Final Fantasy VII Rebirth isn’t out for another month on Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S, but players eager to take the plunge can get a head start thanks to a surprise new demo drop on Tuesday. The free trial starts players at the beginning of the sprawling RPG adventure and will carry over progress to the full release on June 3.
The demo covers Chapters 1 and 2 of the full game, allowing players to experience several hours of the remake sequel before committing to a full purchase. That takes players from Kalm to the Grasslands as Cloud and company try to evade capture by Shinra forces while hunting for leads about Sephiroth. It’ll also include the flashback to Nibelheim, where Cloud and Sephiroth team up.
Most importantly, the demo will give players a good sense of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth‘s new systems and overall flow of the gameplay. It’ll introduce Queen’s Blood, the sequel’s excellent card-based mini-game, as well as Chocobos. It should become obvious right away whether Rebirth’s open-world bucket list feels full of fun diversions or just tedious.
It’ll also be a good test of just how well the more recent RPG runs on Switch 2 hardware. Final Fantasy VII Remake, a PS4 game, made some graphical compromises and only ran at 30fps but otherwise looked and felt great. Rebirth is a more ambitious game with a much more demanding world. Hopefully, the Switch 2 can keep up, especially with Final Fantasy VII Remake part 3 just around the corner. Hopefully, we’ll get our first look at the final entry in the trilogy during June’s summer gaming showcase bonanza.