Square Enix has released a playable demo for the Final Fantasy VII Remake ahead of it’s April 10th launch. The demo is available for PlayStation owners worldwide on the PlayStation Store today.
The demo allows players to experience the opening chapter of the game including the events of the iconic Mako Reactor 1 bombing mission. Players who download the demo prior to May 11, 2020 will get an exclusive PlayStation 4 theme when the game launches in April.
As you may be aware, the Mako Reactor 1 bombing mission is the demo that was available to media and attendees for the first time at E3 2019. Our own Lisa Mior took on the demo at E3 last year and was pretty well blown away by the experience: “The section I played on its own gave me the deeper, richer version of Final Fantasy VII that I and so many other fans were hoping for. While I did at one point experience some wonky camera angles as I was exploring the passages to the reactor, the combat felt smooth and fluid, and having the option to pause as you select skills and plan your next move was not only a wonderful call back to the turn-based battle system I enjoyed with the original, but a clever way to integrate skill-heavy combat with an action-based system.” Having experienced the demo myself at the show last year, I can absolutely agree with that assessment, so players who download the demo will be pretty pleased with the highly anticipated remake.
If you’ve never played the original Final Fantasy VII, you’ll be pleased to know that the remake is pretty much a shot-for-shot update of the original game, with an updated combat system (though there are certainly ways to play it in a more old-school turn-based style) but with the same story that so enthralled millions of gamers around the world. Players take on the shadowy Shinra Electic Power Company as former Shinra SOLDIER Cloud Strife.
The first part of the game is launching on April 10, 2020 and is set in the city of Midgar. It will be a fully standalone gaming experience, exclusive to the PlayStation 4 system.
You can download the Final Fantasy VII Remake demo now.