Is Ff7 Remake Worth It

Terminal Fantasy seven Remake on PC is a bones, bare-bones port - but this game is irresistible on max settings

It's great to have the bright FF7 Remake on PC - just don't wait its no-frills PC port to break any limits, if you know what I hateful.

So, the obvious has finally happened. Ane year after the PS4 release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake nosotros got Intergrade, the PS5 upgrade that also included a bonus chapter. And 6 months to the day after Intergrade'southward release, Sony's exclusivity grip on this reimagining of a archetype was relinquished, the PC version appear. Fast forwards a few more days to today, and the PC version of FF7 Remake is at present available as an Epic Games Store exclusive. I've been playing it early.

What is there to say? Well, for starters, Concluding Fantasy 7 Remake is one of the very best games of 2020. Information technology'south admirable for a few reasons, chiefly how it handles the legacy of 1 of the most important games of all time and the fan expectations which come fastened as a result. Even more beauteous is how, after spending much of the game gingerly carrying those expectations with care, it then roughs them up and throws them out of the window - only also deftly avoids throwing the infant out with the bathwater. Where information technology leads in sequels could well end upwards being a real hot mess, but I do think the way FF7 Remake handles itself is something of a masterclass, and far more than imaginative than many of the other remakes in the gaming space.

It's also a peachy game, though. Its reimagining of FF7's archetype 'Active Time Battle' RPG mechanics into a more action-driven, directly-controlled affair is the best Terminal Fantasy has managed to blend former and new together - and the serial has spent much of the past decade flirting with variations on that theme with mixed results. In curt, it's a game well worth playing - and now it's opened upward to a whole new audience on PC.

PC purists volition want to know, of class, exactly how good the PC version of the game is. I'm pleased to report that it's… fine? I'm less pleased to report that information technology'southward also bare-basic - and so if y'all were waiting for this release hoping for real-time ray tracing, college-resolution assets than even the PS5, or even something equally uncomplicated equally ultra wide back up, yous will exist left wanting.

The PC graphics settings menu lets you choose between 2 brandish modes (Borderless Full Screen & Windowed), a variety of standard 16:nine resolutions from 720p upwards to 4K, plus 2 settings each (Depression or High) for Texture Resolution & Shadow Resolution. At that place's HDR support and the associated settings, and finally you can adapt the number of non-vital NPCs on-screen at once from cypher (which might be handy for speed runners) up to ten. For frame charge per unit, yous tin can enquire the game to target 30, threescore, or 120fps. The latter is probably the biggest headline addition for PC, if you have a car and display that can output at that refresh rate.

Of course, this is the Intergrade release of FF7 Remake. That means it's not a PS4 game… or isn't quite a PS4 game. The interesting thing about playing the main campaign now, over a year on, is that one can really sense its condition as an end-of-generation game. In some ways its vision is across the PS4, with incredibly high-end, glitzy cutscenes and character models that are meliorate than some new-generation exclusive games. In others, you'll immediately empathize from which generation the game really hails, in low-poly, low-res textured trash piles in the game's undercity slums and so on so forth. While the PS5 'Intergrade' release worked to iron out some of these wrinkles, many are however present - and you'll quite often find a nasty-looking texture in patently sight in otherwise gorgeous cutscenes.

The Intergrade-exclusive chapter, which is an all-new story starring FF7 favourite Yuffie, is also included here every bit standard. It's a overnice piddling side story that I rate roughly the aforementioned equally the main game when putting a score on it. It's not huge - information technology'southward a 4 or five hr distraction you should undertake but after completing the main game. Because it was designed for PS5 from the ground-up, it's slightly better looking than the main game - but it ultimately has many of the same foibles, simply every bit it did on PS5.

It'd be easy to be disappointed with this, and I'g sure some people will be, given this is a full-toll, eighteen-calendar month-late PC release of FF7 Remake. That'south also why I've led with it here - I'1000 not going to scream near how much I dearest this game and how glad I am to finally take it on PC, considering the important headline PC players need to know is that this port does the bare minimum. The game runs, and runs well, at least on the three PC rigs I tried information technology on. If yous want PC-specific bells and whistles, you lot'll probable be waiting for modders to step up, however.

With that caveat said, though: human, I really exercise love this game, and I'm and then glad to finally have it on PC. It's not perfect, but I think this is an important game, but in the sense of what it does with the word 'Remake' and what that word comes to hateful every bit the game's story progresses. I think information technology should somewhen state on Xbox besides (and this PC version instantly recognizes Xbox controllers and adjusts the HUD accordingly). Information technology deserves as wide an audience as possible. The particularly value-conscious might ultimately want to wait for a auction, though.

I final note, for those thinking of jumping in: I do retrieve FF7 Remake is a amend experience if you've played the original Final Fantasy 7. That is of class available on PC, and much more cheaply. It'southward an old game, but information technology holds up well. Together on the same platform, the two brand a fascinating pairing - and in how long information technology might take you to play the original, this PC release will likely accept dropped in toll.