Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the second instalment in Square Enix’s three-part saga remaking the original Final Fantasy 7. Yet some are wondering whether it’s worth skipping the previous game, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and starting with Rebirth.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake released back in 2020 and is a meaty action-RPG in its own right, despite only covering a portion of the original FF7’s opening section, expanding it to at least 30 hours. Rebirth promises to be even bigger thanks to its open world, and physical copies even come with two disks. But if you only have time to play one, here’s whether Remake is worth your time before you move onto Rebirth.
Can you play Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth without playing Final Fantasy 7 Remake?
Technically, yes. There’s no pre-requisite you need to meet before playing Rebirth (it’s a separate game, not DLC, after all). Co-director Motomu Toriyama even said in a June 3, 2023 X post, “We have made preparations so that players who did not get a chance to play the first game can fully enjoy Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.”
As a direct sequel to Remake, Rebirth will be continuing important plot threads and character arcs from the previous game, but it sounds like there’ll be efforts to catch newcomers up to speed, perhaps with a recap feature. Square Enix also released a five-minute recap of the first game’s plot on YouTube.
While such efforts are welcome, as a player, I find it hard to recommend skipping over Remake. Aside from the fact that it’s a great RPG, watching a five minute recap or reading Wikipedia entries isn’t the best way to experience FF7’s story. If you aren’t already familiar with Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Aerith, and their arcs in Remake, certain scenes in Rebirth may not be as emotionally impactful.
Important plot details may also be more confusing without first-hand experience of how they were set-up in Remake. You likely have already heard how the remake project deviates substantially from the original FF7 in some areas, with Rebirth appearing to establish multiple timelines. I’d even argue you shouldn’t touch the remake project at all without playing through the original PS1 game, as those deviations are best experienced if you know how FF7‘s story originally pans out.
Fortunately, it’s not like the original game or Remake are hard to find. The original FF7 is available on every major console and PC as a digital download, whereas Remake is available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. Xbox owners are still missing out, but Rebirth is only coming to PS5 anyway.
Square Enix is also selling a special two-for-one bundle for PS5 containing both Remake and Rebirth, which comes with the additional Episode INTERmission content too. What’s more, Remake save data will unlock some exclusive items when you boot up Rebirth.
If you really want to catch up, I’d suggest looking into Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7: Reunion as well. A remaster of a 2007 PlayStation Portable game, Crisis Core is a prequel that tells the story of Zack Fair, a character who only briefly appears in FF7 but plays an important role in Cloud’s backstory. He’s set to have a big role in Rebirth‘s story too, so knowing what his deal is may help in the long run.
