If you’ve finished Final Fantasy 7 Remake, you may be wondering when Part 2 of the game will be releasing.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a re-imagining of classic ’90s JRPG Final Fantasy 7. But, rather than releasing the remake as one single title, developer Square Enix has opted to release the remake as a series of games instead – with the first part having released in April, 2020.
While Square Enix announced in November 2019 that development on Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 has started, the company hasn’t confirmed a release date for the second part of the game; and, unfortunately, we’re expecting a wait of at least a couple years. We do at least know that the second chapter of the critically acclaimed remake will fully utilize the power of the PS5.
Want to find out more? We’ve rounded up everything we know about FF7 Remake Part 2 so far, including news, rumors and what we’re hoping to see in the second game.
[Update: Naoki Hamaguchi has said the team wants “to challenge ourselves to leverage the breadth of the world” in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2. Read on to find out more.]
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The second part of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake
- When can I play it? TBC
- What can I play it on? PS5 (and likely PS4)
- How many parts will Final Fantasy 7 Remake have? This hasn’t been confirmed
FF7 Remake Part 2 release date
While we know that Square Enix has already started work on Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2, the developer hasn’t confirmed when it will release.
We do know that FF7 Remake Part 2 is now in full production, with director Tetsuya Nomura telling Famitsu in July 2020 (via VGC) that he is aiming for release “as soon as possible”. But it could be a while before we get our hands on it.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake didn’t release until five years after it was announced. However, we’re not expecting another five-year wait for part 2 as Square Enix has now built the foundation of the game. In addition, a Square Enix representative told IGN that “the development team is planning the volume of content for the second part of the series, and that the team anticipates that the development of the second game will be more efficient”.
Square Enix has previously compared Final Fantasy 7 Remake to Final Fantasy 13 – which released (essentially) in three parts, with roughly a two-year gap between each of the entries. If Final Fantasy 7 Remake is going to be anything like that, then we’re looking at around a two-year wait until part 2 – meaning we may not see it until at least 2022.
FF7 Remake Part 2 news and rumors
Preparing with Intergrade
In an August 2021 interview on the Unreal Engine blog, the Final Fantasy 7 Intergrade development team has delved into the ways they utilized current-gen hardware to make the game look better. The interview touches on the game’s faster loading times and its improved visuals as well as what the team learned. Of interest to fans hungry for news of Part II, Co-Director Naoki Hamaguchi said that his biggest goal with the update to the latest consoles “was to get a first-hand feel of the performance of the next-gen hardware leading up to the next installment of Final Fantasy VII Remake”.
According to Hamaguchi, he was “able to learn several things, like how much load is feasible using 3K and 4K rendering resolutions, or what the threshold is for loading high-quality assets while allowing players to play without stress, since the I/O bottleneck is now gone due to the implementation of the high-speed SSD.” The process has, he added, led to “very meaningful experiences for our developers working on our next title”, which is presumably Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2. It seems, then, that Intergrade has enabled the team to bridge the gap between parts technically as well as narratively.
Talking maps
In a recent interview with The Gamer, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 co-director Naoki Hamaguchi has touched on what players might be able to expect from the game in terms of its world building and map. “I understand that there are lots of fans out there who want to see a world map,” Hamaguchi explained, “and we want to challenge ourselves to leverage the breadth of the world in the next game of the overall project, so you can expect great things to come.”
Denying that Fort Condor mini games are a sign of anything, Hamaguchi said, “There is no connection between Final Fantasy 7 Remake not having a world map and Fort Condor being included. We wanted to include some kind of mini game in the Yuffie episode from the start of development, and felt that it would be better to have something that paid homage to the original and be nostalgic for those who had played it, rather than include something new.”
Using elements from Intermission
Aspects of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade’s Intermission chapter could feature in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2, according to the game’s co-director. Speaking with The Washington Post (via VGC), Naoki Hamaguchi said that some of the combat and gameplay enhancements introduced in Intergrade will likely be in Part 2, more specifically, Yuffie and Sonon’s team-up moves from Intermission.
“I am rather satisfied with this final form, in which the strategic element of the command-based battle from the original co-exists with the real-time, action-oriented battle,” he said, adding, “Additionally, with ‘Intermission,’ there’s another element introduced: combo moves where Yuffie and Sonon team up … which makes for a different feel in battle strategy. I would like to leverage these, including other elements we tried out in ‘Intermission,’ in our next story.”
Leveraging the “vastness of the world”
In an interview with IGN, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 co-director Motomu Toriyama offered some tantalising teasers for the game while talking about Intergrade’s recent Yuffie DLC. Toriyama couldn’t offer much in the way of details but did say, “As for improvement, or should I say ‘change,’ moving forward — because the next instalment will involve Cloud and company to leave Midgar and explore the world map, our next challenge will be to create gameplay that leverages the vastness of the world, unlike what we did in this current title.”
Starting directly after Intergrade
During a recent Square Enix livestream in which a new trailer was released for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, Tetsuya Nomura was able to give a tiny insight into the second part of the remake. Nomura confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 will pick up where Intergrade ends, adding that development on the game continues “smoothly” and that announcements will be made when “the time is right”.
A different director
It has been confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 will have a different director as Tetsuya Nomura, director of the first part, is stepping down. In an interview with Famitsu (via GamesRadar), Nomura cited his work on an “unprecedented number of projects” as his reason for stepping down.
The directorial role is being taken over by Naoki Hamaguchi, who was Nomura’s co-director for part one of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Nomura has confirmed that he will still occupy the role of creative director.
FF7 Remake Part 2 will utilize the PS5’s power
Final Fantasy 7 Remake fans excited for what the PS5 upgrade might bring will, unfortunately, have to wait for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 to see how Square Enix can fully utilize the PS5’s hardware features.
The news comes from a Famitsu interview translated by VGC with Final Fantasy 7 Remake co-director Tetsuya Nomura, who said that PS5 hardware features, namely the DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers, will only be “partially supported”.
While Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade’s PS5 release boasts a quality-of-life feature set you’d expect from a current-generation upgrade, such as a higher frame rate and better image quality, Nomura confirmed that we’ll have to wait for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 for the full PS5 hardware experience. He said: “in terms of using all of the features of PlayStation 5, please wait for the next game where we can start from scratch.”
Production has already started
In November 2019, director Tetsuya Nomura announced that work on Final Fantasy 7 Part 2 has already started.
“We’ve already begun working on the next one as well, but I’m confident that playing through this title will expand your expectations just like the world that extends beyond Midgar,” Nomura said.
Hints in Final Fantasy Remake about what’s coming next
In an interview with Famitsu (translated by DualShockers) Final Fantasy 7 Remake producer, Yoshinori Kitase, teased that there are hints in the game that allude to what may happen in the the second part.
“With this first game, we showed how there is great potential for the future, and we included many hints regarding what’s coming next,” Kitase said. “I’m looking forward to seeing the fans’ theories on social media regarding what could happen now.”
FF7 7 Remake Part 2: what we want to see
More playable characters
While it was definitely fun to control Cloud, Barret, Tifa and Aerith in the first installment of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, there’s a whole cast of characters in the original that we would like to be able to control. We don’t know about you, but playing as the pistol-wielding vampire Vincent sounds like an excellent time.
Some wild story turns
With how Final Fantasy 7 Remake ended, we’re expecting Tetsuya Nomura to reshape the classic game into something entirely new. While some fans may want a faithful recreation of the original game, we’re kind of interested to see how exactly the story may shift in the upcoming installments. We don’t want to see anything coming.
Chocobo racing
Because the next installment of the game is likely going to be open world, we want to see a super robust chocobo racing mini game. In the original game, this side activity was needed to unlock some of the most powerful materia in the game, and with how fun it was in Final Fantasy XV, we can’t wait to see what it looks like in the next iteration of the remake.
All kinds of minigames
We already can’t wait to see what the Gold Saucer looks like in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, as it’s this big shiny amusement park full of mini games. But, with technology coming so far in the 23 years since the original game came to market, we want to see even more activities in this area.
Next-generation visuals and ray tracing
Because we’re likely going to see the next installment of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake on next-generation consoles (and hopefully PC), we would love to see the game look even better than the first installment. With ray tracing becoming more and more popular, we would love to see the fantastical scenery come to life in a huge way.