Is Final Fantasy 7 Remake Or Rebirth Better?

Summary

• Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth adds twists to the iconic story with new characters and gameplay mechanics.
• Rebirth offers an expansive open world for exploration post-Midgar, unlike Remake’s more linear approach.
• Rebirth introduces new minigames and side quests, making it a more content-rich experience than Remake.

Final Fantasy 7’s iconic story has been retold in Final Fantasy 7: Remake and Rebirth. This version of Cloud and friends’ long journey to defeat Sephiroth has minor twists and turns that keep the story fresh, with the help of the newly introduced Whispers, while remaining as close as possible to the source material for older fans of the series.

While Remake takes place mostly in the industrial city of Midgar, Rebirth places the heroes in the moments after leaving Shinra’s host city. From different playstyles, to even featuring more characters, they both offer different things in similar packages, but the distinctions are worth noting.

Updated on February 11, 2025, by Kyle Chamaillard: With Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s arrival on the PC, we’ve decided to update this list to offer more insight into the differences between it and Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

8

Gameplay – Rebirth

Combat

Both Rebirth and Remake detach themselves from the turn-based combat system that all older Final Fantasy fans love by shifting to a more action-oriented combat style. The Active Time Battle gauge, or ATB for short, is still present and allows you to use actions and spells, much like the original 1997 game.

Rebirth also introduces new combat mechanics like Synergy Attacks that are not only made up of amazing animations, but can increase your partner’s relationship meter, which can lead to some fun cutscenes during the Gold Saucer portion of the game.

Exploration

Remake takes place in the city of Midgar, and although the city is massive and spiraling, it leaves little exploration to be done. There are plenty of minigames and activities to do within the city, but most of the time the game takes you on a linear path to push the story forward.

Rebirth drops you in the expanse outside the city limits, letting you run free in a massive open-world. You can choose to follow the main story quest, but exploring the world freely, while doing traditional open-world game quests, will be the main bulk of this game.

7

Story – Remake

Being part one and two of a trilogy, Rebirth and Remake do not work without each other. As the first part, Remake does a great job at introducing all the party members and their fun quirks that make them so lovable to all Final Fantasy fans, and sets up the conflict in which the party gets thrust unto.

Rebirth takes place in the events directly following the end of Remake, and although the middle of the trilogy fleshes out the story by developing the characters further, Remake has such a strong opening that hooks you right away into the story of the blonde mercenary and his Avalanche pals.

6

Length – Rebirth

Both Remake and Rebirth are fairly massive RPGs that’ll take you more than a weekend to complete. Between the main missions and an avalanche of side quests and minigames, there is so much to do in both titles, but the amount of time you spend on each adventure depends on how much of them you want to see.

Remake

Remake is more straightforward and harder to get lost in, often giving you a choice to either advance the story or linger around Midgar to help the locals or grind a few levels. If you want to mainline the game, it should take you approximately 30 hours before you roll credits. If you plan on doing everything it has to offer, you can expect to spend closer to 60 or 80 hours with Remake depending on which difficulty you choose.

Remake also has a short DLC campaign (known as Intergrade) that’s essential for anyone who wants the full story. This should only take you about five to seven hours to complete.

Rebirth

Rebirth features an open world that has something waiting for you around every corner. This ambitious sequel features even more activities to get lost in, and like Remake, the amount of time you spend with it depends on how much you’re looking for from the experience.

If you’re only interested in the story of Rebirth and don’t plan on spending much time with side quests and other missions, you should plan to spend roughly 40 hours with the game. If you’re a completionist who won’t move forward until everything is done, you might be looking at spending anywhere from 100 to 120 hours with Cloud and the gang.

5

Main Characters – Rebirth

The cast of Final Fantasy 7 is one of the most iconic ensembles in all of video game history, but sadly you don’t get to join up with all of them just yet. In Remake, your characters only include Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Barret. The fiery feline, Red XIII joins your party towards the final moments of the game, but you cannot take control of him.

Rebirth offers three more characters to add to your party, with Red XIII, the fiery canine befriended in the final moments of Final Fantasy 7 Remake; the protagonist of Intergrade, Yuffie, the spunky gal hailing from Wutai; and the mysterious cat piloting a giant Moogle toy, Cait Sith.

Cid and Vincent make an appearance, but just like Red XIII in Remake, they are not playable.

4

Minigames – Rebirth

Rebirth has Queen’s Blood. Enough said.

But really, Remake has some fun time-killing minigames, like the squatting minigame, and dancing with Andrea, but Rebirth’s card game, filled with depth and strategy, alone can be a full-fledged game of its own.

Rebirth includes the Gold Saucer segment of the original story, which includes far more games than the entirety of Remake. Most of the games found in Remake also make a return in Rebirth, so if you’re looking for a complete minigame experience, then Rebirth is the one for you.

3

Side Quests – Rebirth

Both games include a myriad of minigames to entertain you and pass some time in between heartwrenching moments. In Remake, being stuck inside Midgar, the quests involve many of the citizens’ concerns towards Shinra, or even a little girl’s lost cat. These quests make you feel and care about the populace of the city without it feeling like simple chores.

Rebirth has more options when it comes to side quests. The world is massive, and there needs to be things to do in those wide open spaces. On top of the odd jobs you can take up for some extra Gil, the returning android, Chadley, assigns you with many research tasks across the world that encourage exploration.

2

Content – Rebirth

Both games are full of content, but since Final Fantasy 7 Remake takes place entirely in Midgar, the story, and activities around it, is quite streamlined, keeping you almost on rails, whereas Rebirth gives you the opportunity to explore a vast open field with way more things to do in the shape of World Intel and fun, well-written side quests.

Some of the extra activities in Rebirth feel like a chore at times, but it doesn’t negate the fact that the game has plenty to offer in the content department.

1

Verdict

It’s difficult to pit the first game in a series against its direct sequel. Remake does a great job a retelling the original story while adding a bit of spice to keep you on your toes, but even though Midgar is absolutely beautiful, it feels a bit restrictive at times.

Rebirth improves on everything that Remake did by adding more varied activities, a more robust battle system with Synergy Abilities, and still continues the story where Remake left off.

By those words, you would think that Rebirth is the absolute winner in this bout, but as a standalone experience, without prior knowledge, Rebirth will confuse anyone as if they were dropped directly into the lifestream.