Final Fantasy VII Remake is a 2020 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. It is the first in a planned series of games remaking the 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII. Set in the dystopian cyberpunk metropolis of Midgar, players control mercenary Cloud Strife. He joins AVALANCHE, an eco-terrorist group trying to stop the powerful megacorporation Shinra from using the planet's life essence as an energy source. The gameplay combines real-time action with strategic and role-playing elements. Remake was announced in 2015 following years of speculation. Several key staff members returned, including character designer Tetsuya Nomura as director, director Yoshinori Kitase as producer, scenario writer Kazushige Nojima as story and scenario writer, event planner Motomu Toriyama as a co-director, and composer Nobuo Uematsu who returned to write the game's main theme. The staff redesigned the characters to balance realism and stylization. While the veteran Japanese Final Fantasy VII voice cast returned, the English voices were recast. The game was released for the PlayStation 4 in April 2020. It received positive reviews, with praise for its graphics, gameplay, narrative, and music. Critics applauded how faithful the story and lore was to the original game from 1997 while expanding on it. The updated battle system was praised for its strategic elements and visual flourishes. However, reception was more mixed toward the game's linearity and the repetitive nature of its sidequests. Final Fantasy VII Remake became one of the fastest-selling PlayStation 4 games, selling over 3.5 million copies within three days and five million by August. An enhanced version for the PlayStation 5, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade,[b] was released on June 10, 2021.
