Final Fantasy VII Remake Demo Impressions

It’s been five years since the E3 announcement of Final Fantasy VII Remake and 23 years since the release of the original game and finally we have access to a portion of it. As a massive fan of the franchise and someone who downloaded and played the demo as immediately as I could, I thought I would give you my thoughts and impressions of the upcoming remake.

As soon as you boot up the demo and press play you’re greeted with the intensely beautiful opening cinematic, featuring Aerith walking the streets of Midgar and a big zoom out of the entire city before focusing on our main hero Cloud and a seamless transition from cutscene to game. We have begun the bombing mission.

A quick combat tutorial shows Final Fantasy VII Remake has opted for a fusion of action based gameplay and the traditional Active Time Battle (ATB) system that’s been present since Final Fantasy IV. In VII Remake you are free to attack and dodge using the face buttons like an action game, however your skills and abilities are all locked behind said ATB system.

Unlike many fusions of ATB and real time, the combat in Final Fantasy VII Remake is incredibly satisfying. You can feel the impact of your standard attacks far more than in previous games like Final Fantasy XV and the effects on display when you use your special abilities are jaw-dropping. While you can pause the gameplay to perform these special commands, you can also assign them to shortcuts on the controller allowing you to combo these powerful attacks to really lay the smackdown.

There’s also a lot of emphasis on the characterisation this early on in the game. Cloud is moody and overly serious while Barret is aggressive and in charge, but it’s really the interactions between Cloud and Jesse that shine here. Jesse, who clearly has the hots for Cloud, shows so much personality in her dialogue and character acting that she feels much deeper than the character had originally been. As far as the demo goes, it has sold me on the idea that these characters will develop far more naturally than the original, which is one of my biggest complaints with the 1997 version.

Later we get Barret as an additional party member and get to fight that famous scorpion boss. Switching between characters on the fly is a simple tap of the D-pad and an instant change of perspective as the camera pans from one party member to the other. Barret fights using his guns as a basic attack, which shifts the gameplay from hack and slash to third-person shooter.

The game also introduces the idea of unique style changes: Cloud has a punisher mode, where he deals more damage at the expense of defense whereas Barret can overcharge his attack, allowing a strong barrage of shots to deal major damage. This is in addition to the return of limit breaks, which are super attacks that deal an even greater amount of damage, meaning there is a vast array of options available to you at all times.

All in all, Final Fantasy VII Remake is shaping up to be a potential game of the year candidate. It’s the most gorgeous game I have ever played, the soundtrack is an orchestral re-imagining of the original and it feels like Final Fantasy VII has been improved in just about every way imaginable. There is that one looming question about how complete the game will feel, as this remake will only feature a very small part of the whole story but in terms of quality, I’m sold that this will be one of the most enjoyable experiences out there. I won’t be missing Final Fantasy VII Remake this year and if you have any passing interest in the title at all, you shouldn’t either.