It was a last-minute addition, but I wisely carved out some time to check out Final Fantasy VII Revelation at the beginning of my Square Enix PAX West appointment. On a PS5 Pro, I had just under an hour with the finale to the Remake trilogy, and that felt like one of the shortest gaming sessions I've ever had.

Knowing my time was limited, I prioritized three specific elements new to this third game: namely, Cid, Vincent, and the region of Wutai. For the demo, we were largely left to our own devices, and so I politely declined a tutorial about exploring the Highwind airship and jetted off to regions not yet explored in Final Fantasy Rebirth. Naturally, Yuffie was my guide (and party leader) for our stop in Wutai. The verticality of the city and the way you can scale buildings using Yuffie's grappling hook was an instant attraction for me, although it could be frustrating trying to find a way to come down after climbing. Still, the city itself was a marvel to behold.

There's a scene when you arrive where a couple of Wutai soldiers are burning a pile of books, and it does an amazing job of charging the space with tension and setting up one of the main conflicts to resolve in the region. Even the interior space of the Happy Turtle seemed both full of character but also potential intrigue and danger. Photo hunts for cute kitties and martial arts training are just a couple of the side activities to check out as you explore Wutai, and I can't wait to try all of it.

I only engaged in a handful of battles but did get a decent sense of how it feels to control Cid and Vincent. The cantankerous pilot wields his large spear to devastating effect, twirling it around and smashing into enemies. His abilities reflect his light class-typing as a Dragoon, giving him the power to leap into the air and crash down for significant damage or summon a dragon to fly around your opponents before soaring up from the ground for a final strike. I was genuinely impressed with how good it felt to play as Cid right from the start.

I had less time with Vincent but wanted to give him a fair shake as such a fan favorite character. He definitely takes the cool factor to 11 just hanging around as a party member, but his moves in combat are as deadly as they are stylish. He alternates between pistol shots both on the ground and in mid-air followed by stronger, more physical attacks that have a timing component to them. One of his regular abilities allows him to very temporarily transform into the Galian Beast, which was really fun to see in action. Vincent feels bouncy but deliberate and I won't be surprised to see him once again become a staple of people's Revelation parties.

I can't speak much to the FITS system because of my limited time with the demo, but I did try the Summoner class briefly. With Yuffie equipped with this job, she could activate an ability to bring a summon monster like Titan in for a series of smaller attacks rather than having them continuously fighting beside you as with the summon materia. FITS promises more customization, and the expanded cast only adds to that as well, which means players will truly get to take the fight to Sephiroth with whatever party they can dream of.

The overall experience was stellar, but I will bring up an issue I had that left a somewhat negative impression. As I walked around Wutai and completed story beats and cutscenes, I would frequently be interrupted by MAI, Chadley's AI companion, with new quests and objects. I can see how some would love these regular updates on what needs doing in the surrounding area, but I had more of a feeling of inadequacy or being overwhelmed, rather than excited by the prospects of countless threads to pull on. I do hope there will either be an option to toggle these to the background or some other way of making MAI's intrusions less damaging to the momentum and pacing.

We've seen Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth shine as Switch 2 ports, and so I am hopeful that even under the weight of the more open world and spaces of Revelation, the experience will still be a worthwhile one for Nintendo players. The added wrinkles to combat and customization, not to mention the new party members, have me chomping at the bit to have more time with the finale to this long-awaited project. While we have to wait until April of next year to get our hands on it, I'll certainly be dreaming of taking down the high-powered Weapons and riding chocobos as I count down the days.