One of the most highly anticipated video games of 2020 is Final Fantasy 7 Remake, the first in a planned series of games retelling the story of the most popular installment in the Final Fantasy series. It’s something people have wanted for a very long time, but Square did not answer their demands until around five years ago when the first trailer for FF7 Remake appeared.
The release date of March 3, 2020 is closer than ever, but we may get to play a portion of the game sooner than that. Earlier this month, images were discovered on the Playstation Store for a Final Fantasy 7 Remake Demo:
And it’s not fake, because this morning the opening three minutes of the demo appeared on YouTube. We have no idea who gained access to it so early or how, but this confirms its impending existence, and that all we’re waiting for is for Square to hit “publish.”
The odds are fairly good this video will disappear before long, so we took a series of screenshots recapping what happens.
The demo menu screen. The copyright date is 2020 — we’re hoping this indicates a New Year’s release. Once you hit Start you’re asked which type of camera controls you prefer, and then we fade into a familiar scene:
It’s Aerith in the alley looking at a pipe leaking Mako energy….this time pulled in from a crane shot.Also, this time she moves out of the alley because she hears something that startles her, though the cinematic doesn’t reveal what. We do hear a couple of chorus bars from One Winged Angel, if that means anything.
Aerith walks onto the street and bumps into somebody, losing a few of her flowers. She bends over to pick one up, but a passerby mindlessly steps on it:
Aerith picks up the smooshed flower, looks up into the camera and we get that glorious pullback….
This time the logo rockets into the screen via the meteorite behind the words. It looks cool.
We see Cloud ride the train as it pulls in.
A moment of silence as two Shinra soldiers look around. One turns his back, he hears a couple punches and turns back around to see no one there. He glances around warily, until Wedge and Jessie race up — one holds him down, the other kicks him in the stomach, then Biggs enters to knock him out.
The gang is almost entirely here. The camera pulls back to reveal the tattooed arm of Barret.
Cloud lands down in style.
And the game officially begins, but the video ends a couple seconds after player control starts.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake will be out March 3 on Playstation 4.
