The Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth release date will bring us the next installment in the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy and may be the first big step away from the original release’s story content. The game picks up where the first left off, with Cloud and the crew having just left Midgar and heading towards Kalm to regroup and discuss where to go.
It’s unclear right now exactly how far the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth story will stray from the original. But from the one trailer we’ve seen so far, we’re hoping to stop off at Kalm before heading to the Chocobo Ranch to watch some big birds do a fancy little dance.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth release date rumours
The Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth release date in the winter of 2023. This was revealed by Square Enix during the Final Fantasy 7 25th anniversary celebration.
Unfortunately, we don’t have an exact date just yet and haven’t actually seen any more of the game since that initial announcement. This quiet period has led many of us to speculate that the game may get pushed to 2024 as Square Enix has a hectic year ahead with the upcoming Final Fantasy 16 release date, Octopath Traveler 2, and more. However, we’re staying hopeful for 2023!
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth story
Let me give you fair warning before we get into it, the following section has spoilers for the original game, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Intermission, and potentially Rebirth, so read on with caution.
Before we look forward, I think we need to look back to where things left off. Final Fantasy 7 Remake ends in a pretty intense fashion. Cloud and the gang defeat the Harbingers, Cloud has a one-on-one fight with not-actually-Sephiroth in not-actually-space in a manner that matches the ending of the original Final Fantasy 7, Rufus has become president, Hojo has descended further into madness, Zack, who you may remember dying in Crisis Core is… alive? Biggs, who you may remember dying in the original, is alive?!
Then there’s the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intermission ending. Yuffie leaves Midgar on a chocobo after losing Sonon in a fight with Weiss (remember him from Dirge of Cerberus? Of course you don’t, no one played that game), Cloud and his pals hitch a ride with Chocobo Billy to a peaceful little town called Kalm, and Zack opens the door to Aerith’s church in the slums to a room full of crying people.
I don’t blame you if that overload of information has left you a little confused, as of now, it’s not entirely clear where Rebirth will take the story or whether we’re now in an alternate timeline, but it’s strongly assumed that we are . So, what do we know about Final Fantasy Rebirth’s story? Well, we’re definitely going to start the game in or near Kalm. It would be great to be able to explore the world map a little before heading to town, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we begin part two in Kalm, as Billy has already dropped us off nearby.
In the original game, once you arrive in Kalm, the team regroups in a hotel and asks Cloud if he can tell them more about his time in SOLDIER and how well he knows Sephiroth. Cloud obviously obliges, and that’s what we see in the first Rebirth trailer, our hero and Sephiroth making their way through Nibelheim on the way to a wrecked reactor. I believe this will follow closely to the original, as it gives you a very important glimpse into Cloud’s past, or what he believes is his past…
As Zack features heavily in the trailer and the endings of both Remake and Intermission, we may actually get to play as him or have him join the party in Rebirth. I can’t comment on this any further right now, though, as in my mind, he died with Crisis Core and I’d rather he didn’t crop up again in this story.
Outside of a potential Zack appearance, it feels likely the party will follow the original game’s story loosely, leaving Kalm to catch a Chocobo and speed past the Midgar Zolom, heading to Junon in an attempt to catch Sephiroth and stopping him from committing some dastardly deeds , before sunbathing in Costa Del Sol with Barrett dressed as a bear wearing a marshmallow.
The final story point I’m going to stipulate is, when will Final Fantasy Rebirth end? A fantastic cliffhanger would be after Cloud hands the black materia to Sephiroth in the Northern Crater and gets sucked into the lifestream, you wake up as Tifa in Junon, Barret opens the curtains, and you see a massive meteor looming above you in the sky. It would be the perfect moment to close out the hunt for Sephiroth and leave you hankering for the epic finale in which you must finally save the world for real.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth gameplay
There’s currently only one Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth trailer, but it does give us a good idea of what we can expect from the upcoming release. I go over the potential story beats in-depth above, but if you’re after a quick synopsis, the trailer shows snippets of Zack assisting Cloud on the way to Midgar before the events of Final Fantasy VII and Cloud and Sephiroth from the Kalm flashback scene that happens in the original game.
There’s not much to say about the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth gameplay, as it should be very similar, if not exactly the same as Remake. If for some reason you’re skipping part one and starting with Rebirth, you can expect fast paced action combat between completing sidequests and exploring sprawling cities. Spread across Remake and the Intermission DLC you can find box-smashing and Fort Condor mini-games, I hope to see a chocobo breeding, racing, or catching mini-game alongside Rebirth.
That covers everything we know about the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth release date. For information on an RPG that arrives soon, take a look at our Final Fantasy 16 length, Final Fantasy 16 pre-order, and Final Fantasy 16 characters guides if you are planning to jump into the series this year.