Kotaku’s Essential Guide to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

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2024's most anticipated game is finally here, and the further adventures of Cloud Strife and his besties has launched on PS5. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth expands and enhances the middle section of the 1997 classic, and there’s a big, beautiful world to see. If you’re looking to spend a few dozen hours in Square Enix’s epic adventure this weekend, here’s a comprehensive rundown of everything you need to know to get started.

Having fled a polluted city of unchecked corporate, militaristic oppression, I’m hit with the light of a bright blue, endless sky. Rich green grass extends endlessly before me; mountains tower in the distance. The world around me is a wellspring of life. Yet it’s haunted by a creeping shadow of harm. I see it in the people whose towns I visit, their lives marred by a history of a violence. I see it in the mindless, wandering robed remnants of a grotesque military campaign to scientifically produce a perfect soldier. This is a world of beauty and loss. And I fear it’s in its last days. — Claire Jackson

Cloud, Barret, and Tifa appear in the low-poly art style reminscent of the 1997 PS1 game during a Rebirth mini-game.

Final Fantasy VII has always been an extremely weird game, from the impromptu snowboarding excursion to fighting a Triceratops fused with a truck. That sense of weirdness seeps into every aspect of the game and often rears its head as a strange—and, more often than not, janky—minigame. The 1997 game takes a “throw everything at the wall” approach and, remarkably, most of it works. Better still, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth manages to perfectly recapture that abrasive, shotgun-blast approach to its side content. Rebirth is massive and often a little messy, but that’s exactly what gives it so much personality. — Hayes Madsen

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Square Enix’s latest RPG, is an enormous game. And like any huge adventure, there are dozens of subsystems, features, and layers to navigate. If you’ve played the first game in the new trilogy, Final Fantasy VII Remake, you already have a good handle on the basics of modern FF7. But whether you’re coming to Rebirth as a total newbie or a die-hard fan, these are some helpful tips to keep in mind as you begin your journey. — Claire Jackson

Yuffie holds an array of materia in the air.

Young Cloud during his visit to Nibelheim with Sephiroth.

Ever since the launch of Final Fantasy VII Remake back in 2020, fans of the original have been wondering how the next installment of Square Enix’s reimagining of the landmark 1997 game would handle the many iconic setpiece moments, reveals, and twists yet to come. The Nibelheim Incident, which centers around Cloud’s consequential return to his hometown five years earlier, has been an especially fertile ground for speculation. The original game and its many spinoffs revisit this mission numerous times to show off the varying perspectives of the key players. It’s an overused analogy, but The Nibelheim Incident is essentially FF7’s equivalent of the Rashomon murder scene. With each slightly different retelling, we inch a little bit closer to the truth. — Jen Glennon

Clear Your Calendar For Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Cloud Strife sits at the piano in Tifa's Room.

If we learned one thing from The Last of Us Part II, it’s that when you give gamers a functional musical instrument, they are going to deliver some wonderful renditions of popular tunes. So, when players discovered that the recently released demo for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth included a piano that you could sit down at and play, it was only a matter of time before some truly impressive videos of Cloud Strife tickling the ivories started to surface. — Willa Rowe

Before you even set off to scale Mt. Nibel with Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s demo, there are a number of settings you should consider tweaking. While many of the base settings are fine to leave alone, some, like the graphics option, really demand your attention before you dive in (yes, we still recommend the Graphics setting over Performance, even after the update. We’ll explain why). — Claire Jackson

Three Things We Learned From The Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Demo

Aerith stands in the middle of a church.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is out today. If you’re a big fan, you’re probably already playing it and aren’t looking at this article. If you’re a casual fan or onlooker who is mainly just interested in how it handles certain events of the original game, you’re probably wondering what happens to Aerith in the Remake retelling. Well, we’re here to give those who want to know that information a quick yes or no answer as to whether or not Aerith dies in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. — Kenneth Shepard

Cid stands at the front of his plane while the rest of the party sits in their seats.

My toxic trait is that I am a colossal simp for Final Fantasy VII’s foul-mouthed, chain-smoking, dragoon pilot Cid. My love for this man spans decades, from when he was a series of blobs stacked on top of each other in the original PlayStation game to when he was a voiceless shopkeeper in the first Kingdom Hearts. As such, I was eager to see him in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, even if he doesn’t get promoted to playable party member this time around. After going back and reacquainting myself with the original game, I’m pretty happy with how Square Enix approached the character nearly 30 years later. — Kenneth Shepard

Sephiroth looks just off camera with a strange look on his face.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, part two of the trilogy remaking one of the greatest RPGs of all time, arrives on PS5 on February 28, 2024. As is customary these days when it comes to large games, you can all but count on needing to make some space on that SSD of yours. Read on to find out just how big Cloud and co.’s mosey-fest is expected to be. — Claire Jackson

Cloud Strife, the broody protagonist of Final Fantasy VII and its remakes, has a pretty elaborate backstory. He grew up in Nibelheim, went on to become a SOLDIER, and got mixed up with Sephiroth along the way. But after almost 30 years, we still don’t know who his father is. However, as Square Enix has expanded the universe with new games and other external media, fans think we might be closing in on learning who Cloud’s dear old dad might be thanks to a new light novel — Kenneth Shepard

Cloud stares at the camera while reaching for his sword.

Tifa, Yuffie, and Aerith dressed up and dancing in the Gold Saucer

Choosing which party members to take into combat is always an important part of a Final Fantasy game, and that’s especially true in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. The just-released RPG offers intense, action-packed combat and gives every character their own signature fighting style. While you may have old favorites from the original, or want to keep the Avalanche crew from Remake together, that isn’t always feasible here. But one thing remains true in Rebirth— Yuffie is simply the best party member. — Willa Rowe

Though the Final Fantasy series is infamous for its minigames, it’s never delivered something better than the Final Fantasy VIII card game Triple Triad—until now. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is bursting with more mini-games than you can handle, and while many of them are forgettable, Queen’s Blood stands above the rest. The strategic card game is a wondrous piece of side content and one that finally gives Triple Triad a worthy successor. — Willa Rowe

A woman selling chocobo ice cream at a stall with balloons

There is a woman in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s opening town of Kalm that I cannot stop thinking about. She isn’t particularly special. She doesn’t sell weapons. She doesn’t have a side quest for you to undertake. You can’t even play the amazing minigame Queen’s Blood against her. She is simply an NPC who populates the world and makes it feel more alive. She has a single job. Sell chocobo ice cream. And ever since I encountered her, I have not known peace, because her job has bizarre anatomical implications for the franchise’s iconic big birds. — Willa Rowe

If you want to understand how the Final Fantasy VII universe got to where it is today, then you need not look any further than Advent Children. The 2005 animated movie that acts as a sequel to the original 1997 title is something of a flashpoint for the beloved characters. Advent Children paved the way for the once-concise events of a single game to branch off into spinoffs, prequels, sequels, and now a remake trilogy. It is the beginning of the franchise’s inability to let the original game stand on its own. — Willa Rowe

Cloud places his sword on his back in front of the main gate of Nibelheim.

There’s a whole lotta world out there to see. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth reimagines the map of the original 1997 game on a massive scale, breathing new life into iconic locations. While the world itself has plenty to offer, the real highlight of the journey is the towns, with each one given thoughtful care and detail. In other words, Rebirth’s towns now have some extra strong vibes, and that’s left us to ponder—where would you want to live in the world of Final Fantasy 7? Here’s our ranked rundown of all the cities featured in Rebirth. — Hayes Madsen

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Square Enix’s upcoming RPG that continues the saga of 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, is out in a matter of days. Hopefully you’ve requested time off from work, school, friends, and partners in order to indulge your FF7 desires. You’ll also need to free around 150 GB of storage space as well. And if you want to head out into the wide open world of FF7 with all possible materia, you’ll need to have a save file from the previous games, as well as have pre-ordered the correct edition. — Claire Jackson

A young Sephiroth stands in front of a fire.

Final Fantasy VII and its various spin-offs and extended media have gotten difficult to keep track of over the years. These days, each numbered Final Fantasy seems like an extended universe in its own right. Final Fantasy XV got a whole movie and anime mini-series before it was even out, both of which factored heavily into the main story. Final Fantasy 7 wasn’t like that when it originally came out in 1997, but it became an extended universe with multiple spin-off games, a movie, and now a Remake trilogy that factors those stories into the plot in significant ways. That is true of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which is launching on February 29. There’s a spin-off you probably didn’t play that you should brush up on before diving in: Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier and its Ever Crisis chapters. — Kenneth Shepard