The second installment in the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, is scheduled for release on PS5 in the winter of 2023. Will it feature an open world?
Fans have been waiting for the newest installment of one of the best action RPGs on PS5 and PS4 to release so they can start collecting the brand-new Final Fantasy VII Rebirth trophies. Nevertheless, there is still a great deal about the future FF7 game that is unknown; for instance, will Final Fantasy VII Rebirth feature an open world? It seems reasonable to us.
Due to the lack of new Rebirth footage, we Final Fantasy VII fans have been left to our own devices in terms of thinking about and planning for the next game in the series after completing the Final Fantasy VII Remake’s trophy collection. The rich, semi-linear representation of Midgar in Final Fantasy VII Remake was appropriate for the first installment in the Remake trilogy, but would it be appropriate for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth?
No, no, that’s not the case at all. Once the main characters escape from Midgar, players are exposed to the game’s overworld, a vast, expansive green zone with several destinations to visit at once and a gradually expanding world to traverse around. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth type of has to go open-world on PS5 unless Square Enix was feeling particularly old-school and having these zones represented like outdoor PS2 dungeons (like most regions in PS Plus Extra title Final Fantasy X).
We already covered various Final Fantasy 7-related articles, which you can read if they pique your interest-
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Gets Major Update: Details Revealed by Producer!
- Unlocking the Cage of Binding: A Guide to the Final Fantasy 7 Reunion!
The case seems so obviously resolved as to be beyond debate; it’s impossible to see the tiny compass at the top of the screen in the early footage of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth showing Cloud and Sephiroth walking side by side as anything other than a signal that the game would be open-world. Final Fantasy XV trophies owners will be quick to point out that Square Enix has already released an open-world Final Fantasy game.
Nevertheless, if we consider the size of Midgar in FF7 Remake and extrapolate it to a much larger scale, it becomes painfully obvious that something is going to have to alter about the original Final Fantasy VII to make it work in FF7 Rebirth. The original game’s overworld had the player imagining what it looked like when Cloud marched through it on foot, a giant next to little landmarks and cities.
During the year 2023, this will not be acceptable. All of us are healthier and better communicators now that we never have to exercise our own imaginations thanks to the advent of modern AAA video games. As a result, we anticipate that the world of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will be portrayed to scale—albeit a gigantic, eye-watering scale that will need to be cut between the two games.
Unfortunately, this leaves us with no choice except to conjecture. Will Cloud be required to walk the entire distance? Our opinion stands alone, however, we don’t think so. Poor Cloud will have to rely on his feet to go around the world of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth unless Square decides to grant him the ability to perform magical parkour, which we actually quite liked in our Forspoken review. In some parts of the game, such as when Sephiroth is berating him, Cloud may be forced to walk, but other than that (and this is just conjecture on our part), we imagine that Cloud will be able to use his motorcycle.
Could he possibly use it for the duration of the game? Maybe your bike breaks down early on in FF7 Rebirth and you have to ride Chocobo for a bit, although that’s not likely given that there’s a section soon after the party leaves Midgar in FF7 where they have to ride Chocobo. Maybe Tifa’s little blue vehicle serves as the Mystery Gang’s mode of transportation instead of the bike. Perhaps Cloud takes his bike out for a spin while the rest of the gang follows in the van, all in real-time. That’s cute, and I hope it’s worth the exorbitant price they’re asking for this.
We just can’t see Cloud casually strolling around in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, missing out on the chance to give fans their wish of an open-world FF7 with a motorcycle. Sony, you just shot a trailer that will unquestionably increase PS5 sales in the third quarter of 2023. Don’t listen to Square Enix; keep the motorcycle a playable option.