Rebirth’s Swap 2 port is creaky, however the sport remains to be glorious and bold.
Closing Fantasy 7 Remake, which got here out in 2020 initially and made it over to the world of Nintendo on Swap 2 earlier in 2026, is a comparatively simple thrill journey all through the town of Midgar. That sport takes the opening hours of the unique Closing Fantasy 7 and spreads it out over 20 to 30 hours. In Closing Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the second entry in Sq. Enix’s formidable remake collection, the world expands drastically as Cloud and the gang journeys exterior of Midgar. The closed corridors of the town fall away right into a section-based open world expertise that may take you into the triple digit hours to finish. As of June 3, 2026, now you can expertise that journey on Swap 2 following its preliminary 2024 launch.
Rebirth is an formidable sport for a wide range of causes. Considered one of them is because of the visuals and efficiency, which is a little bit little bit of a battle on Swap 2. This sport was constructed for PlayStation 5 (whereas Remake was made for PS4) and the Swap 2 launch is a transparent downgrade. That being mentioned, it’s nonetheless a strong port with none game-wrecking drawbacks. Load instances take a short while generally. Visuals aren’t all the time the crispest. The sport runs persistently nicely although, shining finest in Docked Mode. Finally, it’s largely per the expertise of enjoying the sport on Steam Deck. If you wish to play handheld, it’s a good way to expertise the sport. If you wish to play it on a TV, I’d go for one of many beefier residence consoles when you have entry.
One other means that Rebirth is formidable is in its story. It’s wild to me that this sport kicks off in an alternate timeline controlling a personality most newcomers received’t completely comprehend. I recognize that Sq. Enix has the arrogance to inform the story they wish to and embrace the twisty meta narrative of those video games. A useful “Story So Far” recap makes it so it’s not completely incomprehensible to start out, however I’d very a lot advocate enjoying Remake earlier than diving into Rebirth. The writing and performances additionally go a protracted strategy to make this oft-convoluted story work. It’s additionally often very humorous. Regardless of the severity of the drama at instances, there’s a very playful tongue-in-cheek vibe that’s current for a lot of the sport.
Rebirth’s story follows the plot of the 1997 sport from the second you allow Midgar up till the Temple of the Ancients the place the fabled spoiler occurs within the authentic story. Loads of the construct as much as that second is whether or not or not that may truly occur. Whereas Remake was extra centered in its meta-sequel setup, Rebirth meanders much more. I’m nonetheless keen on how the story twists and turns, however by advantage of how a lot this sport follows the trail of the PlayStation 1 sport, it feels much more happenstance. You go to sure locations simply because that’s the order of issues from almost 30 years in the past. I additionally don’t know if the ending sticks the touchdown, however regardless of any complaints I might need, I’m nonetheless lining as much as play the third entry as quickly as I presumably can.
The open space exploration is one other formidable ingredient. After an interesting prologue enjoying as Cloud and Sephiroth previously within the Nibelheim Incident, you quickly get entry to the Grasslands, the primary of a number of open areas the place you may discover to finish a guidelines of quests starting from troublesome monster battles to capturing Moogles. Some areas are extra enjoyable than others, however it’s typically a blast operating round these environments on Chocobos and experiencing the entire varied challenges and story beats.
A few of these components are transcendentally glorious. For instance, I’d play a whole sport of the cardboard sport Queen’s Blood if Sq. Enix ever wished to place one out. It’s an engrossing and deep game-within-a-game that additionally leans into the quirky features of the world. Different components of the world are generally dreadful. Again within the authentic sport, there have been a number of mini-games. That translated to there being a number of mini-games on the planet of Rebirth. It’s humorous to see Cloud do squats. It’s much less humorous whenever you’re coping with the asinine Glide de Chocobo mini-game in Cosmo Canyon. Swap 2 doesn’t have achievements so hopefully folks don’t really feel as compelled to 100% each single mini-game as a result of my honest advice is to only transfer alongside the second the mini-game annoys you. Or, if you happen to’re so inclined, go into the choices menu and toggle on a few of the useful boosts to make a few of the mini-games simpler. These choices additionally lengthen to the sport as a complete. It’s nice to have entry to modifiers to tune the sport to the way you want to expertise it, whether or not it’s making your self tremendous highly effective or simply rushing up expertise level features.
The fight is similar to Remake however is far more expansive by advantage of the added complexity of recent characters like Crimson XIII, Yuffie, and Cait Sith. It’s an awesome growth of the superb motion RPG fight of Remake and I’m trying ahead to seeing the way it continues to mutate as new playable characters are added within the third installment. As soon as once more, the best triumph of the fight is that I legitimately don’t miss the turn-based fight. It’s enjoyable to change between characters mid-battle, change your celebration composition, and mess around with synergies. A handful of story moments railroad you into particular characters and if, for instance, you don’t like Cait Sith, you might need a nasty time. However I earnestly recognize these moments as a result of even when the precise late-game Cait Sith second I’m referring to is a weaker stretch of the sport, it makes you learn to successfully use every character’s expertise and talents. I positively developed favorites all through the sport, however I all the time loved spending time with the entire playable characters.
Closing Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a daring sport, whether or not it’s the path of the story, the scale of the world, or the silly quantity of mini-games. It’s a little bit bit messier than Remake, however the highs are larger. When this sport clicks, it’s one among my favourite video games in current reminiscence, making a few of the discordant moments much less egregious. On Swap 2, it’s a very high quality port, albeit not as spectacular because the port of Remake. There may be higher platforms to play this sport on, however if you happen to’re into the world of Closing Fantasy, RPGs, or wild and bizarre AAA video games, Closing Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a must-play wherever you will get it.
