If you thought Final Fantasy 7 Revelation was going to rein things in after the maximalist scale of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, then think again. This is, after all, the finale of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, so it's got to go out with a bang. Square Enix has also, so far, designed each instalment to be its own standalone RPG with a raft of new gameplay features rather than just a mere iteration of the next episode of the story.
While Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is already confirmed to be the largest entry to date – literally so with a file size estimated to be up to 200GB – there's plenty of new features that make this stand out from the already colossal achievements of its predecessors. This may still be a single-player story-driven party-based action RPG set over a planet-sized open world, but the developers have cooked up a lot more that demonstrates why it wasn't just called Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3.
There's potentially still more that Square Enix will reveal as the finale's April 8 launch date approaches, but from our hands-on time and official announcements made so far, these are the eight new features coming to Final Fantasy 7 Revelation that we feel is going to make this the most definitive of all the remake releases to date.
8. The Planet is your oyster
With the remake trilogy drawing to a close early 2027, we get ready for the epic conclusion with our Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Big Preview across hands-on impressions, dev access, and deep dives into the whole adventure so far.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth had already given us the impossible with an open world that really does encompass a world, and while Final Fantasy 7 Revelation adds to that with still several more locations, including Mideel and Wutai, its planetary scale has been magnified with verticality. You're not just fast-traveling to locations, but you have Cid's airship, the Highwind, which you can use to fly over any location and then jump out and parachute down seamlessly in real-time.
It's already a huge change from the original game where you could only access part of the overworld if you had enough space to land the Highwind. Instead of just warping to a set checkpoint, it also means if there's a nearby side quest marker, you can glide that way directly, or there might be another secret at a higher elevation you hadn't noticed before that's worth trying to land at to investigate. It's certainly a way to make revisiting places feel fresh again in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation.
7. My one and only chocobo
While Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth had a new chocobo for each region, Final Fantasy 7 Revelation reunites you with yellow-feathered chocobo Piko from the Grasslands, this time as your sole mount. That might sound like something this instalment is reining in, but what it actually means is Piko will feel like a permanent addition to the party. Not just a mount for getting you from A to B, they'll actually level up and can even fight alongside you in battle.
Old-school fans may lament that there won't be chocobo-breeding like the original game, but I think having Piko grow and unlock new abilities, both in terms of traversal and combat, during your journey makes for a more meaningful companion than any other gaming mount. It's not like The Witcher 3's Roach was ever useful in a fight.
6. We're all heroes now
Although Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine were introduced in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, they become fully playable party members in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation. While it will be exciting getting to grips with Cid's dragoon-style fighting style or Vincent's Galian beast transformation, you'll also be able to select them or any of the other party members as the playable character during exploration.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth did also try to mix things up occasionally in dungeons where the party would get split up or put you in control of a certain character in story-specific missions. Nonetheless, this small but meaningful change means you can spend more time controlling your favorite character while out in the wider world. It also makes sense given the story will cover the section when central protagonist Cloud will be out of action. And if you play as Vincent, it might be the closest we'll get to a Dirge of Cerberus remaster – it could still happen, right?
5. FITS you
Arguably the most significant new feature in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is the FITS (Function-Integrated Tactical Suitwear) system, which may also sound rather similar to Dresspheres for any Final Fantasy 10-2 fans. Essentially, you can give each party member new threads or armor that also give them new classes that recall classic Final Fantasy jobs, such as Knight, Black Mage, or Summoner.
There's real style to this too as each outfit is tailored to each character rather than wearing the same job uniform. The abilities that come with each outfit are also actually additions rather than changing your class entirely, so if Tifa is dressed as a white mage, rest assured you can still kick ass with her divekick as before. That also means, if you're not looking to think too deeply about builds and just like the outfits as a cosmetic, then that's totally viable too.
4. Meteor shower
The Black Materia is going to be a crucial plot point in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, as it's what allows Sephiroth to summon Meteor, and its ominous presence in the sky is going to be inescapable as you play through the game. Its activation will however also cause significant change to the world, notably the emergence of Weapons roaming the world.
Perhaps more significant is how the effects of Black Materia may alter the world's terrain. We can only speculate at this point what that can mean, but taking the addition of the Highwind and Piko into account as new ways of traversal, don't be surprised if the Grasslands suddenly has new structures or a rupture in the ground that require more verticality in traversal to explore. Call it the Tears of the Kingdom effect, but it should also mean you aren't just going back to explore the exact same regions as you left them in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
3. Materia world
Equipping Materia to use spells or gain buffs remains a key aspect of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, though being treated as its own standalone game, I won't be surprised if that means having to upgrade them and find new Materia again, even if you might start with a default number of them as with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
But, one area this finale plans to go further is how many Materia you can potentially link together. While we have already had gear that could link two Materia together, there may also be armor that can link three Materia together. That could mean being able to Magnify Materia to two separate spells so that they both reap the benefits, or potentially other uses that I'm still racking my brain over.
2. Triple trouble
Synergy was a cool feature introduced in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth where you can have two party members team up together in battle. These ranged from real-time Synergy Skills like Aerith calling another party member to be her bodyguard or Tifa getting someone to launch her towards an enemy, to Synergy Abilities as show-stopping as Limit Breaks. How do you top that? Triple Synergy!
Given the three-person party size that was also true of the original game, it seems such a logical conclusion to have them all unite in one killer combo. That said, given the complexity of coordinating three characters simultaneously, I suspect this may just be limited to an ultimate ability that may only be available in specific situations, but expect them to leave a lasting impression.
1. Go hard or go home
Players looking for a proper challenge in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation don't need to finish the game to unlock a hard mode. Given how long this finale is going to be, that's already a tall order. But it also doesn't mean it's going to be hard mode available from the start but with that mode's item restrictions or enemies with double the health as with past games.
What it actually means in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is that because of the huge amount of side quests available and freedom to explore from very early on, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from taking on the toughest side quests and bosses even if you've vastly underleveled, while there are of course also the Weapons roaming the land, just tempting you to go pick a fight, whether or not you're ready.
Our best Final Fantasy games ranking is a revelation when it comes to finding something new to play to plug the gap while you wait for more, while our best RPGs, best JRPGs, and best ARPGs lists have even more!
