Ultimate Fantasy 7 Rebirth gave me the world’s most luxurious trip. From cruises, to resorts, to the world’s best amusement park, I used to be shuffled like a hurried vacationer from one dazzling expertise to the following, showered with countless shiny new issues to admire. However the indoor child in me have to be too robust, as a result of it didn’t take lengthy earlier than I used to be bored with all of the sights and sounds and simply needed to go residence.
Have to know
What’s it? An expansive reimagining of an RPG traditional.
Launch date January 23, 2025
Anticipate to pay $70 / £65
Developer Sq. Enix
Writer Sq. Enix
Reviewed on Intel i7-13700F, RTX 2060 Ti, 16GB RAM (and PlayStation 5)
Multiplayer? No
Steam Deck Verified
Hyperlink: Official website
£51.99View at Currys £52.79View at Amazon £64.99View at Inexperienced Man GamingSee all costs (6 discovered)2 Amazon buyer evaluations☆☆☆☆☆
The center entry in Sq. Enix’s bold deliberate trilogy remaking one of the vital iconic video games of all time, Rebirth sees the forged of 2020’s Ultimate Fantasy 7 Remake on the street, having escaped from the economic metropolis Midgar to journey the world and seek out the evil hottie Sephiroth. As Sq. Enix proudly claims, it’s a “standalone sport that welcomes followers and newcomers alike,” and—wait, are we positive about that?
I do not know the way Sq. Enix obtained that concept in its head, however take it from me: Rebirth is essentially the most sequel a sequel has ever sequel’d. There’s a video abstract you possibly can watch to familiarize yourself, however when you hit New Sport all bets are off, with anybody unfortunate sufficient to start out right here plunged headfirst into the complicated world-building and character arcs that’ve already been stacking up for 40+ hours or 28 years, relying on the way you take a look at it. And that’s to say nothing of the incidental Remake faces you’ll encounter. It looks like your entire inhabitants of Midgar determined to depart with the primary forged, as a result of I used to be continually discovering people I might barely keep in mind, and simply as many who I couldn’t in any respect.
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Should you’re planning to mainline Ultimate Fantasy 7 Rebirth, flip the issue right down to simple
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Each status blockbuster sport ought to have Ultimate Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s fast-forward choice
Rebirth isn’t shy about bringing in concepts and folk from the sport’s wider universe, referred to as the Compilation of Ultimate Fantasy 7. This isn’t simply the second entry in a sequence, it’s the newest chapter in a saga with a long time of ever-expanding lore. It needs you to expertise the 1997 unique, to look at the film, to learn the spin-off books, and to play the battle royale cell sport that’s already been shut down. Rebirth is the Ultimate Fantasy 7 cruise: all people is right here, and also you’re caught on the boat, the additional lore baggage solely complicated a very sophisticated plot with understanding nods and the obscure thought of a thriller slowing the ship to a crawl.
(Not) a small world
Consistent with a sport that is proudly unrestrained, the heroes at the moment are free from the constrictive streets and slums of Midgar. Ditching tight corridors for large open world zones, Rebirth highlights Ultimate Fantasy 7’s environmentalist message by continually dwarfing the participant in a lush, vibrant world. Look left and see big snow-capped mountains; look proper and admire the shipwrecked ruins of a big boat within the ever-expanding ocean.
It doesn’t matter the place you’re or the place you level the digital camera, the motion in Rebirth is continually framed by the awe-inspiring hugeness of nature. The world of Gaia is gorgeous, and unshackled from the constraints of the PS5 is ready to sing the best way it was at all times meant to—beforehand shoddy framerates now uncapped and damagingly low resolutions made crystal clear.
Throw in a contender for the best soundtrack in Ultimate Fantasy historical past—full of rousing choirs, prog rock noodling, and even an electropop bop a few very, superb pup—and Rebirth turns into a type of uncommon video games the place simply a digital panorama is sufficient to get me a bit emotional. Gazing out at rolling hills full of flowers, the lifestream of the planet escaping the earth in delicate inexperienced wisps as the enduring overworld theme idyllically sings within the background and I can’t assist however let all types of cornball sentiments about the great thing about our planet nicely up in me.
Tragically, not like the marvel these vistas encourage, the actions yow will discover in them are as plain as they arrive. The ever-obnoxious Chadley returns from Remake to continually interrupt your adventuring so he can inform you about his “world intel” actions, which quantity to little greater than bland busywork. Right here I’m in essentially the most stunning locales I’ve ever seen, ignoring them to scan the bottom for supplies and hidden lifestream swimming pools, or climb the prerequisite open world towers to disclose extra of the map. This pointless padding shortly wore on my endurance, feeling much less like thrilling methods to discover the world and extra like keys being dangled in entrance of my face.
Incredible fights
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Fortunately for Rebirth, any grumbling from selecting up one other piece of grass vanishes the second I get into battle. Constructing on the foundations arrange in Remake, Rebirth combines lightning-quick real-time motion with the ATB-based menuing the Ultimate Fantasy sequence is legendary for. Each motion—each swing of the sword right into a cranium or blocking of a bullet—builds up a meter that, when full, permits you to bounce into tremendous slow-motion to rush by menus to pick out a capability or spell to unleash. The result’s the chess boxing of RPG battle techniques, a gorgeous ebb and move rhythm that rewards my love of turn-based ways whereas additionally satisfying my primal want to go ham on the controller.
With every member of the social gathering taking part in so radically completely different from each other that any of them might star in their very own motion sport, these brawls additionally find yourself as good persona showcases for one of many strongest casts in gaming. I might really feel ninja Yuffie’s hyperactive teen power as she zipped round like just a little lightning bolt, or weirdo cat-puppet-thing Cait Sith’s trickster vibe, his arsenal filled with RNG-guided talents, in a far more speedy and bodily than ever earlier than. The identical goes for relationships, highlighted with the introduction of tag-team synergy assaults full of sufficient fan service to persuade any FF7 lover that they’ve discovered heaven. Aerith throwing on some shades to pose with Barrett is so charming that, for a second, I used to be able to marry the sport.
However past the rhythm and persona, the key that stored me hooked on the battle system lies within the artwork of the pause.
Each single time I open up that menu and sluggish time right down to a crawl, the battlefield finds itself in some unspeakably superior configuration. The gauge fills up and abruptly I’m a bullet whizz inches from Cloud’s face as he buries his big sword into some poor sap, Barrett within the background gatling down a monster chicken; a second later I’m pausing once more and Cloud is a mile away within the sky, letting the load of the sword flip him right into a flying demise machine whereas Tifa pops a baddie as much as him with a flashy uppercut. Fights in Rebirth are diorama mills, infinite gardens of enjoyment for the videogame photographer. It sucks that the in any other case strong choices are missing any method to disable its aggressive movement blur, typically turning what must be a shifting murals right into a cartoon mud ball of legs and arms. However when it doesn’t? Merely chic.
Little amusements
What a disgrace you spend a lot time doing all the things however combating, then. Past its obsession with open world actions, Rebirth additionally boasts what appears like a Mario Social gathering’s price of minigames. Some, like Queen’s Blood—the newest within the time-honored Ultimate Fantasy custom of together with an optionally available card sport—are greater than ok to be launched as standalone video games, whereas others, like gliding chocobos by Superman 64 hoops are… much less impressed. I admire the sheer selection packed into Rebirth, however in some unspecified time in the future—round once I was pressured to journey a finicky segway and play Rocket League However With Canines—I used to be begging for the sport to get on with it, already.
And that’s finally my huge situation with Rebirth. It doesn’t have wherever to go.
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Rebirth has the unenviable process of being the center a part of a trilogy that most likely shouldn’t have been a trilogy within the first place. Caught adapting not an entire lot of story, the sport has to seek out some method to justify itself, and it tries to do this with too many senseless actions in open fields, too many prolonged mini-game breaks, and Cait Sith deciding that it’s important to undergo by a wholly pointless dungeon simply because.
Narratively, it tries its finest to disguise this situation by taking an rising curiosity in sophomoric multiverse performs that exist solely to create puzzle packing containers for the viewers to ponder over. However pry these packing containers open and what’s inside? Completely nothing. For as a lot as the sport needs to be a commentary by itself legacy, how Ultimate Fantasy 7 has advanced past its creators over the a long time, it pulls again each time it inches in the direction of saying something of curiosity on the subject. It’s hungry for change, however too wrapped up in its personal reverence, too afraid of betraying its legacy, to take that obligatory step ahead.
Being so dedicated to Ultimate Fantasy 7 signifies that there’s quite a lot of like to be present in Rebirth. And as a fan of that unique sport, it was really easy, for some time a minimum of, to be swept up within the dazzling sights of Gaia, within the vibrant amusement park of video games and sidequests at my fingertips, to hop on this rollercoaster journey with a lot of my all-time favourite characters and provides myself to the enjoyment of having the ability to spend extra time with them. However all of the allure and pageantry on the planet can solely distract me for therefore lengthy earlier than I understand: nothing has occurred this entire trip. The ship hasn’t even left the dock.
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The Verdict
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Learn our overview coverage
Ultimate Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Nice characters and fight can’t disguise poor pacing and a narrative with nowhere to go.
TOPICS
Baxter Burchill
Baxter Burchill, a self-described “lazy son of a gun who writes for enjoyable,” is a hobbyist author and English instructor dwelling in Japan who loves serving to others discover nice artwork practically as a lot as he loves vomiting onto a web page.
