“There’s so much emotionality, there’s so much vulnerability,” he said. “There are moments in this that if you haven’t cried in the first two yet, I guarantee you’ll be sobbing in this third one.” He went on to say that the title will be “a payoff” for all of the story elements that have been building up so far.

Christian isn’t the only one who has spoken about how emotional Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will be. Just last month, director Naoki Hamaguchi spoke about how, despite having played through the title around 40 times, a certain scene still manages to make him cry. This comes down to the moments of introspection experienced by Cloud and how his fate has been bound by that of Zack and Aerith.

“There’s this scene that’s quite essential to the story of Final Fantasy 7 where Cloud goes into a moment of introspection and discovers his identity and how it fits with Zack and Aerith,” he said. “I think the way we portrayed that in Revelation turned out very well, and we’re eager for fans to see it.”

“I’ve finished Revelation about 40 times, and every time that introspective scene with Cloud made me cry.”

Without going into too many details about exactly which scene he was talking about, Hamaguchi said that it was “A key scene from the original, related to Cloud’s identity” and noted that it “is one of the most memorable experiences” in Revelation.

The emotional payoffs present in the storyline of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation may have played a role in the development team’s decision for the game’s title. Hamaguchi had previously spoken about how the story is going to offer many revelations to players.

While there were questions about whether the team would go with Resolve as the title instead, since that seems to be a core theme of the story, Hamaguchi said that it “wasn’t really a candidate for our title. We landed with ‘Revelation,’ because that was the word that was the best match for what we wanted to depict in the third instalment of our series.”

“I think a lot of fans and players were just really wondering, how this is going to go down, and how the trilogy is going to conclude,” he said. “As a response to that, this is our message, to say that this is the end of everything, this is where everything gets revealed, and this is where you will find out all the answers.”

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is being developed for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2, and is slated for release in Spring 2027.

Responding to whether Square Enix will focus more on remakes being big-budget affairs with open worlds and action gameplay in the vein of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy or if there are more plans to make games like Final Fantasy Resonance, the company spoke about learning things with its trial-and-error approach.

“As part of our market-in approach, we engage in trial and error to establish what is best for contemporary customers based on current market needs and trends,” explained Square Enix. “In doing so, it is extremely important to us that we strike the right balance between our approach and the expectations of players who loved the original works.”

It also comes down to whether a game in question would benefit from its core gameplay mechanics being brought over into the modern era, or if it could be remade in its entirety. “While specific titles may call for specific mechanics, we will continue our development efforts by assessing what truly resonates within the current market environment for both original titles and new remakes.”

While the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy is likely the most popular of Square Enix’s remakes, the company isn’t a stranger to the concept of bringing back some of its older games while still preserving their visual styles. A major example of this is last year’s Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles, which held on to the original’s isometric camera angles and general visual art style while still bringing in a few enhancements.

Aside from that, however, Square Enix has largely focused on making use of making remakes using its HD-2D art style. First introduced with Octopath Traveler in 2018, the style would then be used in a number of Square Enix RPGs, including the remake of 1994 SNES RPG Live A Live, and even the remakes of the original Dragon Quest and Dragon Quest 2 in the form of last year’s Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake.

Square Enix has also used HD-2D for original games. Along with Octopath Traveler and its sequel, it was most recently used in The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales.

Interestingly, Square Enix has engaged in a radical reinterpretation of visual styles with remakes in the past. A key example of this would be the 2007 remake of 1991’s Final Fantasy 4, which made use of an entirely new 3D art style, complete with entirely new cutscenes created especially for the game.

In the meantime, Square Enix is getting ready to wrap up its Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy with the Spring 2027 release of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, which is coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2. Recent reports have indicated that the RPG might also get quite a bit of post-launch support with DLC releases.

Some of the DLC likely corresponds with in-game items that will likely be part of a supposed Premium Plus Edition of the title. Interestingly, there are also mentions of a Story Expansion Pass, which indicates that some of the DLC will continue the story of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation.

While the scale of these DLCs remains unknown – many of them are likely to essentially be extra gear or costume options – there might also be plans for an expansion that is similar in scale to Episode INTERmission for Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which essentially added an entirely new story to the game, introducing the Remake trilogy audience to the character of Yuffie and her unique combat style.

Since director Naoki Hamaguchi has previously spoken about wanting to integrate stories, characters, and content from Final Fantasy 7’s various spin-offs and follow-ups, we might even see versions of Dirge of Cerberus or Advent Children recreated in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation in some form.

Hamaguchi had spoken about this during a Q&A in Shanghai. At the time, he was responding to a question about whether Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 character Cissnei would be showing up in Revelation following her appearance in Rebirth.

“Well, at this time it’s best not to say whether Cissnei will appear or not, but there is one thing I can tell you,” said Hamaguchi. “This Final Fantasy 7 Remake series is not simply a recreation of the original work, but rather, our goal is to create a single, new Final Fantasy 7 that incorporates the settings and concepts of all the previous spin-off titles, such as Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, and Crisis Core. Therefore, the appearance of Cissnei and the inclusion of Dirge of Cerberus Soldiers in the DLC, all have that meaning.”

“So, since that concept will of course carry over into Revelation as well, not limited to Cissnei, for the last entry, there will be characters that have appeared in the various FF7 compilation games that I think will be there, and each of these characters has a large and dedicated fanbase, so we want to create a work that can satisfy the feelings of those people.”

It is worth noting that the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy has done an admirable job of introducing characters and story concepts from games that were previously only spin-offs. A notable example of this is the inclusion of Leslie Kyle in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. The character was previously only mentioned in Final Fantasy VII The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story. Similarly, the title also included references to Dirge of Cerberus in the form of its antagonists – Wiess and Nero – being available as VR mission boss fights in Episode INTERmission.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is being developed for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2, and is slated for a Spring 2027 release.

“Well, at this time it’s best not to say whether Cissnei will appear or not, but there is one thing I can tell you,” replied Hamaguchi. “This Final Fantasy 7 Remake series is not simply a recreation of the original work, but rather, our goal is to create a single, new Final Fantasy 7 that incorporates the settings and concepts of all the previous spin-off titles, such as Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, and Crisis Core. Therefore, the appearance of Cissnei and the inclusion of Dirge of Cerberus Soldiers in the DLC, all have that meaning.”

“So, since that concept will of course carry over into Revelation as well, not limited to Cissnei, for the last entry, there will be characters that have appeared in the various FF7 compilation games that I think will be there, and each of these characters has a large and dedicated fanbase, so we want to create a work that can satisfy the feelings of those people.”

He went on to talk about how Cissnei has a lot of fans. “Whenever I talk to the media or fans, they very often ask me if Cissnei will appear or say they like Cissnei,” he laughed.

Fans of the original Final Fantasy 7 and its spin-offs shouldn’t find this too surprising, since we’ve seen many references to these spin-offs and even cross-media stories like novels throughout the trilogy so far. Final Fantasy 7 Remake, for instance, featured an appearance of Leslie Kyle during its Wall Market sections. This character made his first appearance in Final Fantasy VII The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story – a story published in Japan back in 2011. The same game also features the main antagonists of Dirge of Cerberus – Weiss and Nero – as VR missions in its Episode INTERmission DLC, which eventually got included with the base game as Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth saw similar inclusions. Along with the appearance of Cissnei, the title also included smaller references to other stories in the same universe, such as Tifa having a cat.

Earlier this month, Hamaguchi also spoke about how he had played through Final Fantasy 7 Revelation around 40 times, and how a certain emotional scene always ended up leaving him in tears.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is being developed for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2, and will be coming out in Spring 2027. For more details about why Square Enix decided to call the third entry in the trilogy Revelation, take a look at what Hamaguchi had to say about potentially calling it Resolve.

The scene largely relates to Cloud coming to understand what happened to him, and his relation to both Zack and Aerith. Hamaguchi has said that this moment has “turned out very well” in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation.

“There’s this scene that’s quite essential to the story of Final Fantasy 7 where Cloud goes into a moment of introspection and discovers his identity, and how it fits with Zack and Aerith,” he said. “I think the way we portrayed that in Revelation turned out very well, and we’re eager for fans to see it.”

“I’ve finished Revelation about 40 times, and every time that introspective scene with Cloud made me cry.”

He mentioned the same scene on social media as well, saying, “A key scene from the original, related to Cloud’s identity, is one of the most memorable experiences in FFVII Revelation.”

It is worth noting that Final Fantasy 7, which is considered by many to be one of the best games in the franchise, if not of all time, is well-known for the twists and turns in its story. Despite its age, the RPG was praised for its handling of heavy subjects, as well as how well it was able to portray its more emotional moments even despite the more primitive graphical capability of the original PlayStation.

As for Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, it is slated to bring the Remake trilogy to an end, and in the process, will answer many questions that Remake and Rebirth left open. Hamaguchi noted that this was the main reason for the studio picking Revelation as the game’s title, despite its core themes also revolving around another word that starts with “re” – Resolve.

“I think a lot of fans and players were just really wondering, how this is going to go down, and how the trilogy is going to conclude,” he said. “As a response to that, this is our message, to say that this is the end of everything, this is where everything gets revealed, and this is where you will find out all the answers.”

As for the decision to go with Revelation over Resolve, Hamaguchi said that the latter “wasn’t really a candidate for our title. We landed with ‘Revelation,’ because that was the word that was the best match for what we wanted to depict in the third instalment of our series.”

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is being developed for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2, and in a first for the franchise, will be coming to all platforms on the same day. While you wait for its Spring 2027 release, take a look at other details, like the fact that its maximum level will be 99, and that it won’t include Bone Village.

“As I spoke about in my stage presentation, the central theme of this title is going to be ‘Resolve,'” Hamaguchi explained. “That could mean a lot of things, but one of them is the resolve of our party player-characters heading into the final battles. What kind of resolve do they have in them? What are they feeling? What are they thinking about? Things like that. We’re going to really dive deep into that specific aspect of their emotions and what they’re thinking. It’s going to shape a little bit differently between the choices that the players take, so the overall game experience might change a little bit depending on those choices that the players might take, but the goal is for the characters to feel closer than ever for the players.”

When asked about whether “Resolve” was considered as a potential title for Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, Hamaguchi said that the fact that both words start with the letters “re” is simply a coincidence.

“It wasn’t really a candidate for our title,” he continued. “We landed with ‘Revelation,’ because that was the word that was the best match for what we wanted to depict in the third instalment of our series. One thing I can share about the title ‘Revelation,’ though, is that we kept this under the veils for the longest time, and we wanted to be very careful about it. We have a very huge development team, but among those development team members, only five or six people knew about the title. Most of them found out about the title at the [Summer Game Fest] stage presentation!”

As for why the team decided to pick Revelation as the title, Hamaguchi explained that the story of the third entry will revolve around “revealing all these unanswered questions that the fans may have with Remake and Rebirth.”

“I think a lot of fans and players were just really wondering, how this is going to go down, and how the trilogy is going to conclude,” he said. “As a response to that, this is our message, to say that this is the end of everything, this is where everything gets revealed, and this is where you will find out all the answers.”

Square Enix has recently confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will give players plenty of freedom from quite early on, and the moment that players unlock the Highwind, they will be able to fly almost anywhere in the game’s world. The developers have also confirmed that the optional WEAPON superbosses will have “dedicated narrative components,” and that the title won’t feature Bone Village.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2 in the Spring 2027.

Now another promise is fulfilled, as he confirmed to Everything.it that you can finally hit the original’s max level. “Another thing I wanted to add is that in Remake and Rebirth, there was a level cap, but in Revelation, we will not have a level limit: players will be able to reach level 99.”

Which is great news, but you’re likely going to need every single one of them. “WEAPONs and enemies even tougher than the final boss you face in the story. Examples include the WEAPONs themselves or the beloved Knights of the Round.”

So instead of replaying the game on Hard mode (as in Remake and Rebirth), you’re now motivated “to complete all the remaining content on the world map after finishing the main story.” Interestingly, he also promised that the optional WEAPONs would have their own “dedicated narrative component.”

Launching in Spring 2027, Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will be available simultaneously for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 – a first for the trilogy. Alongside Cid and Vincent Valentine as party members, each with unique playstyles that complement each other, you can look forward to the new FITS system.

The latter is like a combination of the classic Jobs and Final Fantasy 10-2’s Dresspheres, where different equipment changes the characters’ appearance while granting new abilities. We’ve already seen Cloud and Tifa as the Warrior and Black Mage, but what other FITS can be expected? Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

But not so in the remake. The news comes from none other than Naoki Hamaguchi, who told RPG Site that players weren’t going to be able to visit the place, although a few surrounding areas were still open for business. “Bone Village itself is not included, but North Wood and the Temple of Ancients, we’ll be able to revisit.” That, and Rocket Town, which didn’t make the cut in Rebirth.

Although that might be disappointing news to some of you, there’s still a lot to look forward to. There’s a world that’s more open to explore with a lot of side content, for starters, and a fair bit of narrative choice, although it won’t affect the game’s ending. We’re particularly happy about the Highwind unlocking early, letting you take to the skies and go just about anywhere.

All in all, Bone Village might be missed, but there’s a lot of cool stuff to help you cope when Final Fantasy 7 Revelation launches in Spring 2027 for the PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

Getting a game as massive, ambitious, and demanding as Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth to work well on the hardware of the Nintendo Switch 2 – a console with decidedly more constrained specs than the PS5 – was always going to be a challenge for the developers, so it obviously is best to head into Rebirth’s Switch 2 version with lower technical and graphical expectations. What’s heartening, however, is that even with those compromises, the game doesn’t loose any of its charm and mastery.

What exactly are those compromises, however? Well, for the most part, they are exactly what you would expect from a lower spec release of a technically demanding game. The gap between Rebirth’s Switch 2 and base console versions on this front is (unsurprisingly, given the generation gap between the two games) more pronounced than it was for Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s Switch 2 version. You see the biggest and most blatant hits with things such as texture pop in, the downgrade in the level of detail, foliage density, and the like, and other similar aspects such as shadows and draw distances (especially draw distances, in fact).

"What exactly are those compromises, however? Well, for the most part, they are exactly what you would expect from a lower spec release of a technically demanding game."

More than a few times, including in the very early hours of the game (or most times you’re out in an open world section), I have seen textures and assets abruptly loading in right before my eyes, while there have also been a few instances of frame rate drops during both cutscenes and gameplay, all of which is certainly the sort of thing that can – at least momentarily – pull you out of the experience. On top of that, it’s also a shame that, just like Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s Switch 2 release, Rebirth doesn’t offer a 60 FPS option on Nintendo’s platform. While the compromise is understandable given the Switch 2’s hardware constraints, it still feels like a notable omission, particularly given the fast paced and action heavy nature of Rebirth’s combat and general gameplay.

Personally, I tend to be the sort of player that can forgive a game’s technical deficiencies, especially if it’s pulling its weight in the gameplay and design departments (which is most definitely true for Rebirth), but those deficiencies are admittedly hard not to spot here. While they don’t take away from Rebirth’s inherent gameplay and narrative strengths, I certainly do hope the developer will be addressing those issues with post launch patches in the near future.

As much as Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s Switch 2 version comes with noticeable downgrades on its original release, at the same time, there’s no denying that, by and large, the game still looks really good. Environments look lush and enticingly massive and explorable, character models and animations boast impressive attention to detail and personality, and nearly every new map, town, and city you visit is brimming with its own unique visual hook and aesthetic. A constant sense of discovery, joy, and wonder was among the things that helped Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth stand out when it first launched in 2024, and thankfully, on the Nintendo Switch 2, even with the necessary cuts it makes in the technical department, it doesn’t lose that sense of awe and luster.

And of course, when it comes to the act of actually playing the game, this is still every bit the unmissable, spectacular designed experience that it was when it launched on the PS5 a couple years ago. When I reviewed Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth upon its original release, I described it as the long overdue and long awaited realization of the modern open world Final Fantasy formula that the series had been hinting at since the PS2 generation, and going back to it on the Switch 2, I find myself just as enamoured with the game.

That’s because Rebirth is and remains a genuine, unmissable masterpiece – and I don’t use any of those words lightly. It touts easily the best combat I have ever experienced in a Final Fantasy title, and arguably the best non-turn based combat I have seen in any game, period. Rebirth manages to build on Remake’s incredible combat in meaningful ways, delivering a blistering experience that, with an ingenious combination of tight mechanics, meaningful improvements, and consistently well-designed and varied enemy encounters and boss fights, ensures that it never runs out of ways to always keep you on your toes.

"Rebirth is and remains a genuine, unmissable masterpiece – and I don’t use any of those words lightly."

Meanwhile, each character boasts ridiculous mechanical depth and variety, to the extent that each could be the star of their own game. On top of that, the progression and customization mechanics – between the different weapons, Materia builds, stat upgrades, and what have you – add an even greater level of depth and nuance, so that combat and everything surrounding it manage to feel consistently rewarding and addictive even after you have clocked multiple dozen hours into the game.

Outside of the combat, meanwhile, Rebirth continues to tout an equally impressive level of depth and variety. There’s multiple massive open world maps to explore, each boasting a plethora of things to do, their own unique design gimmicks and traversal mechanics and visual hooks, and more; there’s a multitude of different minigames and optional side activities to track down and explore, including, of course, the fan favourite card game Queen’s Blood (which you can and very well may sink an inordinate amount of hours into); and so, so much more. It’s not often that a game that demands a time investment as massive as Rebirth does can successfully hold on to the player’s attention without letting monotony set in, but this one manages to do that with surprising confidence.

The game also does so through solid storytelling- which is one area will mileage will probably vary more than most others. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth doubles down on its predecessor’s decision to be as much of a sequel (or sidequel) to the original FF7 as a remake, and obviously, the decisions it makes in pursuit of that vision will ruffle some feathers, especially given how ambitious (and, often, bizarre) it can be with its ideas. Personally, I have been on board with the developer’s decision to chart a new path for this iconic story for a while now, and in my view, Rebirth does an excellent job of balancing those two conflicting sides. It’s a nonstop rollercoaster with its bombastic storytelling, high octane set pieces, wonderfully performed characters, and more, and from its first minute to its last, it never stops being a compelling experience, even if it isn’t necessarily one that always makes total logical sense.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was a breathtaking experience when it came out a couple years ago, and it still is now that it has released for the Nintendo Switch 2. Yes, it comes with some technical cutbacks that often are hard not to notice, and hopefully the developer will be ironing out these kinks with future updates. But even as it stands right now, Rebirth’s Switch 2 version is still a great way to experience one of Final Fantasy’s most spectacular and unforgettable outings of all time.

This game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2.

Unfortunately, at the time of publishing, both store listings have seemingly been updated to remove any mention of a release window. It is also worth noting that they aren’t explicitly for Kingdom Hearts 4, but for Kingdom Hearts Collection (1-3), which was also officially announced earlier this week.

A new entry in the Kingdom Hearts franchise coming out just a year after it gets its first trailer would be quite surprising, since the series has a habit of either being announced too early, or facing several delays before its eventual release, as we saw with Kingdom Hearts 3 back in 2019. If Kingdom Hearts 4 does indeed launch in 2027, as one commenter on Reddit puts it, the year is “gonna be generational”, since it will be joining several other major 2027 releases, like Fable and Stranger Than Heaven, among many others.

While it didn’t reveal too many details, the latest trailer saw Sora taking on some massive monsters in Quadratum. It also included other notable characters, like stalwart party members Donald and Goofy, as well as some members of Organization XIII.

Keeping in line with series tradition, it looks like Kingdom Hearts 4 will bring back the fast-paced combat, with Sora having access to a large variety of moves to help him take down enemies. Similar to what we saw with Kingdom Hearts 2 and 3, he can equip different Keyblades to gain new abilities.

Alongside the new trailer, Square Enix also announced that Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 HD Remix, Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts 3 + ReMind collections are making their way to the Nintendo Switch 2. Along with each collection, a bundle featuring all three collections will also be available, giving newcomers to the franchise an easier way to experience the entire storyline.

Back in September 2025, creative director Tetsuya Nomura mentioned Kingdom Hearts 4, noting that it “is also progressing well and according to schedule” along with Final Fantasy 7 Revelation. It was announced all the way back in 2022, and fans have likely been quite worried about Square Enix’s silence since then.