It is worth saying, that in our Western world, a good number of people take privileged opportunities for granted. If you run in entertainment journalism circles you get to experience some pretty incredible things. It should not be taken lightly how much time, work and money is put into mass market entertainment. Not to mention the risk the companies take when letting writers dabble with these things when they are not even finished. It is with that notion in mind that we enter into giving you, the eager Final Fantasy fan, a brief look into our experience in the first official hands-on time made available for media for Final Fantasy VII Revelation. This game is daunting in stature and incredibly huge.
Odds are if you’re reading this, you’re well familiar with this title, but for the casual reader, this is the third installment in a monumental remake of the legendary beloved Final Fantasy VII first released for the SONY PlayStation all the way back in 1997. Deservedly, Final Fantasy VII has become one of the most beloved video games of all time, featuring a massive story, unforgettable characters and tons of RPG action. The first two parts of this modernized remake of the once very polygonal title (titled Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth respectively) took the game and fully reconstructed it for current generation technology, experience and animation. Revelation picks up from right after that super sad moment at the end of Rebirth. Yes, that sad moment you are thinking of. And it centers heavily on the team taking advantage of the airship The Highwind and literally parachuting into remote locations all over the Planet.
In our session, we had just sixty minutes to absorb a large section of this game. Simply put, you are very much not ready for the scale of this game. There’s no way to complain about a chance to be invited to such a special opportunity with such a marquee title, it’s such a wonderful gift, but one hour alone on something of this magnitude was scarcely enough to scratch the surface. We were dropped in a bit away from the opening of the game and outfitted with party members Yuffie, Barret Wallace, Vincent Valentine, Cid Highwind, Cait Sith and Red XIII. In a cut-scene Yuffie effusively expresses excitement for the team’s mission and how they should visit her home country of Wutai. Cid explains the features of the Highwind and we were able from there to visit any of nine different major areas to explore.
We chose Mideel, Costa del Sol, Corel and Gongaga for our time. Once arriving via the Highwind, you parachute into the destination. Parachuting is a good bit harder to control than it was expected to be and we landed each time far from our target. From there, we could walk or summon chocobos to ride. Just walking from one location (or flying by chocobo) can take some time, and of course, this is an RPG so random encounters can happen leading to a frantic melee of switching between characters and giving targeted commands for the rest of the party. Before we knew it, just following the intro and heading to our first destination 30 minutes had already gone by. We hustled up to see as much more of the demo as we could, traveling to other locations. Each has their own distinctly unique terrain, topography and environment. There were bustling cities filled with local residents, challenging monster fights and bizarre NPCs to interact with. Some of what we saw featured characters where the voice acting had not yet been recorded. Each area had at least three major objectives to complete, but potentially many more if you fully explored.
While exploring the various locations, the characters can use various investigative devices to accomplish their objectives. There is also an almost constant barrage of messages that your characters receive explaining potential tasks or objectives. So you are moving, reading, searching, fighting and learning, all pretty much simultaneously. The story also explains the arrival of titanic creatures called Weapons in the aftermath of Sephiroth’s actions at the end of Rebirth, Gigantic kaiju-sized beasts designed for high-level showdowns. We caught wind of the arrival of one of them but were not able to get close enough for a look at the possible encounter. We were told by reps on hand that this particular Weapon was a level 75 enemy, and the characters in our build were level 45, so not impossible to beat, but probably extremely difficult. From there we made our way to Wutai and got to see numerous cut scenes related to the shadowy Shinra organization and Yuffie’s elation at being back home in Wutai. As we made our way to the capital, our time ran out.
There’s no other way to put it, you’re going to want to sit with this one for a long while. You won’t be dropping in on Final Fantasy VII Revelation to play for a quick 15-minute session. You’re going to want to really immerse yourself in this one. We look forward to having a larger batch of time to fully experience this one, as 60 minutes was just enough to get a taste of what is here. There is a dizzying level of detail packed into this final chapter of the game. While we were not able to find the far edges of what was possible here, it was immensely evident that this will be a truly open world game. Get ready, because this is a truly exploded view of the final segment of the Final Fantasy VII title.
Final Fantasy VII Revelation comes out for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch 2 on April 8 2026.