I played Final Fantasy VII Revelation early, and combat has never been better

When it releases, Final Fantasy VII Revelation will truly mark the end of an era. It’s the third and final part of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy which started back in 2020, completely remaking Square Enix’s classic 1997 title into an unforgettable three–part journey.

This memorable cast of characters will have been with us for eight years once Revelation releases in 2027. We’ve already seen and heard a lot about what to expect from the upcoming release, particularly around exploration with the Highwind, how different locations will be introduced and updated and a look at some of the new playable characters entering the fray.

But one thing we’ve not seen too much of is how the game looks and feels in dungeons and combat – until now. I’ve played a demo of Final Fantasy VII Revelation in a Northern Crater dungeon, with the party looking for Sephiroth, taking on different enemy types, bosses and trying out the new FITS system – here’s what I’ve made of it so far.

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Final Fantasy VII Revelation

The demo I played was a 40-minute dungeon in the first part of Northern Crater, in a special chapter called The Party Assembles, picking up where Rebirth left off. Here, the full party of eight characters is available for selection.

Cloud, Cid and Vincent were already selected, so I stuck with this composition, as I hadn’t yet played as Cid or Vincent. The new FITS system was locked in for each character, with Cloud having the Summoner role.

The FITS system allows players to assign different roles to different characters. In my playthroughs of Remake and Rebirth, I’d usually have Cloud as a tank, Tifa as a damage dealer and Barrett as a ranged attacker, for example. But now, you can equip different outfits to give characters unique abilities, offering players much more freedom in deciding which roles they want each character to perform.

Again, these were locked in the demo, but if you want Barrett to be a black mage, for example, you’ll be able to. The glimpse I had of this system, with Cloud as a Summoner, showed how he can infuse normal attacks with summons to give them elemental properties.

This demo offered only a small glimpse of the system, but I already can’t wait to dive into it fully and create different kinds of builds for my party members. As for the rest of the combat, those who have played Remake or Rebirth will largely know what to expect.

As for the new characters, Cid, with his spear, is quite combo-heavy and is a strong option for aerial-focused attacks, giving you a way to take on flying enemies with melee abilities. Vincent is mostly a ranged fighter, but he can also transform into his Galian Beast form, becoming a much stronger melee combat character.

Playing through the dungeon and taking out groups of enemies, I found the combat felt as strong as ever. For me, it just feels a bit sharper, with commands taking a little less time to execute and everything feeling a bit smoother overall compared with Rebirth.

A miniboss, Gigas, greeted me before I took on Jenova Deathmourner, which, although not the biggest test, still had some interesting phases and things to look out for. No story spoilers here, but the demo ended on a cliffhanger.

The presentation is shaping up to be as strong as you’d expect from Square Enix and a Final Fantasy game. The graphics are incredible, performance looks stable, the soundtrack is unforgettable and the storytelling is unique and heartfelt.

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Final Fantasy VII Revelation: First impressions

From my brief time with Final Fantasy VII Revelation so far, I’ve been left feeling very encouraged and wanting more, which is always a good sign. The new FITS system certainly has a lot of potential, and I’m really looking forward to playing around with different roles for each party member, as well as exploring the open world.

The new characters feel unique in their own right, the gameplay feels familiar yet refined and the presentation is shaping up to set the gold standard once more – as you’d expect from Final Fantasy games and Square Enix.

All in all, I’m really looking forward to Revelation when it releases. Final Fantasy VII Revelation is out on 8 April 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC.

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