FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH was one of the best games of 2024, and my favorite. I make no secret of it: I voted the game GOTY, and I was also sincerely disappointed to see that it took home, perhaps, fewer awards than it deserved, at least for myself. In recent years I’ve been getting less and less excited, pad in hand. Unfortunately, my heart has closed a bit in this sense, and in general I have found myself becoming less and less truly attached to a particular production, with rare exceptions (who said Alan Wake 2?).
Despite this, however, FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH literally bewitched me from the first minute. Of course, I am well aware that some narrative choices have exposed the game to an appreciation and media attention that is sometimes different from that hoped for, but it is impossible not to praise all the great work done in creating a gaming ecosystem that is, to say the least, immense. For this reason, I let myself be captured by a world as rich as ever in what to see, do and experience.
After spending almost 150 hours in the company of the PS5 version, I dedicated myself with great curiosity and passion to the PC version, with the sincere desire (and nostalgia) to be able to breathe the air of Midgar again, almost as if it were the first time . So be ready: the journey is about to begin again.
Titolo: FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH
Piattaforma: PlayStation 5, PC (Steam)
Version analyzed: PC (Steam)
Genre: RPG
Players: 1 Publisher: SQUARE ENIX
Developer: SQUARE ENIX Language: Italian (texts), Japanese or English (dubbing) Release date: January 23, 2025 Availability: digital delivery DLC: none Notes: compatibility with Steam Deck guaranteed
We reviewed FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH on PC with a Steam code provided to us free of charge by SQUARE ENIX via PLAION.
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH: a sky full of stars
I’ll say it without beating around the bush: I’ve never had as much fun and passion as I did with FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH, at least in recent years. The second chapter of the trilogy dedicated to one of the most famous titles in videogame history is, as I have already mentioned, a real matryoshka of events and playful possibilities, and it is truly impossible not to get lost within an immeasurable, boundless, free and entrusted to the hands and will of the player.
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH marks the transition of the new trilogy to a refined, rich and varied open world, in which every mission and every activity has a logical sense in the story and is never an end in itself. This structural attitude accompanies Cloud’s journey up to the end credits, and remains one of the strong points of the production, until the end. To this, clearly, must be added a potentially immense narrative power. It is no mystery, moreover, that FINAL FANTASY VII is one of the most loved chapters by the public and, clearly, the story and all its characters are the prized pieces of a sublime chessboard.
The new version takes some liberties, sometimes important and not always welcome, but still manages to do justice to a product that is in some ways immortal, unique. This Rebirth has been able to perfectly expand the narrative frame of this new project, dedicating ever greater space to the main protagonists, contextualizing them more and more and giving them an ever greater narrative weight.
The weight of the past
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH has a nomenclature that is anything but casual. The game world is a continuous journey through memories, a violent journey into a difficult past, for everyone, which inevitably connects mercilessly with an equally ruthless and potentially dark future. The journey of Cloud and his traveling companions to counter the ruthless Shinra and, above all, the dark machinations of Sephiroth, who has become increasingly (by force of circumstances) more central in the new project, still seems to be very long, full of surprises and shocks scenes – some even unexpected – which have a potentially devastating narrative power. FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH is a playful rebirth, but it is also a tale of death.
The theme of departure is in fact always at the center of the story, which makes even more suffocating that continuous sensation of pain, of fear that can be felt in the eyes of Cloud, Aerith or in Barret’s gazes lost in the void, hidden under the glass of the inevitable sunglasses. At the end of the run, the title lays the foundation for a dark, but also lucidly bright future. I am sincerely curious to find out how the trilogy will be completed, both on a narrative level but above all on that of gameplay, the aspect that enjoyed the most interesting upgrades between the first and second chapters.
How does it behave on PC?
Clearly, I don’t want to delve further into the analysis of the game itself, for that you already have our review, published last year on the occasion of the release on PS5. Here I want to focus more on the nature of the conversion on PC which, I must admit, struck me with reservations. First of all, it is clear to underline that the guys on the development team have done an excellent job in terms of optimization. The game performs very well even with older GPUs, and leaving aside some occasional shots, perhaps in the most hectic situations, the final result is decidedly satisfactory.
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH can boast a sometimes impressive visual impact on PC. The immense game world created by SQUARE ENIX lives, on PC, almost a second youth, thanks above all to a management of spaces, environments and draw distance, which is decidedly wider and without limits that it manages to give at a glance an extra gear that is difficult not to notice. Even in terms of general cleaning, the progress is evident. With the preset set to High details and an output resolution in QHD (the maximum) the rendering of the bodies, the details of the faces of the silhouettes, like the particle effects are truly splendid, and manage to blend more or less well with a fairly solid frame-rate, at least in most cases.
Customizable, but not always
The PC conversion, therefore, works rather well. REBIRTH offers 3 graphics presets (Low, Normal, High) to choose from and, in general, allows you to fiddle with the individual settings (which can go up to Very High) to make the gaming experience increasingly free and scalable. In this regard, it is worth underlining that I also appreciated the introduction of the possibility of choosing the number of NPCs around the maps, especially in inhabited cities, designed specifically to meet the needs of the players. What is found too limited is the possibility of choosing between the various upscaling technologies, now in vogue and impactful to say the least, to select from. The PC version of the SQUARE ENIX colossal relies exclusively on DLSS, thus making (at least for now) the use of the various technologies the prerogative of NVIDIA users.
To be honest, despite a decidedly interesting PC conversion, it should be underlined that, at least in its current state, I have come across several bugs, glitches and visual uncertainties. In many cases, especially after a quick travel, for example, the game struggles to load the textures, and in many cases I had to reset the game because Cloud was interpenetrating with environmental elements, in the stairs, in the walls and so on. Nothing that can’t be resolved with patches, in short, but it’s clear that we need to take into account that, at the moment, the PC gaming experience isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.
Who do we recommend FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH for PC to?
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH is an unmissable title, especially for those who missed the appointment a year ago on PlayStation 5. The second chapter of the remake trilogy expands the formula of the previous one, resulting as rich as ever in things to do and see. Net of a few technical flaws and a few too many bugs, this version becomes the perfect opportunity to take part in a memorable adventure, even if you have already experienced the original one or if you have already completed the journey with the PlayStation version. The title can be purchased on Steam at a 30% discount for the launch period.
It remains a sumptuous game An RPG as rich as ever Stellar cast, today as yesterday Excellent visual performance on PC
A few too many bugs Frame rate not always very stable Few options regarding the use of the various upscaling technologies
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH
An unforgettable trip
The arrival of FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH on PC is not without problems, but it is still an important step in this gaming 2025 that has just begun. The PC version of the SQUARE ENIX role-playing game brings with it several technical problems (which can certainly be circumvented with corrective patches) but it still represents a perfect way to make the work accessible to an increasingly wider audience. The new graphics that accompany the adventure of Cloud, Tifa, Aerith and all the other iconic characters shine quite a bit, even with a less powerful GPU, but I would have expected a few more options in terms of customization and scalability.