Apex Legends gets the Buster Sword, crossover skins, and a new mode from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth comes to the world of Apex Legends later this month, complete with cosplay and the Buster Sword itself.

From January 9 to 30, the Final Fantasy 7 Takeover event will be active in Apex Legends, complete with its very own mode temporarily replacing unranked Battle Royale modes. You can check out the full the trailer for the event below for an idea of how the mode will play out.

Most interestingly, the Buster Sword will function as a 'universal' Heirloom for every character in the event. So rather than just being a reskin, you can only get hold of the Buster Sword by obtaining all 36 cosmetic events while the Final Fantasy 7 Takeover event is active in Apex Legends.

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Speaking of, those cosmetics include new skins for Wattson, Crypto, Horizon, Newcastle, and others. Newcastle's basically doing cosplay of Barrett, and Horizon is dressing up as Aerate, both of which look suitably adorable. This Takeover event should purge a fair few wallets out there.

There'll also be five Materia Hop-Ups active in the special Final Fantasy 7 Takeover mode. These are all color-coded, and offer differing abilities - the blue Materia heals you when you damage enemies, for example, while the yellow Materia lets you see the remaining health of any enemies you damage.

There's also a green Materia, where reloading an empty magazine will shoot out an electric wave, and a purple Materia which grants you random critical hits on an enemy. Finally, and perhaps most excitingly, a red Materia will summon a Nessie companion to lay into other players. Finally, Nessie wins in a meaningful way.

You can read up on our new games 2024 guide for a look ahead at all the biggest releases of the coming year.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.