Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Won’t Require You to Have Played Final Fantasy VII Remake

Square Enix is in a bit of an odd situation with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Traditionally, every Final Fantasy has been a standalone adventure, with no specific knowledge or experience with past games in the series required. That said, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second part of the larger Final Fantasy VII Remake project, so in this case, you kind of have to have played the first game to fully appreciate it, right?

Not so, according to Square Enix! Per a new tweet from the official FF7 account, Square Enix has “made preparations” so those who skipped Final Fantasy VII Remake can still “fully enjoy” Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

“No [you don’t need to play FF7 Remake] – we have made preparations so that players that did not get a chance to play the first game can fully enjoy Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.”

This whole Final Fantasy VII Remake project has been a bit odd from the get-go, but the idea that they can split a single game into a series of standalone titles, with players being able to totally skip entire games, is perhaps the oddest concept yet. One wonders what “preparations” they’ve made to allow people to skip FF7 Remake. A simple recap at the beginning of FF7 Rebirth? Or something more ambitious? We’ll see!

The fact that Square Enix is aiming to make Final Fantasy VII Rebirth a standalone title may make some amount of sense, as it sounds like the game may be rather different than Final Fantasy VII Remake. A previous tweet hinted Rebirth may be more of an open-world experience that offers a “high degree of freedom” to players.

In another recent tweet, Square Enix provided some hints about FF7 Rebirth’s story. It sounds like they may be planning to flesh some character stories out a bit more…

“Players will witness a chain of narrative developments that lie at the very heart of the Final Fantasy VII story, while discovering each character’s destiny.”

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is coming to PS5. A specific release date has yet to be revealed, but Square Enix recently revealed they’re in the process of nailing one down. It’s expected the game will launch in late 2023 or early 2024.