Final Fantasy 7 Reborn Possibly the Best Version of the Game’s Most Popular Flashback – Final Hands-On Preview

In the history of video games, few single sequences are as famous and important as Final Fantasy 7’s “Nibelheim Flashback.” When you think about what this sequence accomplishes, it’s pretty exciting. It set the stage for FF7’s genre-defining narrative, cemented an iconic villain with a long history, boasted some incredible technical execution (for its time), and also created the most enduring single image in gaming history one. Basically, this is important.

This makes the task of recreating the modern setting for Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth very difficult. But to complicate matters, the “Nibelheim Incident” has happened more than once – and honestly, it’s always been done well.

There’s the original Final Fantasy VII (1997), the animated Last Order (2005) and the beloved spin-off Crisis Core (2007). All have slightly different versions of events, each slightly different, and although they slightly contradict each other, the stories differ from each other. There are other changes too – another look at the events in the Japan-exclusive mobile game Pre-Crisis (2004), and more recently in Pre-Crisis (2023). This is where people hang out.

While players can now experience a demo that shows off Nibelheim’s flashback sequence (roughly a third of the way through), I got to practice the sequence in its entirety as part of the final hands-on session for FF7 Reborn. While I’ve also experienced more of the game’s open-world ambitions, I don’t have much new to say than I did back in September, and inevitably the flashbacks that grabbed my attention the most were Final Fantasy Legend Goblins.

Honestly, gameplay-wise, this is very similar to many of FF7 Remake’s rollercoaster mission sequences. You’ll be drawn from one battle to the next, with the energetic music taking you from the frantic pace of combat to a calm but still tense pace between battles. The pacing is occasionally interrupted by cutscenes or hectic little puzzles, like vacuuming up a leaking Mako to secure an area. Then you move on.

All of this is somewhat expected. My expectation is that Rebirth will be a bigger, better, more bombastic remake that has the courage to stray far from the source material. But despite this, there are some surprising things about Rebirth.

Really, it’s mostly in the story execution. In my opinion, the initial flashback is defined by the uniquely slow introduction of Claude and company as they arrive in Nibelheim and learn about the town. I fear that may not be the case here, as the flashback is one of the earliest parts of Rebirth. In fact, the preview clearly states that it’s “Chapter One.” But the remake’s flashbacks don’t trade it for an action-packed intro: You get a chance to wander around the town and are actively encouraged to do things like explore Tifa’s house and reunite with Cloud’s mother – all of which They all create tension and fear about what is about to happen.

Part of it, I suspect, is bravery. Another part may be a clever bit of misdirection, as the build we played lacked a clear “opening” to the game – which, at least to me, suggested that the introduction to Chapter 1 actually followed something else that was a bit over the top. Bombing mission – possibly involving Zack.

Regardless, it works because it retains and actually enhances what made the original flashback so effective. Small details, like playing Tifa’s piano, are now full-fledged mini-games. Blink-and-you’ll-miss-it characters from the original are now given some details in addition to a sketch of one person, and more.

Somehow, this version of this classic scene is funny. It offers something new in terms of depth of portrayal of two key characters in the events, Cloud and Sephiroth. It has a flair for cinema and a deep love for the source material.it is just work.

Despite some obvious flaws, it still works. Whenever FF7 Remake has attempted Uncharted-style in-game storytelling, the results have been a bit underwhelming—here, Cloud is limping around a burning Nibelheim at super-low speed Walking, and while the visual design doesn’t make it entirely clear from the get-go where you’re destined to burn the flames, I cringed.

As I was asked to pull trigger after trigger, leaving him crawling on the floor injured, I was reminded, vaguely, of Tifa’s super trashy “Baby’s first Tomb Raider” sequence in FF7 Remake Feel annoyed. Generally, I see these things and think “this is so lame, it should just be a cutscene” – a thought that comes naturally considering how lavish and wonderful FF7 Rebirth’s handcrafted cutscenes are.

This perhaps suggests that even though FF7 Reborn is bigger and better, it may still be guilty of some of its predecessor’s worst tendencies. But you know what? I really don’t care. It still feels like the best version of one of the most important sequences in gaming history – which speaks to the quality of what’s on offer and the deft hand of the developers behind it. Now all we have to do is wait and see if the rest of the game lives up to that goal. If it does, it could very well become an all-time classic.

Final Fantasy 7 Reborn will be released on PS5 on February 29th.