The Witcher Inspired Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth Director to Make an Open World; It's One of His Favorite Games
The Witcher proved to be one of the inspirations when creating the open world in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. The game's director is a big fan of CD Projekt RED's works.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is expected to emphasize open-world exploration, much like the 1997 original did after escaping from Midgar. Square Enix has a track record of creating huge locations, but it appears that in the latest installment of FF7 the devs drew inspiration from many other games, including most likely the iconic The Witcher 3.
The Witcher inspired Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
In a recent interview with French website FFDream, which deals with the subject of Final Fantasy series, the director of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Naoki Hamaguchi shared an interesting piece of information about the game's open-world design. As he admitted, the team learned a lot while working on Final Fantasy XV, but also drew inspiration from the works of other developers. The developer announced that while building the world in Rebirth he was inspired by The Witcher (due to the vast open world, he is probably referring to The Witcher 3) or games from the Horizon series, namely Zero Dawn and Forbidden West.
"Experience gained in creating the open world of Final Fantasy XV has served us well, but that's not all, as I'm personally a big fan of The Witcher and the Horizon series. So we are taking a cue from what has worked well in those titles, but keeping in mind that we are giving the game its own character to make it a unique part of the universe of Final Fantasy VII."
The huge open world of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
The open world in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is expected to play a very important role. The gameplay will start right after the escape from Midgar, that is, when the team moves on. As Hamaguchi admitted in a September interview with PlayStation, the world in Rebirth is expected to be very vast and there will be no shortage of content in it. Completing side quests will reportedly take twice as long as completing the story line.
"Players who want to enjoy the world in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on an even deeper level, will be able to explore all corners, discovering many different and exciting moments, such as new stories, battles and mini-games. The best part is that it's possible to return to previous regions, even if the main mission takes place outside the area.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will debut on PS5 on February 29, 2024.. The release date of the PC version is not yet known. Finally, it is worth noting that the game has been nominated for the "most anticipated game" category in The Game Awards poll.
