Square Enix showed off the next installment of Final Fantasy 7 Remake on Thursday, during a livestream celebrating the 25th anniversary of the seminal role-playing game. The second part of the Final Fantasy 7 remake project is titled Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and is coming to PlayStation 5 “next winter,” Square Enix revealed. That could mean a late 2023 or early 2024 release window.
The game’s creators also confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is part two of a planned trilogy, and that some staff members are already working on the third game in the series. The title of the third Final Fantasy 7 Remake game was not announced.
“Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is being designed so that people can enjoy this game whether they know the original game or not,” creative director Tetsuya Nomura said in a statement following the game’s announcement. “In fact, new players might even enjoy starting their Final Fantasy VII journey with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Cloud and his friends embark on a new journey in this game, and I believe that the scenes that they witness after leaving Midgar will give players a fresh, new experience.”
Nomura said that development of Rebirth has been “progressing rapidly,” and Nomura himself has started on the third game and is “working towards the completion of the series.”
Game director Naoki Hamaguchi noted that development on Rebirth “has already entered full production” and that the team is “developing it with all of the passion and dedication needed to create an original game and plan to deliver the ultimate gameplay and world building experience.”
“Three years may feel like a long time for all the fans who are eagerly awaiting the next game, but we want to offer the best experience possible and reassure everyone that development is proceeding at an astonishingly fast pace for such a large-scale HD title,” Yoshinori Kitase, Final Fantasy 7 Remake series producer, said in a statement. “Making the middle part of a trilogy has its own challenges, but there are plenty of classic second installments in the world of film that are defined by stunning story twists and deeper explorations of their characters. Often these second installments become a favorite amongst the fans. In the same vein, we are aiming to make Final Fantasy VII Rebirth an even more gripping and memorable experience than Final Fantasy VII Remake, so please wait a little longer while we finish up.”
With Final Fantasy 7 Remake leaving off on the note that anything could happen in the next games, the next parts of Remake have only gotten more interesting. The trailer gave us scenes fans are familiar with, but there’s still a lot of potential for things to differ from the original game.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake was released in April 2020, nearly five years after it was first announced, on PlayStation 4. The PlayStation 5 version of the game, and its expanded Intergrade release, arrived the following year. Square Enix later brought Remake to Windows PC, via the Epic Games Store. A Steam version will be released June 17.
Source: Polygon
