January is a boring time to be a gamer. The big games for 2025 aren’t out yet and the big games from 2024 are all old news, so last month I found myself returning to older games. I’ve recently written about The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Uncharted 3, both of which I started over Christmas break, which are 14 and 16-year-old respectively. The same impulse took me back to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
I started the game at launch, so it’s been installed on my PS5 for nearly a year at this point. My console clock says I have 30 hours in, and judging by the level list, I’m about two-thirds of the way through. By any metric, I’ve put a good amount of time into this game. And yet, when I think back over my dozens of hours with it, it feels like nothing has happened. When I look ahead, there’s little pulling me forward. That’s probably why it’s taken me a year to finish it.
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Where Are We Going And Why Should We Care?
This game is the awkward middle chapter that often plagues trilogies, and in an effort to stretch the story of one game out over the course of three, Rebirth seems to have ended up as a big bowl of nothing. And yet, it also is absolutely packed with stuff. There are tons of locations to visit, tons of minigames to play, tons of side quests to pursue, collectibles to track down, and hidden areas to check off your map. But none of those tons can replace its missing narrative urgency.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake didn’t suffer from this problem. That game felt like it was all building up to something. This was largely due to Square Enix limiting its scope to the Midgar section of the original FF7. There was a built-in end point, the moment when Cloud and co. would escape the city with Shinra hot on their tail.
There was a built-in goal, too, as that game focused on the gang’s ecoterrorism as they blew up reactors and waged war against Shinra. And it had a big, climactic moment that could set the story toward its inevitable conclusion with the plate dropping on the Sector 7 slums. Add in the looming threat of Sephiroth, the mystery of the Whispers, and questions about Cloud’s past and it was one intriguing hook after another, pulling you along through the game.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Has A Pacing Problem
It was helped by its more strictly linear structure, too. You could stop and smell the Mako, but the game was ever funneling you along. Minigames were just a fun diversion. But, in Rebirth, minigames feel just as important as the story. In the case of the Queen’s Blood tournament, a minigame becomes the story, as everything slows to a halt so you can play cards on a cruise ship.
I enjoyed that chapter in isolation, but it and the Gold Saucer section contribute to the feeling that the game is just taking its time en route to nowhere important. I enjoy when games leave space for low-stakes moments, but in Rebirth it feels like the moments of levity far outweigh the moments of tension.
The narrative is theoretically driven by a stick (Shinra following you) and a carrot (finding Sephiroth) but the former doesn’t feel urgent and the latter doesn’t feel impactful. Various Shinra members show up as bosses that serve as minor obstacles in your path, but they never pose much of a threat. Similarly, Sephiroth shows up so often in Cloud’s hallucinations that you don’t ever really miss his presence. It’s like the boy who cried wolf if he only saw the wolf in his mind.
And yet, I don’t dislike the game. Everytime I load it up, I end up having a pretty good time. Combat is entertaining, the minigames (especially Queen’s Blood) are terrific, and I enjoy spending time with these characters. It just feels like spending time is all the game really has to offer. It’s a road trip where the destination doesn’t matter.
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