Can you believe we're about to get the final part of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy just seven years after the first? In an era where games take nearly a decade to make, that's nothing short of a miracle.
Cast your mind back to E3 2015. The 'Conference of Dreams' gave us Shenmue 3, The Last Guardian, and the jaw-dropping reveal of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. PlayStation was on top of the world, and this ambitious reimagining – once just a PS3 tech demo – was finally real. Planned as a trilogy, it promised to expand the beloved story for a new generation.
I was skeptical. Could they really stretch Midgar into a full game? But after 40 hours in Remake and 80 more in Rebirth, I'm all in. Final Fantasy 7 Revelation arrives next April, and I'm ready for whatever it throws at us.
Here's the thing: we're in an unsustainable gaming landscape. Studios are closing, thousands are being laid off, and projects get cancelled because they cost too much time and money. Once upon a time, Naughty Dog gave us three Uncharted games and The Last of Us in just six years. Now, they spend the same time on a single release. AAA gaming is caught between chasing live-service trends and taking forever to ship a game.
Yet Square Enix is about to complete a trilogy of ambitious, dense, visually spectacular games in just seven years – packing 200 hours of play. Game director Naoki Hamaguchi credits the speedy three-year cycle for Revelation to retaining the core team and sticking to his vision. Sure, some open-world design feels outdated, but the expanded world and time with characters we grew up with make it worth it.
It often feels like a miracle, but it's a labor of love from people who understand Final Fantasy 7 deeply. The dieselpunk classic we imagined for decades is now a living, breathing reality. But with ballooning budgets and long dev cycles, I struggle to see another trilogy of this size and quality happening again.
Not because developers don't want to, but because few have the safety or opportunity of an established title like Final Fantasy 7. At PAX West, Hamaguchi said the trilogy aims to welcome a new generation and expand well into the future. I just hope it doesn't become an endless stream of content – I'm a Kingdom Hearts fan, I know too much of a good thing.
If Revelation sticks the landing, I'd love Square Enix to leave it behind and break new ground. Give new talent a chance to redefine the series. The FF7 Remake trilogy is extraordinary, but I hope it's not the last of its kind. New stories and worlds deserve the same shot, even without decades of nostalgia. In a landscape of safe bets, I fear that day may never come.
What do you think? Will you be picking up Final Fantasy 7 Revelation next year?
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