Final Fantasy 7 Revelation left me with high hopes, even if it’s doubling down on Rebirth’s biggest weakness

I spent most of my Final Fantasy VII Revelation demo fighting against it – and unfortunately, it wasn’t against one of the challenging, larger-than-life boss battles the Remake series has executed so well.

The stuff I love about the first two games in the Remake series is clearly still present in the third entry, and I’m sure they’d shine brighter under better circumstances. I just wish the splatter of random markers that cluttered the map were as motivating as its charming cast, dynamic combat, and exceptional soundtrack.

According to representatives from Square Enix, the playable segment of the game (Chapter 4) I recently played runs about 15-20 hours. I only had 50 minutes, though I could’ve easily spent three hours and barely gotten a solid feel for what Hamaguchi and his team are cooking with this one. In fact, I think the demo’s length conspired against it.

After a brief reintroduction to the crew aboard the Highwind, I got to fly it around the Planet and find my first destination. I know it’s a small detail, but maneuvering this continent-hopping airship felt great. Cutting through the air at high speeds hits with the right oomph for something you’ll probably spend ample time doing. That mile-high perspective highlighted the scale and depth that Square Enix’s Creative Business Unit 1 is working with in Revelation’s open world. It’s impressive from the clouds, but did this game no favors up close.

I respect the team’s desire to scale the original up to today’s open-world standards, but I think the Remake trilogy has always been at its best with a little more focus. This demo hammered that home with force. After parachuting Fortnite-style onto Mideel, I don’t think I went five minutes without being assaulted by a new pop-up.

Advertising a sidequest, special fight, or treasure trove, they showed up automatically, stopping everything. This happened every time I walked into a new section of the map. I couldn’t even mash through them in this demo. These annoyances deflated so much of the magic and excitement of dropping into a new area, and I hope they’re gone (or at least toned down) in the final game.

Suddenly, the mysterious path that leads around a bend or the waterfall hiding a fun secret loses its mystique and appeal. It undermines the gorgeous environmental art, which really shone in Mideel’s lush jungles and mossy mountains, but in this short demo at least, it really kneecaps the level design. Exploring – on foot or Chocobo back – feels reduced to a checklist, rather than an adventure. It’s like going on a vacation, only to dart from attraction to attraction without leaving time to mosey around.

Revelation does handle the overwhelming volume of stuff there is to do on the map somewhat well once it’s actually marked down. You get a device that lets you track nearby points of interest at the press of a button, with color-coded indicators pointing from your character toward fun nearby stuff. You can use it as much (or as little) as you want. I relied on it to fast-track what’s been my least favorite part of the Remake trilogy thus far.

Frontloading all this stuff at the very start of any open area feels like a risky gamble. I don’t think it’ll pay off; at least not with how much of this world there is to see and how many areas it seems like it’s divided up into. But again, cramming a 15-hour section into 50 minutes won’t do such a big game any favors.

Like in the last two games, Revelation has been at its best whenever you get to those points of interest. I was right back in the groove as soon as that battle music kicked in and the monsters in my path were within punching/whacking/slashing/shooting range. I missed it so much that I found myself going out of my way to fight grunts. Nothing is terribly new about the minutiae of the battle system. Thank goodness.

“Nothing is terribly new about the minutiae of the battle system. Thank goodness.”

Now, Cid and fan-favorite Vincent are playable for the first time in the trilogy. Of the two, I focused on – and vastly preferred – Cid, who quickly climbed the ranks of my favorite playable characters in this series during the demo. Using a lance, Cid focuses on knocking enemies into the air using one of his ATB Abilities before wailing away at their health and stagger bars. He can also Mark enemies, which stacks extra bonuses when you hit them, especially with some of his special abilities. I didn’t have much time to get deep into his systems, but the loop I found was approachable and deeply satisfying. I can’t wait to mess around with his moveset.

Strategically plucked from a seemingly story-light slice of the game’s story, almost none of my demo hinted at anything juicy narrative-wise… No multiversal shenanigans or big revelations to speak of. In fact, the only nod to anything consequential (or much of FFVII’s story overall) is that Cloud’s out of commission during this chunk of the game. My only small glimpse of the story followed Yuffie’s return to Wu-Tai. I only saw about 15 minutes, so I didn’t get much of an impression. What I did see was just as charming and fun as what I’ve come to love in the other two games.

In its story, music, art, and combat, the first two entries in the Remake trilogy have proven a masterful re-telling and re-translation of a genre-defining epic. Revelation seems poised to carry that torch into its conclusion. But it also seems like the worst parts of Rebirth, namely its bloated open world, will be here, too. Based on what I played, I found the open-world stuff even more inhibiting than before. Despite that annoyance, however, I still have high hopes for Revelation.