Is FF7 Rebirth Open-World?

Feb. 29 is just around the corner, meaning one of the year's most anticipated games is coming. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth takes Cloud and the gang out of Midgar to capture a demented soldier named Sephiroth and destroy an evil corporation called Shinra. Several players are wondering if FF7 Rebirth is open-world.

Is FF7 Rebirth Open-World?

In a developer comment post on Twitter/X, Director Naoki Hamaguchi answered, “How will players journey through the world outside of Midgar in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth?”

Hamaguchi responded, “Players will be able to journey across the wide and multifaceted world with a high degree of freedom, experiencing a myriad of different stories along the way.” The words “high degree of freedom” are identical to the dictionary definition of an open-world game. That statement shows Rebirth will be open-world, even though the Director didn’t explicitly say that. 

Players have different definitions of what it means for a game to be open-world. To many people, ‘open-world’ means players can go wherever they want in a game immediately after starting it. In that sense, the RPG isn’t fully open-world because players must unlock parts of the map as they progress through the game. This leads people to believe FF7 Rebirth is a semi or segmented open-world game. 

Others say it doesn’t matter if an entire map isn’t completely accessible at the beginning of a game. The title is considered open-world as long as players have a vast environment to explore with little constraints.  

Either way, Rebirth is much more expansive than the more linear gameplay of Final Fantasy 7 Remake.