Final Fantasy 7 Remake has an entirely new, mysterious floor in the Shinra Building
The upcoming remake of Final Fantasy 7 will feature an all new area.
Speaking in an interview on the official Square Enix website, Final Fantasy 7 co-director Naoki Hamaguchi confirmed the remake will feature a number of new new elements not seen in the original - including an entirely new floor in the game' Shinra Building.
"I won’t reveal exactly what that entails, because I want people to enjoy it when they actually play the game," says Hamaguchi, "but I will say that [Final Fantasy 7 Remake] has added a new upper floor to the Shinra Building to present a climax that was not in the original."
"In the original game there were a lot of breaks in the game, where the screen went black, and then the game continues in a different location," Producer Yoshinori Kitase adds.
"In other words, there were a lot of parts in between sections of Midgar that were implied, but never seen. That was something that we wanted to address with remake - to fill in all those gaps, show how the different parts of the city are connected, and make it a continuous experience."
Hamaguchi also explained just why fan-loved Red XIII would not be a playable character in the game, stating "we felt that because he only joins the team during the latter stages, having him as a playable ally with full character growth potential would not be a satisfying experience for the player. So we decided to have him join for now, as a guest character instead.
"However, the development team feel the same way that the fans do when it comes to seeing Red XIII as an important character, and we designed his gameplay in a special way to offset him not being playable in battle."
According to Hamaguchi, the key to navigating the new floor in the Shinra building is using Red XIII’s unique abilities to overcome its environmental obstacles. "Letting the player experience his heroics in this way is something that I’m confident will please the fans," he says.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake will launch on PS4 on April 10. It’s been a long time coming, but other platforms will have a while longer to wait – while no other platforms have been confirmed, we do know that the PlayStation exclusivity lasts exactly one year. Here’s hoping it also comes to PC and Xbox One in due course.
Earlier this month, Square Enix confirmed Final Fantasy 7 remake will not be delayed as a result of the coronavirus. But some of you won’t be getting a hard copy of your game on day one.