While everyone has long suspected that Final Fantasy 7 Revelation would be the largest entry, scale-wise, of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, those suspicions have now officially been confirmed by the trilogy’s director, Naoki Hamaguchi. In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Hamaguchi stated that “[Final Fantasy 7 Revelation‘s] world is even bigger than it was in Rebirth,” and to some, that might sound like a great thing. After all, this third and final entry will cover the portion of the original game where players use the Highwind to get around the game’s world, which, even in its former state, was already a sizable experience. However, after some criticisms that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth received on account of its semi-open-world design, other players might not necessarily consider “bigger” to be a better thing.
Of course, the conversation of whether bigger is actually better is one that has plagued modern open-world games for quite some time, though more recent entries in the genre—like Elden Ring, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Crimson Desert—have come up with unique ways to make even the largest open worlds feel manageable. Still, there is always that fear in the back of some players’ minds that a larger open world will succumb to what is now considered a dated design philosophy, and that includes Final Fantasy 7 Revelation. Even so, modern open-world games have done enough to convince us that it can be done well, and, according to Hamaguchi, Square Enix is doing its best to ensure players aren’t immediately fatigued by it all.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s World Design Was Fine, and Revelation’s Will Be Too
For as much as people love to complain about Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‘s semi-open world, it really wasn’t that bad. Sure, its open-world-like activities get repetitive after a while, and yes, there’s not too much variation in the structure of its activities. However, as is the case with any open or semi-open-world game, whether a player enjoys what is there is, for the most part, up to them.
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will feature a seamless, planet-wide open world larger than Rebirth, with full exploration enabled by the Highwind airship.
Open-world games at large almost never gate completion of the game behind players doing every single optional activity and collecting every collectible. Yes, doing said activities and collecting said collectibles can be and generally is advantageous to the player, but the point here is that they are optional, whether they’re advantageous or not. At the end of the day, it’s up to players how much they want to do in an open world and when they do it. Perhaps leaving players responsible for pacing themselves is the biggest problem here, as some simply may not know how to do that when a sizable world filled with opportunities is in front of them, but the devs are still not at fault in that regard.
And Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is no different, despite the criticism its semi-open world received. Again, it really comes down to the player’s preference, for one thing, but also whether the player can actually be trusted to pace themselves without the game taking the steering wheel. Viewed through that lens, an open world or semi-open world can’t be objectively bad, as it’s not so much a balance that developers need to strike alone but one that players need to be mindful of as well. After all, at this point, they know what they’re getting into when a massive world is laid out in front of them, and the freedom it offers is not only translated into its scope but also in giving players options.
Everything Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s Semi-Open World Does Well
- Makes Final Fantasy 7‘s world feel like a genuine, continent-spanning journey.
- Gives every region distinct scenery, enemies, settlements, music, and traversal mechanics.
- Provides completionists with a satisfying routine of steadily clearing each region.
- Rewards exploration with useful materia, crafting resources, combat challenges, and party upgrades.
- Uses Lifesprings and World Intel to expand regional history and environmental lore.
- Creates more opportunities to experiment with combat, party compositions, and materia builds.
- Lets optional quests deepen Cloud’s relationships with individual party members.
- Gives the cast room to breathe outside the main story’s heavier moments.
- Makes Protorelic missions feel like substantial side stories rather than disposable collectibles.
- Turns Queen’s Blood into a rewarding journey spanning opponents, cards, and storylines.
- Uses mini-games to constantly vary the pace between exploration, combat, and dialogue.
- Encourages players to remain in regions longer and appreciate their atmosphere.
- Makes collectible hunting enjoyable for players who simply want more time with the party.
- Captures the playful variety associated with older Final Fantasy games.
What’s important to understand about Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‘s semi-open world is that almost everything it hosts serves some other purpose than giving players a checklist of activities to do and collectibles to find. Exploration is rewarded, of course, with powerful materia, crafting resources, and party upgrades, so players can almost always be sure they’re going to walk away from an adventure stronger and perhaps more skilled. But there’s also the narrative side of things that matters too. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‘s Lifesprings and World Intel help flesh out regions for lore junkies, and there are plenty of side quests available that offer character development and deepen the relationships between the party members. In the end, it’s a matter of perspective.
And regardless of what it does “right,” Final Fantasy 7 Revelation‘s larger world won’t inherently be bad on account of its increased size, either. Players will most likely still be given the same opportunity to avoid every optional activity and collectible out there if they wish, no matter how tempting it is. The concept that an open-world game only gets worse the larger it gets is perhaps a more dated argument than the pre-Breath of the Wild open-world design itself at this point, simply because it has almost always been about the player’s perspective and approach. Even Hamaguchi, in his interview with Eurogamer, agreed with that sentiment when he said, “It depends on personal preference and different perceptions.”
At the end of the day, it’s up to players how much they want to do in an open world and when they do it.
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation‘s world may be bigger, but that alone says nothing about whether it will be better or worse than Rebirth‘s. What matters is how Square Enix uses that space, how naturally the Highwind opens it up, and how much freedom players have to interact with its optional content the way they see fit. FF7 Rebirth already proved that even its simplest activities could reward exploration, expand the world, strengthen the party, or create more time with characters players have spent years growing attached to. FF7 Revelation doesn’t need to abandon that foundation just because some players found it exhausting. Rather, it needs to build on what worked, improve what didn’t, and trust players to decide how much of its larger world they actually want to see.
- Released
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2027
- Prequel(s)
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Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
