By Chad W. Shreeves

After a brilliant, brilliant State of Play this past Tuesday, Square Enix treated fans highly anticipating the newest entry into the Final Fantasy VII Remake Project to a playable version of the game.

If you need to catch up on everything shown:

I have now played through the entirety of the game’s roughly 30 minutes to hour long demo, and I have some impressions.

The first thing to notice is that for fans who did not play the original Final Fantasy VII back in 1997, this State of Play spoiled A LOT of the portion of the game that this entry will be covering. So I will warn anyone trying to stay spoiler free, maybe avert your eyes the final three weeks.

As for the demo itself, it takes everything from 2020’s ‘Final Fantasy VII Remake’ and amps it up. I had an absolute blast playing this introductory portion of the game and it really sets the stage and tone for what we’re going to be in for.

Starting with the gameplay. Everything from movement to combat is a step up from the last game. The way Cloud moves and can automatically jump over obstacles and up and down objects makes movement a lot more fluid and fleshes out the environments of the game a lot more.

Combat, while still the same general concept of ‘Remake’, also got quite a bit of a facelift. While obviously this is the beginning of the game, so we’re not given full access so some of the more powerful items in the game yet, you feel powerful against the enemies that come after you. Cloud moves swiftly and attacks and getting to abilities and spells is snappy. The same level of quick thinking strategy required returns as you manage Cloud’s ATB bars as well as Sephiroth’s at a certain point in the story.

During a significant boss fight, we’re also given the chance to try out Cloud and Sephiroth’s Synergy ability, one of the new combat additions made for ‘Rebirth’. And it’s a blast, there’s a lot of cool animations there. Overall, I can see Synergy Abilities wearing out their welcome if they become available too often, much like the Attraction Flows did in ‘Kingdom Hearts III’, but what we saw in the demo is great.

Narratively, the game seems flawless. For fans of the original, you’ll notice ‘Rebirth’ kicks off right during the party’s entrance into the town of Kalm. Cloud then takes a break to tell Barret, Tifa, and Aerith about what happened five years earlier when him and Sephiroth went to Nibelheim. There’s a lot to love here, as many of the original game’s most iconic moments from this section are recreated to a tee. Certain lines are plucked right from the original, Cloud gets to observe the town, and even more comedic moments like poking around Tifa’s childhood home are exactly as they were back then.

As the journey continues to Mt. Nibel, this is where you’ll get many of the combat and introductory tutorials that ‘Rebirth’ has to offer. After that, things begin to go awry. I will avoid further spoilers for those wanting to go in blind. The “dungeon” area is vast with plenty of area to explore and at least a few different enemies to fight. It’s here that the graphical prowess of the PS5’s engine is really shown off. Between the weather effects and the way the world building and atmosphere are shown off is astounding.

Speaking of graphics, what ‘Rebirth’ has to show off is astounding. The PlayStation 5 has already been a showcase for incredible graphical fidelity, but ‘Rebirth’ may be one of the best looking games out there. Weather effects are fluid, along with plenty of collision effects that really stand out on the character models. Hair, a long standing weak point in graphics design, all looks incredible as well and seems to react almost realistically to weather and debris. And effects we’ve seen like sunshafts are also incredible.

Outside of the main story, there’s a few conversations you can have with locals that build out ‘Final Fantasy VII”s world further, increasing the lore of this world and I enjoyed a lot of the new elements. There’s even a new piano minigame to try and enjoy (based on the state of play, one of many new minigames), and it’s a blast. I struggled to get the rhythm down, but it’s enjoyable enough I’ll still be going for that perfect score in the full version.

There is a small criticism that I have. For fans of the original game, you know there is a big twist with this section and not everything is as it seems. While the twist isn’t outright revealed in this demo…there are a few moments where it does feel a little too obvious about what’s to happen. If you know, you know, but I don’t want to spoil for those that don’t.

At the end of the day, this is a small section of the game but it’s a powerful one. And I have not enjoyed the opening to a game like this in a long time. While I enjoyed ‘Remake’, there were indeed parts that felt cut or rushed. This newest entry feels like the ‘Final Fantasy VII’ Remake I’ve wanted since it was first announced.

I will be back with first impressions of the full game when it releases February 29, and a full, detailed review upon my completion of the game.

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