Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is going to be a much more open experience than its predecessor, and it seems like fan feedback was among the reasons behind this.

　　Speaking with Saudi Gamer, Director Naoki Hamaguchi commented on the lessons the development team learned from making Remake, highlighting how fans loved the story, but did not like how following the story took away player agency. Being aware of this, the team decided to provide freedom of choice in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, letting players choose what order to tackle things while giving them plenty of side content. Speaking about the game's map, the game's director also confirmed that, by the end of the game, players will be able to return to every location thanks to the seamlessly joined world map.

　　In the same interview, the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Director also commented on additional costumes. Unlike Remake, where the costumes could only be seen during certain sequences, it seems like they will be available for an entire playthrough, but only after experiencing the campaign, suggesting that different costumes can be picked for either the postgame or some sort of New Game Plus mode.

　　Final Fantasy VII Rebirth launches on PlayStation 5 on February 29th worldwide. You can learn more about the game by checking out Kai's hands-on preview.

　　From beginning to end (with a quick detour for an environmental puzzle involving powering on and navigating a cleaner robot to purify the air preventing Cloud’s troupe from accessing a necessary elevator), the chapter wrapped up in just under thirty minutes, including a boss fight at the end culminating against the Materia Guardian, a six-legged monstrous beast that puts both Cloud and Sephiroth’s fighting prowess to the test. A quick refresher on staggering the enemy is all that keeps players from jumping and defeating the guardian in melee combat, all the while Sephiroth churns out snide remarks reminding Cloud to take out the enemy’s legs or to get good and not get hit. Numerous cutscenes intersperse themselves with the boss fight, providing an extra level of spectacle to the encounter.