Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Devs Don't Want To “Copy Other Games”

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthis one of the more ambitious Final Fantasy games out there, creating a whole open world to explore full of quests and activities that I’m sure will keep most of us busy for hundreds of hours. It’s slightly new territory for some developers at Square Enix, andwe already know that games such as The Witcher 3 were a big inspirationin creating Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s vast array of side content.

However, director Naoki Hamaguchi was quick to stress to TheGamer that the game will still feel “completely different” to other open world titles out there, as he explained that the development team didn’t want to just “copy what another game does”. Hamaguchi says that while he respects titles such asThe Witcher 3,Horizon Zero Dawn, andGhost of Tsushima, and used them during development to “see what works”, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will have its own identity and “unique elements”.

“We played a lot of these games and are looking at everything out there and seeing what works,” says Hamaguchi. “However, I don’t want to just copy what another game does. I don’t think that would help anyone or work out in a good shape in the end. What we’re focused on with the side content and side activities in Rebirth is very much for everything to have unique elements to it that makes it feel completely different to all the others.”

From the most recent standalone State of Play focused on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, we can definitely see flashes of certain elements from other games, particularly in the side content. We have a minigame similar to Gwent that players can collect cards for, plenty of in-depth side quests to build upon the relationship between Cloud and the party, and unique, powerful monsters hiding away in little caves. They’re all very typical open world features, but all of them have been given that special Final Fantasy twist to make them feel unique to the series.

Thankfully, we don’t have to wait too long to experience all of that goodness for ourselves, as Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth finally launches in just a few weeks on February 29. If you want to dive in before then, PlayStation recently announced thata demo is available to play right now, which will let you play as Cloud and Sephiroth in the Nibelheim episode.