Quite a few eyebrows were raised when Square Enix first announced that it was developing a Final Fantasy-themed battle royale game during Sony's State of Play presentation in early 2021. Four months on from that event, and Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier has now entered its first closed beta testing period, giving some players an opportunity to get a first-hand look at how everything is shaping up.
When it comes to visuals, Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier is a fairly impressive game, with many of its assets seemingly lifted straight out of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. There's a lot more going on under the hood than just pretty graphics, though, including one or two ideas and mechanics never before seen in the battle royale genre. It's still a little rough around the edges in places, but there's plenty of potential for the developers to work with between now and the game's eventual release.
Styles
Before players can begin a match, they'll first need to choose between one of four styles, which effectively serve like the jobs and classes from previous Final Fantasy games. They all control fairly similarly, although each one has its own unique traits and abilities which are designed around a number of different play styles.
Warriors excel at dishing out melee damage, Sorcerers have more MP and specialize in magic attacks and Monks are a little more durable in the defensive department. The Ranger style, however, is geared around locating and evading enemies and is therefore ideal for those hoping to take a stealthier approach to proceedings.
Though on paper the system is a nice addition to the battle royale genre, in its current form, it just doesn't quite work. A lot of the perks and skills given to each style rely on players getting up close and personal with their enemies, but due to the heavy emphasis that the game places on ranged combat, they can often end up going unused.
Gameplay
Each match contains up to 75 players and takes place in the city of Midgar. A lot of the locations from Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Crisis Core are included, such as the Sector 7 slums, Don Corneo's Mansion, and Aerith's church in Sector 5. Like many other battle royale games, the playable area shrinks over time, forcing players to converge on a central point to help keep things moving at a decent pace. It's possible to play solo or as part of a three-person team, with both match types typically lasting around 15 minutes.
After selecting a style, players are given control of a Shinra helicopter and must choose where exactly in the city they'd like to drop. Initially, they'll have nothing but their main melee weapon, but players can find guns, items, accessories, and materia in the many supply boxes that are scattered around the map. It's also possible to loot the corpses of other players and there are special supply drops containing powerful summon materia and other goodies from time to time.
When it comes to dishing out damage, melee and magic attacks typically offer the best DPS, but getting close enough to actually use them without being shot can often be quite challenging. As a result, the bulk of the combat in The First Soldier tends to gravitate towards gunplay; effectively rendering all other combat mechanics useless for large portions of the match.
By getting kills and surviving over time, players will earn XP and can level up multiple times during a match. This will increase the player's maximum HP as well as their damage output, but as most players tend to level up at a similar pace, the two usually cancel each other out. It's also possible to level up materia for more powerful attacks by simply collecting multiple orbs of any given type.
The game features PvE elements too and there are a number of classic Final Fantasy enemies scattered throughout the map. Defeating these AI enemies rewards players with Gil, items, and XP, but it can also give away the player's position when using guns. As such, it's best to take these enemies out using melee attacks or just avoid them entirely. With a little more incentive to actually defeat them, however, this could end up being one of the game's strongest USPs.
Controls
Players are able to run, jump and crouch and can also climb up some of the game's structures and buildings thanks to a basic parkour-style system. There are a number of vehicles that can be driven too, some of which can accommodate multiple passengers. Certain areas of the map allow players to summon a Chocobo to ride instead of a conventional vehicle and it's possible to attack enemies and other players while mounted on one of the winged creatures.
Though players can fire their guns manually by tapping the screen, the game will automatically shoot at any enemies that are lined up in a player's crosshairs. This can be useful when trying to move in for a melee kill, but keeping the reticule centered on a target isn't always easy while moving and although running in a straight line can help in this regard, it also leaves players vulnerable to easy headshots. Certain guns do allow players to switch to a first-person point of view though and this can make aiming considerably easier.
Microtransactions
Square Enix is keeping its cards fairly close to its chest when it comes to monetization in The First Soldier, but the closed beta does provide some clues as to how it all might work. There's already a store featuring a number of special character, weapon, and vehicle skins, most of which can be purchased using the Gil that's obtained during matches or by completing the game's daily and weekly challenges. The rest, however, will need to be exchanged for puzzle pieces, which will likely serve as the game's premium currency when it eventually goes live.
Final Thoughts
At a glance, it would be easy to dismiss Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier as just another PUBG clone, although that would perhaps be doing the game a bit of a disservice. Granted, there are plenty of similarities between the two titles, but the Materia system and PvE elements really do help to set The First Soldier apart from other battle royale games. That said, the game does have its fair share of problems.
The heavy emphasis that's placed on gunplay often renders melee and magic attacks redundant due to how difficult it can be to get within range of an enemy. The controls also feel needlessly complicated when compared to similar titles and although full gamepad support would definitely help in this regard, it wouldn't really be in keeping with the game's mobile-centric approach. The biggest challenge facing the developers, however, will likely come in finding a true target audience for the game.
While there is definitely a lot to like about The First Soldier, it's difficult to see too many battle royale fans abandoning the likes of Fortnite and PUBG. Final Fantasy fans, on the other hand, are typically accustomed to traditional JRPG mechanics and so expecting them to pump their time and money into a completely different genre seems like a risky gambit on Square Enix's part - especially considering the game has no hint of a story thus far.
Of course, there's likely to be a little bit of overlap when it comes to people who are fans of both genres, but whether there's really enough of these people to sustain a project this ambitious in scope remains to be seen. Tightening up the controls and finding a way to better emphasize the game's materia, style, and PvE systems certainly wouldn't hurt its chances though.
Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier is coming to Android and iOS mobile devices sometime in 2021.