implying late 2023 or early 2024.

The trailer shows some vague gameplay of hero Cloud walking alongside baddie Sephiroth, and a lot of footage of the character known as Zack. Remake brought a lot of new players to the world of Final Fantasy VII, and hopefully Rebirth will do a better job explaining who Zack is.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion

Speaking of Zack, he’s getting his own game! Or more specifically, his PSP game Crisis Core is getting what looks like a rigorous remaster. The UI appears to be completely overhauled, and the game appears to be running on a totally different engine. The snippets of cutscenes in the trailer seem to show identical animations and voices to the PSP original, but Zack’s original voice actor Rick Gomez is replaced by his Remake actor Caleb Pierce. Crisis Core was one of the best games on PSP, so time will tell if the remaster (subtitled Reunion) will show its age.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion will be released “this winter” (summer for us Aussies), which logically would imply late 2022 or early 2023. Surprisingly, it’ll be out not just on PS5, but PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, and Switch!

Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis

Why remake Final Fantasy VII once when you can do it twice? Ever Crisis appears to be an abridged playable retelling of the pre-remake Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. This covers the original game, Crisis Core, Advent Children (the movie), Before Crisis (a Japan-exclusive mobile game), and Dirge of Cerberus (which I’m surprised Square is willing to admit exists).

The main takeaways from this trailer are that we finally get to see how this game compares to the original FF7. Namely, the game will feature fixed camera angles and chibi-esque character models, except for combat, which has more realistic models and cinematic camera angles. There also appear to be unlockable or buyable costumes, as Aerith is seen wearing something akin to a wedding dress, which I don’t believe she wore during the Compilation.

The biggest bummer about Ever Crisis (for me anyway) is that it is on iOS and Android only, but a closed beta test is coming sometime this year, so we can see how it is for ourselves.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade

Final Fantasy VII Remake’s Steam version now comes with its Intergrade DLC, and has been optimised for Steam Deck. Great news for folks who still can’t get their hands on a PS5.

Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier

Season 3 of the smartphone-exclusive battle royale The First Soldier is getting a third season of content, including the new ability to cast water spells. Great news for fans of water.

It’s impressive to see maps bigger than those seen in FF7 Remake fully explorable on my phone, but much like Ever Crisis, there’s a nagging sense that this game should be on other platforms too.

That was everything announced during Final Fantasy VII’s 25th Anniversary presentation, which you can watch here. There were some huge reveals, and a promising way to celebrate a huge milestone. Plus, with Final Fantasy XVI also coming out in 2023, it looks like Final Fantasy fans are going to be busy for the next two years.