Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth are the first two chapters of a three-game reimagining of the 1997 Final Fantasy VII. Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII – Reunion is a separate prequel about Zack Fair, not a third Remake chapter. You can begin with Remake Intergrade; play the original first if you want its story twists preserved. The announced finale, Final Fantasy VII Revelation, is scheduled for Spring 2027 and is not yet playable.
| Game | What it is | Story coverage | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII – Reunion (2022) | Remaster of the 2007 PSP prequel; Zack Fair is the protagonist. | Zack’s story before and during the events that lead to Cloud reaching Midgar. | PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC. |
| Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (2020; Intergrade edition from 2021) | First chapter of the Remake series; includes the Yuffie episode, INTERmission. | Cloud and Avalanche’s expanded Midgar story, ending as the party leaves the city. | PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, PC. |
| Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (2024) | Second Remake-series chapter and direct continuation of Remake. | The party’s journey beyond Midgar, through the wider Planet, to the Forgotten Capital. | PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, PC. |
| Final Fantasy VII Revelation (announced) | Planned third and final Remake-series chapter. | The party’s final journey to stop Meteor and Sephiroth. | PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, PC. |
Square Enix lists Remake Intergrade and Rebirth together in a Twin Pack for $59.99 in its June 2026 product information. That is Square Enix’s stated price; other stores and regional pricing may differ. Its stated launch window for Revelation is Spring 2027. No calendar-day release date is established by the official information cited here.
What is the difference between Remake, Rebirth, and Crisis Core?
The simplest distinction is their place in the story: Crisis Core is Zack’s prequel, Remake retells and expands the Midgar opening, and Rebirth continues from the moment the party leaves Midgar. The two Remake games belong to one ongoing reimagining; Crisis Core Reunion is a remaster of a different game from that series’ history.
Crisis Core Reunion: Zack’s prequel
Released in 2022, Crisis Core Reunion remasters 2007’s PSP game using Unreal Engine 4 and presentation updates intended to bring it closer to Remake. Its lead is Zack Fair, a SOLDIER 1st Class whose life connects the Buster Sword, Aerith, Sephiroth, and Cloud’s past. It follows the collapse of the old SOLDIER order, the Nibelheim incident, and Zack’s role in getting Cloud to Midgar.
It is not required homework before playing Remake or Rebirth. It does, however, give Zack and his relationships far more weight than the short account of him in the 1997 game. HowLongToBeat figures cited by Kotaku in 2024 put the main story at about 14 hours and completionist play close to 50 hours; those are estimates, not guarantees.
Remake Intergrade: Midgar, expanded
Final Fantasy VII Remake launched in 2020. Its current edition name is Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, which packages the upgraded game with Episode INTERmission, a Yuffie-focused story that happens alongside the Midgar events. The main campaign follows Cloud as a mercenary working with Avalanche against Shinra’s mako economy. It turns the original game’s opening city section into a full-scale game rather than adapting the whole 1997 story at once.
The combat mixes real-time attacks with ATB commands: players can act directly, then use the tactical command system for abilities, spells, and items. The story concludes with the party leaving Midgar after confronting the Whispers, beings associated with keeping events on a predetermined path.
Rebirth: the road beyond Midgar
Rebirth starts after Remake and follows Cloud’s group across the Planet. It reaches the Forgotten Capital, also called the City of the Ancients, but does not simply reproduce the original game’s scenes in their original order. Square Enix creative director Tetsuya Nomura said before release that the story would go to the end of the Forgotten Capital and that its events would not unfold in the same order or manner as the 1997 game.
Compared with the largely linear Midgar setting, Rebirth opens up a much broader overworld, with chocobo travel, more party members, and a large range of side activities and minigames. It retains the series’ combination of action and ATB commands and adds team-based Synergized attacks. The physical PS5 version uses two discs; director Naoki Hamaguchi told Game Informer in 2023 that both install the game, but only one is needed to play after installation.
Is Remake actually a remake or a sequel?
Square Enix officially calls the project the Final Fantasy VII Remake Series, but Remake is not a scene-for-scene reconstruction of the 1997 game. It begins with recognizable events and characters, then introduces a conflict over fate that makes the story’s relationship to the original more complicated. Calling it only a remake misses that change; calling it definitively a sequel is an interpretation, not Square Enix’s official label.
At the end of Remake, the party defeats the Whispers’ arbiter and leaves Midgar. The story also shows Zack reaching the city alive in a different world. Rebirth develops those disruptions through chapters involving Zack and through visual clues such as different versions of Shinra’s Stamp mascot. The games invite players to ask how the new story relates to the old one, rather than assume every 1997 event must happen in the same way.
Hamaguchi told WIRED in October 2026 that the developers do not tend to use the word “multiverse”; they more often describe the story as “multilayered” and speak of a “reunion” of layers. That language is a better guide than treating the plot as a straightforward superhero-style multiverse. The Remake series can draw on the original game and later Compilation stories while still taking its own route.
Where does Remake stop and Rebirth start?
Remake ends when Cloud’s party leaves Midgar; Rebirth picks up after that departure and carries the journey through the wider world to the Forgotten Capital. The two games are continuous in story, but not in character progression: Hamaguchi said there are no particular growth parameters or abilities carried from one game into the next.
That means you do not need a completed Remake save to begin Rebirth, and your old equipment, materia, or character statistics do not transfer. Hamaguchi said players with earlier save data would receive a summon materia at the start of Rebirth; that bonus is separate from a full save import. For the later finale, Square Enix has specified different save bonuses: Intergrade save data unlocks Chocobo & Moogle summon materia, while Rebirth save data unlocks Phoenix summon materia.
Should I play Crisis Core Reunion before Remake or Rebirth?
For most newcomers, no: start with Remake Intergrade and hold Crisis Core Reunion until after the original game or at least after Remake. Crisis Core explains backstory that the earlier games treat as a mystery, so playing it first can change the way key reveals land.
If you already know the original story and want a deeper understanding of Zack, playing Reunion before Rebirth can be rewarding. Zack is more than a footnote in the new series: his history with Aerith, the Buster Sword, and Cloud matters to the emotional and thematic stakes. But you can follow the main Remake-series plot without having completed the prequel.
There is also a practical reason not to treat it as a mandatory bridge: Reunion preserves the basic story of the 2007 game, whose action-RPG structure is different from the hybrid combat of Remake and Rebirth. Some players may find its repeated mission-based loop less appealing. If the older game is not for you, a spoiler-aware recap can supply context without making it a prerequisite.
What order should I play the FF7 games in?
There is no single required order. Choose based on whether you value the original’s surprises, a direct modern entry point, or chronological events.
Best for preserving the original’s reveals
- Final Fantasy VII (1997 or a modern port)
- Crisis Core Reunion
- Optional: Dirge of Cerberus
- Remake Intergrade
- Rebirth
- Revelation, when it releases
This order lets the original establish its mysteries before Crisis Core fills in Zack’s past. Modern ports of the 1997 game are available on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, and Windows, with an improved translation noted by Kotaku in 2024.
Best for a modern-only start
- Remake Intergrade, including INTERmission
- Rebirth
- Revelation, when it releases
This is the cleanest path if you are interested in the three-part reimagining and do not want to start with a 1997 RPG. You can return to Crisis Core later, when you have enough context to understand why Zack matters.
Chronological, with a spoiler warning
- Crisis Core Reunion
- Final Fantasy VII (1997)
- Remake Intergrade
- Rebirth
- Revelation, when it releases
- Optional: Dirge of Cerberus
This starts earliest in the timeline, but chronological is not the same as best for a first playthrough: Crisis Core reveals backstory twists the original presents differently. Until the Remake-series finale is available, treating the original as the story’s foundation is a safer way to understand how the two continuities relate.
What about the other Compilation stories?
You do not need to track down every spin-off. Advent Children is a CG film set after the 1997 game; On the Way to a Smile is a set of post-game stories, and The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story is a novel that leads into the film. Dirge of Cerberus follows Vincent Valentine and Deepground. These works add background, and Remake references some Compilation material, but none is a required step before the two released Remake chapters.
Do not rely on older mobile titles as a catch-up route without checking their availability. Before Crisis and The First Soldier are defunct, and Ever Crisis was removed from recommendations in a 2026 play-order update because of its pending delisting.
Is Crisis Core Reunion canon to the Remake trilogy?
Reunion retells the same Crisis Core story as the 2007 PSP release, and the Remake games clearly draw on Zack’s established history. The complication is that Remake and Rebirth show a world in which Zack survives the stand that ends his Crisis Core campaign. That tension is part of the new story, not a reason to treat the remaster as a third Remake chapter or assume that every continuity detail has a simple one-to-one answer.
Players who know only the brief Zack material in the original may miss the significance of his bond with Aerith, his mentorship under Angeal, the Buster Sword’s meaning, and the way Cloud’s memories are entangled with Zack’s. Reunion supplies that context; the Remake series then uses it to make the differences between worlds matter.
What is Intergrade?
Intergrade is the expanded edition of Final Fantasy VII Remake, not a separate sequel. It includes the upgraded main game and Episode INTERmission, which follows Yuffie and Sonon during the Midgar storyline. Yuffie then appears in the main party’s journey in Rebirth, so playing the episode adds context, but it is not a substitute for either main chapter.
Square Enix’s 2026 catch-up materials also describe Streamlined Progression options for Intergrade and Rebirth, including unlimited HP and MP, a full ATB gauge, and easier weapon-ability acquisition. These options are aimed at players who want to move through the story with less combat friction; they are not needed to understand the plot.
What is known about the third game, Revelation?
Final Fantasy VII Revelation is the announced final chapter, with an official simultaneous launch window of Spring 2027 on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Square Enix names Steam, Epic Games Store, and Xbox PC for the PC release. The company has not established a calendar-day launch date in the official information cited here, so an exact date attributed to a secondary report should not be treated as confirmed.
The official synopsis has the party taking the Highwind to stop Meteor and Sephiroth as he approaches godhood. The planet will be explorable from the airship, with parachute drops; announced destinations include the Mideel archipelago, Wutai, and the Northern Continent. The hybrid action and Tactical Mode combat continues, with Vincent and Cid becoming playable. Square Enix has also described FITS outfits as job-inspired gear, including Black Mage and Warrior styles.
Hamaguchi told WIRED in October 2026 that route variations still converge toward a single conclusion. That leaves major story questions—among them Zack’s status, Wutai’s war, the Weapons, and Sephiroth’s plan—to be answered by the game itself. How much of the wider Compilation will be incorporated into that ending has not been established.
How we picked the play-order recommendations
The paths above prioritize the story information a new player encounters, the order that best preserves the 1997 game’s reveals, and whether someone wants to stay within the modern trilogy. They do not assume that every spin-off is necessary. The recommendations reflect published play-order guidance and the games’ documented story connections, not a claim that the games were tested for this article.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I play Rebirth if I haven’t played INTERmission?
Yes. INTERmission adds Yuffie’s parallel Midgar story, but Rebirth is designed to be playable without importing a save or completing that episode. You may miss some context about Yuffie and her combat abilities, not an entry requirement.
Does Rebirth carry my levels or equipment over from Remake?
No character levels, gear, materia, or growth parameters transfer. The earlier save-data bonus is a summon materia rather than a continuation of your build.
Is there a PlayStation 4 version of Revelation?
No PS4 edition has been announced in the platform information available as of October 2026. The announced console platforms are PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S, alongside PC.
How long is Crisis Core Reunion?
HowLongToBeat figures cited by Kotaku in 2024 estimate about 14 hours for the main story and close to 50 hours for completionist play. Actual time depends on how much optional content you pursue.