With Final Fantasy VII Revelation roughly six months from its April launch, IGN’s Jackie Thomas got hands-on time with a linear slice of the game at New York Comic Con, offering fresh looks at new progression systems and combat mechanics in what will be the trilogy’s conclusion.
The demo opened early in Chapter 1 as the party arrives at the North Crater, following a path toward the center of the giant crater. This contrasts with earlier IGN previews that focused on flying around the open world in the Highwind. Both Michael Higham and Logan Plant described the game as a massive and overwhelming experience, though this first chapter felt more like walking into a late-game dungeon to fight a boss.
The demo featured fully-equipped party members, leading Thomas to note that balance could change significantly before release. “It’s important to keep in mind that this is just an early demo,” she wrote, adding that the game launches in April.
New Materia Progression and Quality-of-Life Improvements
A new way to level up Materia was revealed through the menu system. Rather than slowly absorbing AP by defeating enemies, players can now consume Materia fragments—Thomas started with 200—to add one AP ratio to their Materia. Feeding all of them into Fire Materia gained about a third of a level in the short demo.
The Item Transmuter has returned from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but gathering materials should be easier. The auto-loot option, which players had to complete the campaign to unlock in Rebirth, is enabled by default in Revelation. “That’s a huge improvement,” Thomas noted about being able to collect crafting materials without repeatedly pressing the triangle button.
Combat Systems and Boss Fights
This aligns with Game Director Naoki Hamaguchi’s stated goal of making the platinum trophy easier to unlock. Thomas was able to defeat standard enemies without much effort and dispatched larger enemies—introduced through mini-cutscenes—with just a couple of ATB abilities, though she cautioned it was too early to gauge overall difficulty.
The FITS system allows Cloud to take on the Summoner job for one segment of the ATB meter, summoning Ifrit, Shiva, or Titan to enhance attacks. Synergy attacks work like previous entries—building a bar through abilities—but summons only require building ATB on one character. Most enemies died before Thomas could unlock these.
Sephiroth and Jenova Encounters
Deeper in the crater, players encounter numerous Sephiroth clones until Cloud experiences his signature vision of the character. As exploration continues, creatures fuse with the clones to create more monstrous enemies, culminating in a fight against Gigas.
Thomas was able to build up one of Cloud’s synergy attacks with Ifrit during this battle—a fusion of the summon’s classic Hellfire attack with Cloud’s sword—though Gigas died before the animation completed. Later encounters feature Sephiroth clones surrounding a purple glow, leading to Jenova Deathmourner hatching from one clone in a cutscene.
The three-phase boss fight involves dodging fire-breathing tentacles that make the boss invincible and using multiple synergy abilities across different character combinations. After defeating it, the demo concluded.
“I would have liked the combat to be a bit more difficult,” Thomas wrote, but noted there is likely to be significant balance tuning before launch. She praised the game’s dramatic story sections while acknowledging the earlier open-world previews highlighted the game’s scope as the trilogy’s conclusion.
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