Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Back in 1997, Final Fantasy VII established Sephiroth as one of the most iconic antagonists in gaming history. In 2020, Final Fantasy VII Remake greatly expanded his role in the first act of the beloved RPG, and in 2024, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth hopes to give us even more context for the One-Winged Angel. We played a portion of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and spoke with several members of the development team to learn how Sephiroth is depicted in the upcoming second act of the Remake trilogy.

While Sephiroth's role in this middle portion of the original Final Fantasy VII is more understated, often simply being described by NPCs rather than actually seen, the team behind Final Fantasy VII Rebirth wanted to change that. «Remake covers your encounter with Sephiroth, and now within Rebirth, we wanted to make Sephiroth this very clear antagonist and target for the characters to go and pursue through their journey in Rebirth,» producer Yoshinori Kitase says. «Within the original game, Sephiroth was not seen very much in the world map, but in this title, we put this element forward.»

In my hands-on, the first thing I do is join forces with Sephiroth in the fated flashback mission from the original game. Players of Final Fantasy VII remember this expedition to Mt. Nibel to find the mako reactor. At this point in the story, Sephiroth is still a heroic figure, and Cloud is a naive and inexperienced Soldier, so the two team up to complete this mission. Meanwhile, a young Tifa serves as a guide but not a party member. 

Just like in the original version of this sequence, Sephiroth is a powerful force, slicing through foes with his Masamune. However, he's not quite as overpowered as he was in the 1997 sequence. He's still a blast to