Final Fantasy 7 Revelation has a mammoth task: to live up to the bold storytelling of its predecessors, and do justice to the original adventure in its closing chapters. As the third and final game of the modern FF7 remake trilogy, there are plenty of eyes on what comes next.
Predecessor Rebirth left plenty of loose threads dangling, hinting at an apocalypse of monsters to come, new companions to define a darker journey and surprising new plots that suggest Revelation may actually reimagine the established FF7 story in ambitious ways.
As part of a recent preview, ScreenHub was able to play through an hour of Revelation, with this teaser outlining some of the game’s greatest mysteries.
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation preview – quick links
A wide open world to explore by aircraft
Our preview began in the early chapters of the game, with heroes Yuffie, Barret, Cid, Vincent and Cait Sith travelling by the Highwind aircraft through the skies above Wutai and Junon.
The Highwind is a new home base for this game, and is the primary means by which players will explore a wide open world. Within the aircraft are various bunks for each party member, a stable for your Chocobo friends, a home for data researcher Chadley and his AI creation MAI, and a hub for playing card mini-game Queen’s Blood.
From here, you’ll also decide where to parachute, to explore new lands around the world.
Funnily enough, this process does play out a bit like Fortnite, in that you’ll be travelling by the Highwind and then select a region, after which your party will float down with parachutes and decide where to land.
Exploring Junon briefly first, in testing the limits of the game’s exploration system, it does appear you can drop anywhere you like, using your parachute to guide your landing. If you get it wrong, you might end up facing off with overpowered flans, for example, and tanking your mission before it’s begun.
Once you’re done exploring around and seeking out new quests, you can select an option to return directly to the Highwind, and then re-chart your course.
The next pitstop in the preview, as encouraged by quest markers, was to Wutai, the hometown of Yuffie, which has been corrupted by the Shinra Electric Power Company. (For a refresher, Shinra is the big bad of the entire trilogy that’s determined to destroy the planet with over-mining and pollution.)
While Yuffie’s role in this particular story arc was previously optional, she’s now the main character of this exploration. In fact, she was the only main playable character in this preview chapter, with both Cloud and Tifa elsewhere in this quest.
Taking your first steps into Wutai
Wutai gets a lot of introduction in this particular questline, complete with flashbacks to Yuffie’s past as a ninja prodigy and her relationship with now-adult students who survive under the influence of Shinra.
It features a brief introduction to ruler Godo Kisaragi, Yuffie’s father, and his displacement by Shinra. It also gives a good look at some of the main players ruling in his place, including Glenn Lodbrok, a former SOLDIER member who now plays a role in Wutai’s future.
In this particular chapter – although likely to appear elsewhere as well – you also directly meet Chadley’s companion MAI, who frequently requests news, updates and photographs from your travels. Now, Chadley was criticised in his previous appearances in Final Fantasy for being a bit obnoxious with his requests. In this particular slice of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, MAI was actually worse, constantly interjecting with new quests in a way that was non-skippable on screen.
There is a way to tone down MAI and reduce her interruptions, but her appearance in the preview suggests she’ll still be an active presence in the journey, in a way that could be disruptive.
Ignoring her entirely, as players might feel encouraged to do, there was a richness to discover elsewhere in Wutai.
This is a lush new hub world packed with quests – enough to distract you from the key story and reveal more about the history of the region.
As with the previous Final Fantasy games, the attention to detail in the environment is impeccable, with layers of realism adding to the bright sense of discovery. There are flowing rivers around, wild architectural marvels and grassy plains filled with smaller creatures to battle and build up strength.
There was also a nice little story arc in this particular quest, as Yuffie explores Wutai and discovers the corruption at its heart. She must reconcile the town she knew as a child with what it’s become since Shinra took over, and figure out how she can save the spirits of her people.
Funnily enough, this ends up involving a group of intrepid older citizens who have formed an alliance to restore the heart of the town and rebel against its new rulers. They present a challenge to Yuffie to prove her worth, and she must then set about completing various trials.
Discovery in the heart of Wutai
While my preview session was limited to a single hour and I wasn’t able to progress past this point, roaming through Wutai revealed a lot about the direction of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, its combat system, and a handful of new features.
First up, it does appear the game will feature more personal stories, with the inclusion of Yuffie and Vincent (both formerly optional companions) inspiring new and more character-driven quests. The game will seemingly expand on Yuffie’s back story, at the very least (although there’s hope for Vincent too), with exploration of Wutai providing opportunity for plenty of personal reflection and connection.
Another major new feature revealed during proceedings was the debuting FITS feature, which is new in this particular game.
Each character can now be levelled up within a specific ‘type’ – Warrior, Black Mage, and so on. In practical terms, this allows you to select abilities for each individual hero that elevates skills like melee fighting, ranged fighting and magic. In visual terms, it introduces a range of new outfits so you can play dress-up with your heroes.
I was particularly enamoured by Yuffie’s range of outfits, which include various ninja fits, including an edgy black-and-green ensemble. Vincent is also a fashionista, rocking new cloaks and other leather fits, some of which reveal more of his face than is typical.
While only a minor feature that allows for specialties in combat, being able to change up the fits of each character is a fun inclusion, and adds to the game’s sense of style.
As for combat, getting hands-on with the game’s main party and its new members was refreshing. Yuffie is a zippy and lively character on the battlefield, with her ninja skills allowing for a mix of ranged and close attacks. Cid is equally peppy, wielding his spear in attacks that carve great arcs across the battlefield.
Vincent was the standout. He can use his guns for ranged attacks, get in close to use his armour claws, and also transform almost immediately into his large Galian Beast form to attack enemies with rolling, spiky attacks and large claw swipes. So far, he seems like he’ll be the most fun combatant, and one of the most overpowered.
Overall impressions of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation so far
After spending brief time with the game, Final Fantasy 7 Revelation made a strong impression. The biggest was of its vastness. This is a large game, with its exploration mechanics allowing players to travel freely within a wide world. This is also a very beautiful world, with individual cities sparkling.
The personal touches in Yuffie’s main quest, and seeing her leading the action in this portion, is refreshing. It also bodes well for the game’s next adventures, which are likely to explore each character and their personal missions deeply.
As mentioned, the combat is also a blast, with Vincent leading the new cohort and making a significant impression as a fighter of great duality and strength.
There are some lingering concerns, notably around how intrusive a role Chadley and MAI will play in the action. But acknowledging this is a preview and these elements are likely to fade into the background the more you travel, there’s no reason to dwell on these features.
I came away from my preview with overall positive impressions of the direction of this final chapter, and hope for what’s to come. We are still some time away from the release of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation in 2027, but patience is required for all good things.
