On March 2, Square Enix quietly released the Final Fantasy VII Remake demo on the PS Store.

On March 2, Square Enix quietly released the Final Fantasy VII Remake demo on the PS Store. You can go through it literally in an hour and a half, but this is enough to make up the basic impression of a remake of the iconic JRPG. That is exactly what I did.

To begin with – what is Final Fantasy VII Remake? This is a third-person action game with RPG elements in which a player accompanied by an NPC (there was only one partner in the demo, but in the release version there will be more of them) fights with opponents and performs quests. All battles in the game take place in real time, but they always have the opportunity to turn on a tactical pause. With her, the time in the game will go very slowly, and the user will be able to activate the skills of the heroes or use first-aid kits and other items.

All characters have their own sets of skills and various approaches to the battle. Cloud, for example, has two battle stances: a regular one and a “punisher”. In the first, he moves quickly and inflicts swift, but not too powerful blows. In the “punisher,” it is the other way around: it uses sweeping strikes and blows tons of health, but it moves much more slowly and cannot block retaliatory attacks. Barrett’s fighting style is completely different – which is hinted at by the machine gun built into his hand. A character can shoot him in different modes, including powerful volleys thanks to one of the skills.

You can switch between heroes at any time, and in pause mode, control both of them. For example, being Cloud, during a pause, you can always force Barrett to make a powerful shot at a distant enemy. A special scale is spent on the application of skills and the use of objects, which accumulates for simple attacks and timely evasions. Finally, there is a super blow that I managed to apply once for the entire demo – it blows a monstrous amount of health, looks beautiful, but takes a very long time to recharge.

According to the videos and my description, it may seem that fighting in Final Fantasy VII is boring, but this is completely not so. Due to the variety of opponents, a wide selection of skills and the general fragility of the main characters, the fights are very dynamic. You have to use the tactical pause in FF VII almost more often than in any Dragon Age: Origins – and this is a compliment! The only pity is that in the demo there was no Typhus Lockhart, which spreads the enemies with their feet. After all, they know how to buy for purchase!

The only thing that really enrages in FF VII is the camera. It automatically fixes itself on opponents, as in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and sometimes finds itself in a very uncomfortable position. And, apparently, we’ll have to put up with it – no one will redo this a month before the release.

Before starting the passage, the game will offer to choose between two difficulty modes. In one of them, the characters are able to fight on their own – the player can only follow the fights from the side and occasionally give the heroes of the team. In the second, which I chose, battles take place in the usual mode. And even in it, the game did not seem difficult to me … until I reached the first boss – a giant iron scorpion.

Damn it, do you even imagine what the “first boss” means? This is usually a simple adversary who throws the player a minimal challenge. But no, in FF VII of the first boss I killed a good 20-25 minutes of real time. The creature had a huge number of health points, powerful attacks, and even one hit, capable of one-shot heroes.

Immediately after the victory over the scorpion, I met two opponents comparable in strength to Cloud – they deftly dodged the blows, could block attacks and did quite a lot of damage themselves. Defeating them, I reached the end of the level, and the demo ended. And it’s good, because it became scary to play further. Perhaps the release version will have more options and complexity settings, but now it is very strange. When you spread the adversaries in a few seconds and do not particularly strain, and then you are forced to fight with the boss for 25 minutes of real time – this causes dissonance.

What else can be said about the demo and in general about the remake of Final Fantasy VII? The game is very beautiful. The authors did a great job on animation, colors and special effects – the remake really looks juicy. The music from the veteran of the Nobuo Uematsu series is magnificent – the compositions at the right time emphasize the epic nature of what is happening on the screen, and between this pleasantly fill the void. Just cool, my respect.

In general, a remake of Final Fantasy VII can be recommended to beginners and those who want to get acquainted with the series. This is a great entry point. I don’t say anything about veterans and fans – April 10th will be a holiday for them, comparable to a birthday or New Year. Two decades later, again to see Cloud and walk through a completely new, but at the same time old Midgar – an indescribable feeling.

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