BUSTER KEEPIN'

FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE paints a future in classic colours

- Oscar Taylor-Kent

NEED TO KNOW

WHAT IS IT? A remake of Final Fantasy VII

EXPECT TO PAY £70

DEVELOPER Square Enix

PUBLISHER In-house

REVIEWED ON AMD Ryzen 7 1700X, Gigabyte RTX 2080 Super, 32Gb RAM

MULTIPLAYER No

LINK epicgames.com/store/ en-US/p/final-fantasyvii-remake-intergrade

Final Fantasy VII Remake has arrived on PC months after its PlayStation release, at a price of £70. The hope was for a definitive version, but at launch, I can’t say this is it. Which is incredibly disappointing, because in spite of Square Enix giving it the kind of PC port the publisher is infamous for – not as bad as Nier: Automata, but still somewhat underwhelming – the Final Fantasy VII Remake is excellent and great to play.

After the lacklustre, confused, and unfinished-feeling Final Fantasy XV, this new take on one of the most beloved games in the series feels like it truly has vision. It balances faithfully recreating the original 1997 game (1998 if you first played it on PC like I did, giving me a lasting appreciation for the MIDI soundtrack), while commenting on the source material in a way that makes it feel up-to-date. The combat system is now fully real-time, though in a way that finally manages to honour the classic RPG legacy of the series.

The biggest caveat is that, despite the title,