Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Call it a homecoming

Like the best of bakers, in creating Final Fantasy VII Square Enix is obsessed with layers. Where the first game in this remake trilogy took us through the tiered  industrial city of Midgar, where the top-dwellers grow rich from bleeding the planet dry while those below live beneath a plated sky, this massive sequel takes us on a journey that cuts through many more strata.

There’s Kalm, a sleepy, pretty citadel town that’s built on the ashes of its precursor, a casualty of the Midgar-ruling megacorp Shinra’s history of war. There’s Under Junon, a town of refugees, literally covered by Shinra’s weapon-of-mass-destructiontoting Junon fortress. There’s sunny vacation spot Costa Del Sol where, behind the Hawaiian-like shakas and wheelie scooters, the corrupt mayor grows fat on letting Shinra have the run of the town. More than just fresh twists on a theme, the varied towns make each region in this lengthy, globetrotting journey feel distinct and alive. Shinra’s Mako-siphoning is causing problems for all as the planet nears environmental ruin, but its effects are felt in different ways by its inhabitants.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a layer cake unto itself, the sweet icing of serious, epic melodrama hiding an often bizarre yet delicious stacking of strange characters and minigames, just like in the original source material. Rebirth excels at being faithful to its roots, while adapting, expanding upon, and deepening the original’s ideas to great effect. But bigger, more divergent changes are where the new version stumbles – a shame after the last game’s climax seemed more gung-ho about veering off the rails.

FIGHTING FATE