Final Fantasy fans have been having a fantastic time over the last few years, and the fun doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Earlier this year, Japanese developer and publisher Square Enix held an event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII. As part of that event, it announced multiple new games. One of these was Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, which is a remaster of the original PlayStation Portal (PSP) game, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Given how much love the Final Fantasy VII series has been receiving from Square Enix, this was likely to happen at some point, and we now have some new gameplay to check out ahead of the game’s December release date.
The new gameplay video can be seen below, and it showcases what appear to be scenes near the beginning of the game. Much like Final Fantasy VII Remake, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is an incredible graphical step up from its original. As far as gameplay goes, it looks like players will be treated to something familiar but fresh at the same time. Mechanics from the original game appear to be intact but there’s also the more modern combat system and some clever improvements to help modernize the experience. Instead of the usual turn-based mechanics of most Final Fantasy games, Crisis Core used real-time combat and a roulette system that provided bonuses for matching pictures and executing certain moves.
The game lets gamers play as Zack Fair, who is a friend of Cloud Strife and a member of SOLDIER. There are numerous flashbacks to Zack in Final Fantasy VII as well. The prequel explores the backstory of Cloud and Zack, while also shedding light on the past of Sephiroth. All three characters were a part of SOLDIER and aided in the military interests of Shinra.
Fans of the original game may be wondering about whether any story details will be changed in this upcoming remaster, but the producer of the game, Yoshinori Kitase, has gone on record to say that it will not.
“With the FF VII Remake, it was a new starting point for a Final Fantasy VII, and so we decided to expand the story. But with the Crisis Core Reunion, it is a remaster and it’s still positioned as a story that expands on the original Final Fantasy VII story. And so we didn’t want to stray too far from that.”
Beyond Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, Final Fantasy fans can also look forward to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in the future.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion will be released on December 13 on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.
