Highlights

  • Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth balances dark themes with humor, creating a compelling and enjoyable RPG experience.
  • The game delves into heavy moments like loss and evil corporations, but also offers lighter breaks with absurd humor.
  • Despite the oppressive atmosphere, moments of respite and humor help players navigate the darker aspects of the game.

There are some incredibly dark and depressing fantasy action-RPGs out there that bathe themselves in themes of death and despair, but Final Fantasy isn't really one of those. While the Final Fantasy franchise has explored its fair share of dark and dramatic themes over the decades, it's extremely rare for the entire experience to revolve around a heavy tone, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the perfect example of that.

Essentially the Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back of the Final Fantasy 7 saga, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth begins with the heroes on the run from an evil corporation, setting out to defeat an ultimate evil that looks to destroy the whole world - and that's just the beginning. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth gets very serious very quickly, but its willingness to embrace more humor than its predecessor keeps the entire experience feeling suitably fun.

Final Fantasy 7 Junon Comparison
Related
How Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Junon Compares to the 1997 Original

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth remakes a number of iconic locations from the 1997 original, and Junon features some of the most impressive enhancements.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Humor Serves a Good Purpose

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Tackles Some Dark Themes

As alluded to above, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth begins with its heroes in a tough spot, and their trials and tribulations only continue to grow worse as the game continues. During just its opening chapter, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth immediately bombards players with a horde of heavy moments, with Sephiroth's sudden turn to evil, Cloud and Tifa's hometown of Nibelheim being burned to the ground, and Tifa being mortally wounded all within just the first hour or so of gameplay.

After that dark introduction, players are free to roam about the Grasslands and eventually journey into Junon, which is home to another selection of darker themes, this time revolving around Shinra's attempt to bleed the planet dry, despite the damage it'll cause both the planet and its people. Over the course of the next 40 or so hours, players will have experienced a plethora of darker moments like these, all of which begin to give the game a bit of an oppressive atmosphere. However, that atmosphere doesn't last for too long.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Humor Offers a Much-Needed Respite

Between each of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's darker moments, players are usually given a fairly lengthy break in which the tone takes a much lighter turn. Often accompanied by large batches of minigames and side missions, these moments of respite really thrive thanks to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's humor. Though it isn't constant, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has plenty of moments of levity, with some of the most memorable really leaning into the series' more absurd aspects.

For instance, one of the most bizarre moments of humor in the original 1997 Final Fantasy 7 came when Red XIII dressed as a Shinra soldier to sneak onto the ship departing Junon. In this original version, Red XIII's polygonal character model strafes from side to side, showing that the creature is having a tough time standing on two legs. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth doesn't just recreate this moment, but embraces it fully, having Red XIII show up in full Shinra gear just so he can play a round of Queen's Blood with Cloud. It's a truly absurd moment, and one that's been deliberately placed there to defuse tension from the previous section of the game, giving players a break before the next onslaught of enemies and themes.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth also contains a ton of genuinely humorous interactions between its main party members, both during story sequences and while exploring the open-world. One of the best comes right before Cloud and the rest of the team leave Costa del Sol, where Yuffie makes a grand showcase of her skills in an attempt to be welcomed into the group, only to have Cloud nonchalantly utter the word "Cool," before walking away unimpressed. It's a great denial of expectations, and just one of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's much-needed moments of humor.