The review embargo for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth lifted today, and although it's still very early, the Remake sequel is currently the highest rated game in the series' since 2000's Final Fantasy 9 on Metacritic, the video game industry's foremost review aggregation site.
As Benji-Sales points out on Twitter, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is sitting at 119 reviews on Metacritic with a 93 rating, besting Final Fantasy 16's 87 score, Final Fantasy Remake's 87, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion's 78, Final Fantasy 15's 81, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin's 72, and holy hell there are a lot of Final Fantasy games. I'll stop listing their respective Metacritic ratings, but I have personally verified each one and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the highest since Final Fantasy 9, which sits at 94 currently, just a point higher.
With 114 Reviews in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is currently the 2nd Highest Reviewed Final Fantasy Game of All-Time on Metacritic, only behind Final Fantasy 9 back on PlayStation 1It's now the highest scoring Final Fantasy game of the last 23 years pic.twitter.com/xSAiUzLs3qFebruary 22, 2024
Of course, Metacritic doesn't paint the entire picture, especially since there are plenty of beloved Final Fantasy games that pre-date the website. You'll find them all on Metacritic, but there are a bunch of dead links to expired reviews, and going back that far the data generally just isn't clean enough to compare to a new release from today. Regardless, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth being the highest rated in 23 years is an accomplishment worth noting.
Our own Iain Harris wrote in his Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth review: "Among its many highs, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the beloved RPG series at its best. Chemistry between characters continues to shine, improvements to side-content ensure that the original's step-out moment is one worth taking, and combat remains Square Enix's most compelling blend of modern action and active time battle heritage."
