I’m Worried Final Fantasy VII Revelation Will Overextend Itself, As Most Trilogies Do

During Gamescom 2026 last week, Square Enix revealed its biggest window yet into the world and gameplay of Final Fantasy VII Revelation. The nearly 10-minute gameplay demonstration showcased a barrage of new features, including the Highwind, Vincent and Cid, the FITS system, fights with Weapons, chocobo combat, parachuting into Wutai, a grappling hook, feline photo-ops, and much more.

It looked cool, without a doubt. The Final Fantasy VII diehard in me cannot wait until April 2027, when I can finally see this ambitious but clunky, campy yet often heartfelt trilogy to its fitting conclusion. And yet, I’d be lying if I said watching this gameplay didn’t leave me feeling skeptical.

I’m worried that Final Fantasy VII Revelation is trying too hard to be something it’s not: an action RPG that is also a fully fledged open-world game, attempting to compete with the best of both genres. Just based on these 10 minutes of footage (and various hands-on previews out of Gamescom), I’m worried Square Enix might fail on both fronts.

Final Bloatasy

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was a great game in many respects. Its combat was sublime, a clear step up from Remake thanks to revamped character abilities, new team attacks, and the addition of Red XIII, Yuffie, and Cait Sith. Its ending, though frustratingly non-committal, made me misty-eyed, to the point that I recorded a podcast mega-episode with fellow VII truthers Kei and Amanda. And, of course, it gave us Queen’s Blood, a terrific mini-game that has surpassed The Witcher 3‘s Gwent (and Final Fantasy’s own Triple Triad) as the greatest card game in video game history.

I have a lot of nice things to say about Rebirth. I also hate it for its endless filler, grindy side quests, and double-stuffed open zones. Even the team at Ubisoft would take a look at Rebirth’s map and say, “Hold on there, champ. Let’s rein it in a bit.” Oh, and don’t get me started on Chadley. Don’t get me going.

On our podcast — long after Amanda dropped off so Kei and I could talk broader, OG FF VII spoilers — we theorized what the third entry in the trilogy (then still unnamed) might play like. We agreed the story had a lot of ground left to cover; we also agreed the easiest way for Square Enix to do so would be to let players pilot the Highwind right from the jump and chart a course anywhere they please.

Turns out, we were correct. As shown in the Gamescom deep dive, Revelation will allow players to revisit old regions from Rebirth (though notably not Remake’s Midgar, as confirmed by Easy Allies) and embark on new quests with familiar faces. Players will also visit new areas, like Yuffie’s nation of Wutai and Cid’s Rocket Town. In the gameplay demo, Square Enix showcases Wutai, as Yuffie descends into the main village before grappling her way up to a charming vantage point.

On the surface, all of this sounds great. It’s exactly how Kei and I envisioned it! Only, and I feel a fool for ever thinking otherwise, the map in Revelation seems to have taken a cue from Rebirth and doubled down. Icons litter the map, side quests are everywhere, and tutorial screens abound (according to IGN, the clutter ended up hampering the actual gameplay flow). It’s hard to say whether the demo press played is indicative of the final product, but given vertical slices are supposed to represent the best part of your video game, I’m not optimistic.

Somehow, Sephiroth Returned

We’ve seen this blueprint before. A trilogy starts with a focused prelude, expands the mythos and mechanics with an ambitious follow-up, then tries (and fails) to one-up itself with a bloated finale. The recent Star Wars trilogy is the obvious example in films, but I’d argue games are even worse at sticking the landing. The Batman: Arkham games, Tomb Raider “Survivor” reboots, and Mass Effect trilogy are all examples of games that peaked with their second entry. (I’d argue Batman peaked with Arkham Asylum, but that’s an opinion piece for another day.)

Sometimes, the lack of a punchy ending is perfectly okay. Arkham Knight is a fine game, and though the introduction of the Batmobile ends up detracting more than adding, it’s still an Arkham game; the combat and stealth sections are enough to carry it through. Mass Effect 3′s “and behind door number 1…” ending suffered from the illusion of choice, but the journey itself was nonetheless exhilarating, and I enjoyed seeing the smaller payoffs for characters I’d come to know and love.

At other times, however, a poor third entry can completely undermine everything a series is building toward. The Zero Escape series (a deep cut, I know) built up incredible characters in 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Virtue’s Last Reward and propelled them forward with a terrifying hook: The cast is getting murdered one by one, and the villain responsible is hiding among them. In both games, the reveal of the titular Zero is a general mind-fuck moment: 999 made me gasp, only for VLR to make me outright scream. I saw neither twist coming, and despite the formula being very slasher-film-esque, Zero Escape always managed to subvert expectations… until Zero Time Dilemma. A jumbled game hampered by ambition, ZTD had nicer production values but weaker story payoffs and a downright terrible ending. It left a dark mark on an otherwise indelible series.

That “we dropped the ball” energy is exactly what I fear for Final Fantasy VII Relevation. Visually, the game looks as gorgeous as ever. Mechanically, its combat looks richer than either game that came before. I’m sure the story will move me to tears, then awe, then tears again. All of this can be true, while still enabling the worst tendencies this trilogy has fallen into over its nearly eight-year run.

Now, We Wait

Final Fantasy VII Revelation has plenty of interesting additions worth celebrating. The Highwind looks fun to pilot, verticality adds an interesting layer to traversal, and previewers all seem to agree that Cid and Vincent are incredibly satisfying to play as. The FITS system is still shrouded in mystery, but if Square Enix has proved one thing with this trilogy, it’s that they know what they’re doing with the combat. I’m willing to trust them there.

Where my patience wears thinner is the side content. If April comes and Revelation is another 40-hour game dressed with 60-plus hours of filler, I’ll be left wondering what this trilogy could have been with a lot more restraint.

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Final Fantasy VII Revelation, developed and published by Square Enix, releases on April 8, 2027, for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2. MSRP: $69.99.