While the first two games in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy have seen quite a bit of praise for their combat systems, director Naoki Hamaguchi isn’t quite sure that we will see the combat system returning in other games once the trilogy has been wrapped up. In an interview with Easy Allies, Hamaguchi spoke about the combat system, as well as his desire to keep things “fresh” with his future projects.
When asked about the development of the combat system we see in Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth, Hamaguchi spoke about how the development team decided to meld the pseudo-turn-based ATB (Active Time Battle) system from the original game with real-time combat. He noted that this was done in order to make the remakes more appealing to new audiences that might not be interested in turn-based combat.
“The combat system for the FF7 Remake project, one of our goals was to take the combat system from the original release of FF7 and we wanted to make it look appealing for modern audiences,” explained Hamaguchi when asked about the challenges behind developing the remake trilogy. “So we wanted to keep the original [Active Time Battle] system from the original FF7, but to make enticing for modern audiences, I think there were a lot of different options that we came up with. In the end we decided that combining the action elements and the ATB elements of the original battle system was the best way to make it interesting for modern audiences.”
As for whether we will see more of the combat system or its evolutions in future projects, Hamaguchi isn’t quite sure. He did, however, note that, regardless of what his next project ends up being, it will likely have an entirely different combat system.
“I don’t know what kind of project I would be working on after the FF7 Remake project, but at this point in time, I don’t think I will use the exact same battle system,” he said. “We want to keep it surprising for our players, but I think it’s possible for me to take the FF7 Remake battle system as a basis, have something that derives from that as an evolution. I think there’s a possibility to use something like that, but I don’t think I’ll use the exact same format.”
As Square Enix gets closer to the release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade on the Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S on January 22, 2026, Hamaguchi has also confirmed that the development team is currently working on a similar port of the second game in the trilogy – Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Just last month, he also noted that the third game in the series is still under development, ensuring fans that the first two titles in the trilogy sold quite well. “The second entry, FFVII Rebirth, has been doing very well on both PS5 and PC,” he said. “I know some fans have expressed concerns, but please rest assured, we’ll be able to deliver a proper, high-quality third installment.”
