I have been looking forward to Final Fantasy 7 Remake (FF7R) for 5 years. I am excited and anxious at the same time! Square Enix has the chance to make something really great or I fear they can jump-the-shark causing players to despise them for destroying something we all hold so very dear to our hearts.

This can go very badly for Square Enix if they do not stick this landing. FF7 is a very beloved game within its fan-base and Square Enix has had a hard time recently convincing them after the past couple main title series flops. Final Fantasy 13 was so bad they gave it 2 sequels to bolster the franchise which also failed because no one wanted or ask for them. Final Fantasy 15 was lackluster. It had a decent fighting system but the story needed more work and it eventually turned into a cash grab which was a disappointment.

With that said, Square Enix has the original FF7 team working on FF7R. They have announced that they will stay true to the original story but update the graphics, include new mini-games, and fill some story plot-holes.

Recently, they hit a delay, pushing the game release date to April 10, 2020. So in the meantime they released a demo around the original release date. I have to admit, the demo brings back some nostalgia, but it feels like a completely different game— which is not necessarily a bad thing.

The graphics are absolutely beautiful in all their 4K glory! The game play is very different from the original turn-based combat. It is fast-paced in real-time like with FF15. It will be fun to learn each character’s controls. The menu systems feel like the original but the action menu shortcuts feel like Kingdom Hearts 3. There is also the stagger gauge from FF13 which may be stacking on more mechanics than there should be but we will see once we have the full game. I wish the demo went into more detail about materia and summons but alas I guess I will have to wait.

Overall, I like what I have seen so far. The only problem I can foresee is it may be trying too hard to pile on mechanics from other games instead of just being true to its original concept. “Modern” does not mean that you need to cram all the successful controls from every game into one. I feel I may forget that some of the controls exist and I may prefer it to be more simplistic. I guess I will know for sure when I get the full game.

The full game releases on April 10, 2020. See you in Midgar!