The grand finale of Summer Game Fest 2023 went out on a high note with brand-new footage of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which is now slated for an early 2024 release date. The game is so big that it’ll release on two discs.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is the second of three planned games in the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy, starting with 2020’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake. That game only covered the initial Midgar section of the game, though it expanded upon and added new content and features to flesh it out. With the conclusion of that title, as well as the Episode: Intermission DLC, we’ve only had a small glimpse as to how Rebirth will handle the game once going to the open world.
The trailer shows off quite a bit of footage, opening with news footage of the Avalanche crew being wheeled away on stretchers after a tornado apparently stuck Sector 2. From there we cut to the cast exploring several open, natural environments on foot and riding Chocobos. Many other iconic shots show scenes such as the meeting at Cosmo Canyon with Bugenhagen, the flashback of Nibelhiem, and what even appears to be the northern crater.
New combat footage is similar to Rebirth, but with some notable additions. Red XIII and Yuffie are both confirmed to be playable, and there also look to be team-up style Limit Break moves. We see Tifa and Aerith, Yuffie and Rex XIII, as well as Cloud and Barret, appear to pull off some of these moves.
The trailer ends with the big mystery of Sephiroth stating that “You know that I killed her. So, who is she?” perhaps referring to Aerith, but while showing scenes of Tifa to perhaps imply a change in the timeline.
While Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth didn’t get a release date as we hoped, it was narrowed down. Initially, the game was simply stated as coming this winter, but will now arrive on PS5 in early 2024 and come on two discs.