Fantasy Finally Becomes Reality

Oscar Taylor-Kent is on cloud nine and in seventh heaven as he takes a long-awaited journey back to Midgar in Final Fantasy VII Remake

Twenty-three years on, our application to join AVALANCHE has finally been accepted. It’s the ecoterrorist group trying to save its planet’s energy from being sucked dry, and we’ve stepped into the ex-SOLDIER boots of Cloud, a superpowered swordsman who’s been enhanced by that very same energy and now turned against the organisation he worked for, Shinra, the corporation that rules the steampunk-inspired city of Midgar with an ironclad grip.

Midgar is a marvel at a glance, but mired in its own issues. With a dense population, the upper class literally living above those who dwell in slums beneath the main city’s plates, Shinra has to keep everyone in line. Not that Cloud is worried about that. He’s just helping out AVALANCHE for the mercenary paycheque, or so he says.

URBAN ASSAULT

Our extensive hands-on demo has us playing from the very beginning as the team carry out a bombing on one of the city’s Mako reactors. Seamlessly moving from cutscene to action, this is an absolutely gorgeous remake that thankfully retains the visual stylings of the PS1 original. Where FFXV was often beautiful, too many times assets felt like they’d been plopped randomly onto the world. Here everything is immediately cohesive, Midgar towering around you, beautiful in its neon hum and oppressive in its overbearing structures.