Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is known for its minigame glut, but it did have at least a few bangers in the mix. One of those was Queen’s Blood, a card game that you could play with various citizens throughout the world, and it even had its own extensive side story to follow. This was new for Rebirth–apparently Queen’s Blood hadn’t yet caught on in Midgar, where Remake takes place–and it sounds like Square Enix wants to expand upon it in the upcoming third game.
In an interview with Polygon, director Naoki Hamaguchi confirmed Queen’s Blood will make a return in the as-of-yet-untitled third game, but it will be a little bit different.
“Queen’s Blood is a very popular and beloved minigame, and I believe a lot of people are still wanting something like that,” Hamaguchi told Polygon. “I want to expand on Queen’s Blood so we are enhancing it, and giving you a more powered-up version of it when you see that third installment… Queen’s Blood is still going to be available in the third installment. We just want to expand on it.”
What could those enhancements entail? New cards, mechanics, or maybe the board will just be twice as big, allowing for more territory-claiming plays? We probably won’t find out for a while, but Queen’s Blood isn’t the only minigame in the third entry, as it will also signal the return of the original Final Fantasy VII’s snowboarding segment, which Hamaguchi says will be more than “just a simple snowboarding minigame.”
“I’m afraid I can’t delve too much into the details, but we understand that it’s not going to be just a simple snowboarding minigame. We want to make sure that it’s incorporated into the story to have that sort of connection with the theming of it,” he said.
The third Final Fantasy VII remake is probably still a ways away, but it does seem like the game is coming along and is in a playable state.
“In terms of the third installment, I believe we are coming along very smoothly,” he said. “We have set a schedule for ourselves, and I believe we are tracking on time for the milestones we have set. So I’m really thankful for the development team and I have so much respect for them working on this project. I believe that at this point the game is playable, technically, but we are still trying to polish it so it is at a quality where we can deliver it to our players.”
Final Fantasy VII Remake just launched on the Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S, with Rebirth expected to launch on both systems later this year.