FF7 Remake Director Reveals The Witcher 3 Inspiration

Ever wonder what inspires the creators behind your favorite games? For Final Fantasy 7 Remake director Naoki Hamaguchi, one game kept calling him back: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

In a chat with GameSpot, Hamaguchi explained that while Final Fantasy 6 was a huge influence on him as a player growing up, The Witcher 3 is the game that shaped him as a creator. "When I started working on the Remake series, I would frequently go back to The Witcher 3 and just marvel at the things that that game excels at," he said. "It's a frequent one that I revisit."

But it wasn't just about killing time between projects. Hamaguchi and his team wanted to deliver cinematic storytelling that felt native to interactive media, not just cutscenes dropped into a game world. They studied how The Witcher 3 and Guerrilla's Horizon created those satisfying, cinematic payoffs within gameplay mechanics.

"We do have to acknowledge that there are certain moments that bring satisfaction that can be only achieved by doing it within the video game medium," Hamaguchi explained. "I think that is exactly something that The Witcher 3 and games like Horizon were really excelling at, just delivering these satisfactory moments. They feel cinematic. That was something that we were trying to follow suit with."

So what does that mean for the future of the Remake trilogy? Hamaguchi's comments suggest the team is doubling down on blending player agency with blockbuster moments. The final chapter, Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, is set to launch for PC and consoles in April 2027. Square Enix is aiming to make it the biggest game possible, with a "planetary scale" world to explore. And yes, you can expect some classic snowboarding fun alongside the main campaign to stop Sephiroth once and for all.

Meanwhile, The Witcher 3 itself isn't slowing down. More than a decade after release, it's still considered one of the greatest open-world games ever made, and a massive remastered edition drops on September 29. Next year will also bring an expansion, Songs of the Past, which should help tide fans over until The Witcher 4 arrives.

It's cool to see how games inspire other games, isn't it? The Witcher 3's influence clearly lives on in unexpected places. What do you think about Hamaguchi's approach? Will you be picking up Final Fantasy 7 Revelation when it lands in 2027? Let us know in the comments!