The Final Fantasy 7 series recently turned 25, and on its anniversary event, Square Enix announced several new projects like Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2: Rebirth. The Japanese video game giant also touched on other exciting Final Fantasy 7-related projects. One of them is Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis, which has just got a fresh, action-packed trailer showing a sizable portion of its gameplay.
Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is an upcoming mobile game that functions as an episodic retelling of almost the entire Final Fantasy 7 collection. Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis was first announced last year after being heavily speculated, with plans of launching in 2022. After being relatively mum about the game for quite some time since the initial announcement, Square Enix finally dropped a new trailer for Ever Crisis, giving fans a closer look at its seemingly impressive battle system and console-like visuals.
As seen in the new footage, Ever Crisis is played from a top-down perspective reminiscent of the original Final Fantasy 7 while in exploration mode. The polygonal character design is still there, albeit a bit more modernized. Yet the major highlight seems to be when the game enters combat mode, mainly because of its graphics that look quite indistinguishable from the Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
Combat in Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis appears to be vastly inspired by the original Final Fantasy 7's Active Time Battle system, which essentially acts like a pseudo-turn-based combat system. This can be considered great news for fans of the original game's dynamic turn-based system, which was changed into something more akin to Final Fantasy 15's action-based system in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
Balancing nostalgia and newness seems to be core to the overall Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis experience. Not only will it tell the story of each game in the Final Fantasy 7 timeline, including spin-offs like Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, and the Advent Children movie, but Ever Crisis will also feature some original stories that haven't been told anywhere else.
All in all, Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis might come across as a great proposition for true fans of the series, even if it will only be available on mobile devices. While the game still doesn't have a specific release date, Square Enix did announce that it will be running a closed beta test for Ever Crisis later this year.
Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis launches on Android and iOS in 2022.