One of my favourite things to do in Final Fantasy 7 Remake was to simply look up. Finally you could see the plates of Midgar hanging threateningly over the slums – and in daylight too. This was something only hinted at in the original, with its pre-rendered backgrounds in (seemingly) perpetual night. Seeing the enhancements a remake could bring was awe-inspiring.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the follow up to Remake, garners a similar reaction, but this time with its open world. Now the vague blues and greens of the overworld that gave a mere suggestion of place are gone; instead there’s an explorable open world, an industrial wasteland smothered in garbage and seemingly toxic waste. The planet – as was only previously suggested – has been abused. Some wildlife does remain though: I spotted a pack of cute bunnies bouncing through the metallic undergrowth.
Above this wasteland is the imposing military city of Junon, casting a shadow over the inhabitants living in squalor below. Though not quite as iconic as Midgar, it still gives a sense of how vast and expansive Rebirth is set to be.
