This year’s Summer Game Fest live stream on YouTube included countless new surprises from the gaming industry, but the biggest of them of course was saved until the very end of the broadcast. The world premiere of the official trailer for Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, the second major installment in the grand-scale, trilogy retelling of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII game, was put on display along with an updated release window.
The first installment, which was aptly titled ‘Final Fantasy VII: Remake‘, debuted the grand re-imagining of the story of Ex-SOLDIER Cloud Strife and many other familiar faces such as Tifa Lockhart, Barret Wallace, Aerith Gainsborough, Red XIII (real name ‘Nanaki’), along with many of the main antagonists like President Shinra, his son Rufus, the Turks, Hojo, and of course Sephiroth himself, all in some ways influenced by the extraterrestrial arch villain, Jenova.
The story opened in the main city of Midgar, where we meet many of the primary characters of the story, and carried players through the events of AVALANCHE’s latest attack on Shinra Corporation, and of course the immediate consequences of it. Cloud and Co. are targeted by both Shinra and a mysterious, phantom-like appearance of Sephiroth, and ultimately get driven out of the city.
However, before they escape Sephiroth confronts them in an unexpected major battle that leads to some major trans-dimensional ramifications. The most notable of those is the pre-credits emergence of Zack Fair, and it’s not clear at all where he’s come from, or if he’s actually somehow alive. Either way, the remake is taking a fascinating new angle on the story and its participants, and it’s destined only get crazier.
The events of FFVII: Rebirth are set to pick up from there, as Cloud and the others begin their journey across the expansive continents of Gaia to figure out how to save the planet and humanity from Sephiroth and Jenova. That is right where the trailer sets off, with the grand unveiling of the massive open world area ripe for exploring and traveling from one town to the next.
We get a sneak peek at what looks like the Chocobo Ranch not far from Midgar, as well as the Mythril Mines where the group next encounters the Turks, getting a full introduction to its newest and very formidable member, Elena.
We also see at least one of the other Mako Reactors, and even a split-second glimpse at Junon Harbor, which looks far more intimidating this time around. That is, until ‘that’ hilarious music Junon is known for blasts our ears once again, maybe.
Other teases include Bugenhagen himself giving his ominous lecture about the downfall of the planet at Cosmo Canyon, along with Yuffie’s fated encounter with the group out in the wilderness. We also get plenty of fresh gameplay footage, showing off the latest adaptations to the combat system, including being able to play Red XIII as a non-guest character.
On top of it all, we get teases about what to expect next from the story, and there’s still plenty of mystery around it. Sephiroth returns once again in various encounters with the party, both in present time and in memorable flashbacks, such as the tragic events at the Nibelhiem reactor where a younger Tifa confronts him.
We also see the next major battle with the dangerous alien entity Jenova that’s been wrapping its tendrils around the planet since it first landed via a meteor. Where this one takes place is not exactly clear.
Either way, we’re sure to experience plenty of new twists to the already-incredible storyline, with plenty of unbearably vague foreshadowing from Sephiroth. “You know that I killed her, so who is she?”
The trailer ends with a new release window for the game of Spring 2024, and it will be on two discs this time instead of one. That means it’ll essentially dwarf what we’ve experienced so far with ‘Remake’.
Final Fantasy VII: Remake is currently available on PS4, PS5, and PC. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth will have an exclusive release on PS5, with no currently announced plans for other platforms.
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