Square Enix’s remake team has delivered another knockout opening for Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, the third and final chapter in its ambitious trilogy. During a roughly 40-minute hands-on demo of the game’s first chapter played on the PlayStation 5 Pro, previewers were plunged into the Northern Crater, introduced to two new playable characters, and shown Cloud Strife teetering right up to the brink of psychological collapse — all ahead of the title’s April 8, 2027 release across Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
The demo picks up almost immediately after Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth ends, with Cloud and his companions departing the City of the Ancients to chase Sephiroth toward the Northern Crater. As the group ventures deeper into the region, they begin to feel the intoxicating effects of the area’s dense Mako energy — a force described in-game as somewhere between the Force and “magic soul petroleum.” Barret and Cid joke about feeling tipsy while Yuffie voices fears of an imminent Shinra invasion and longs for home. Meanwhile Tifa continues, with little success, to ignore Cloud’s rapid deterioration.
A Cosmic Descent Into Nibelheim
Most of the preview unfolded within the Northern Crater, which receives a splashy visual overhaul in true remake fashion. Where the original PlayStation 1 title depicted the location as an unremarkable green-black pit, Revelation transforms it into something far more psychedelic — vast crystalline formations rise from the depths while shimmering aurora borealis ribbons weave through the sky.
The transformation is a welcome departure from the original game’s drab terrain. As Cloud and his allies journey toward the center of the Planet, they encounter several skirmishes that double as tutorials for the two newly playable characters: Vincent Valentine and Cid Highwind.
Screenshot: Square EnixVincent, Cid, and a New Combat Layer
Vincent operates as a hybrid of Barret and Red XIII, wielding long-range standard attacks that prove
Join the conversation