The entire project that circles around Final Fantasy VII Remake has been a bumpy ride to say the least, since both released titles of the intended trilogy did have some negative feedback, but were overall well received by fans that, now, seem to be longing for its epic conclusion.
Well, trilogy-wise, it is certain that the still-under-development third title will end the main story of Cloud Strife chasing Sephiroth through the world of Gaia. However, that doesn’t mean that the project itself will stop there. At least, not according to director Naoki Hamaguchi, who recently visited South America for Brasil Game Show and, afterwards, had a sitdown with WccfTech, where he admitted consideration of some form of continuity in the interview.
The entire piece is worth a read, but the part that stands out the most is that, according to Hamaguchi, the third game of the Final Fantasy VII Remake project might have a post-story DLC, not unlike Intergrade did to connect the first and second titles. And after that scene happened to that character (spoilers), we can all see how people would like to see that specific part expanded some more (it was hella confusing on the original game, to be honest).
However, he still doesn’t know how that might work out: if said DLC does become a reality, it can’t really be a tie in to a story that has already ended, right? Personally, I read the piece and immediately thought “Dirge of Cerberus”, the 2006 spin off starred by Square’s favorite Vincent “human-kinda-zombie-but-totally-not-a-vampire-we-promise” Valentine, as that story is set after the events of the main game (and, truthfully, it does deserve the remake treatment after Square Enix did the same with Crisis Core).
Another possibility mentioned by the director is the release of a standalone project focused exclusively on Queen’s Blood. The minigame you get to play during Rebirth (the second game on the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy) is seemingly the one users enjoyed the most, and it’s not like that would be a strange thing for Square Enix to do: pretty much every Final Fantasy game under the sun had a popular minigame of sorts — Final Fantasy VIII’s Triple Triad had several (although none official) standalone releases and even a physical deck made by Bandai, while Final Fantasy IX’s Tetra Master did get a physical, European release by Dino. And now we have a pretty solid mobile market where that possibility could thrive.
Speaking of mobile, don’t expect the Final Fantasy VII Remake landing on tablets and smartphones anytime soon: while Hamaguchi recognizes the possibility, he says that consumer feedback brought almost no mention of the trilogy landing on mobile devices, so it is not something the team is focusing — or even thinking about — right now.
And what are they focusing on, then? Well, finishing the third part, mostly. According to Hamaguchi, there’s a reason why Rebirth did not get a DLC piece like the first game, and that is simply because fans seemingly want to see the main story end, going out with a bang, so to speak. I’ll let his own words do the talking:
“There were definitely some ideas to create a Rebirth DLC and that was the plan at a certain point in time, but when we revisited this topic and we thought about what our priorities should be and what the fans are looking forward to the most. We figured that what fans want the most is to bring the third installment as soon as possible. That would take priority over the Rebirth DLC, so we decided to take that approach.”
Naoki Hamaguchi, Final Fantasy VII Remake project director
At any rate, Final Fantasy VII Remake’s future is still in the air. Given that we’re still way off on the release window for the third game, it is highly likely we’ll have more and more speculation over the coming months. In the best case scenario, the game will come out somewhere in 2027, so we’ll have to let these thoughts stew for a while longer.
