Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo is out now on PS5 [updated]

The Empire Strikes Back set many precedents and established plenty of important lore for theStar Wars universe. But one fan discovered a particularly obscure yet oddly significant detail regarding Darth Vader in the movie. Maybe Anakin Skywalker's eternally memed aversion to sand had some other effects.

Here’s a story that honestly has a bit of “history” attached to it in a way you might not recall. You see, in the earliest days of gaming, the phrase “going gold” meant that you had finished the game and put everything on a literal gold-style disc so you could hand it off to the people making copies of your game and thus get them into the hands of the public. The problem is that if you gave the people the wrong disc? You were screwed. What does that have to do with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth? Well, in Japan, a certain ‘mistake’ has come to life with how the discs were printed.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is just a few days away from its PlayStation 5 launch, but the rave critic reviews have already kicked up the hype even further. Our Kai Powell rated the game with a perfect score, and the average review score from critics is the highest for the whole series since 2000's Final Fantasy IX.

Can you feel it? Can you? If so, you’re likely a gamer who wants to get their hands on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth the moment it comes out on Thursday. That’s a key thing to state: it comes out on Thursday! After years of waiting after the release of the first remake title, the sequel is almost here, and gamers can’t wait to see what the title is like in full. To their credit, Square Enix has been doing its job with hyping up the game to nearly insane levels. They even released a massive number of review codes so that nearly everyone would sing the game’s praises, and it worked!

In another promotional push for the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Japanese credit card provider Epos revealed special Cloud Strife and Sephiroth VISA cards exclusive to the country. It's not the first piece of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth merch to have come out, but these credit cards will be great for hardcore fans who want to collect anything that has the game stamped on it.

Look, when something anticipated is about to drop or come out? The last thing anyone wants is to get spoiled because they accidentally came across something online or heard someone talking about it. Another thing to consider is that many people get advanced copies of things like video games and thus are allowed to do streaming and various videos highlighting the product they got access to. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a week away from release, and the reviews for the title paint it as something incredibly special. But for Tetsuya Nomura, he wants to ensure that those with the title right now don’t spoil too much for those who don’t.

There’s an important thing about reviews that everyone has to know. Specifically, it’s about how even if groups of people come together to “like something with all they’ve got,” that doesn’t mean you’ll like it. You see it with movies, TV shows, and, yes, video games. Sometimes critics will heap on the praise, and then you see it/play it for yourself, and you’re wondering why it got all the hype. For Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the hype has been building since the moment it was confirmed, and players have been dying to see what reviewers thought of it. Hint: they thought a lot of great things about it.

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Square Enix has released the “Dawn of a New Era in Junon” update for the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo, which is currently available via PlayStation Store. It expands upon the previously released “Fall of a Hero in Nibelheim” demo with a preview of the game’s vast world.

Your adventure beyond Midgar begins in just over a week when Final Fantasy VII Rebirth launches on PS5 February 29. You may have taken your first steps into that wider world already, thanks to the recent demo, or marveled at that expanse via the State of Play dedicated to the game. And what sights there are. Sprawling, densely detailed open areas and cityscapes, redesigned character models, reimagined threats and new enemies, side-quests and mini-games galore. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth packs a lot in. 

As we edge ever closer to the release of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, fans are getting increasingly eager about the title and what it’s likely to offer them. For those who wanted to get a “sneak peek” of everything, all they had to do was download the PS5 demo for the title. This particular demo is special because it not only gives fans a taste of what’s to come, but Square Enix will “expand upon it” via an update. That’s right, this demo will grow, and you can transfer your entire process to the main game should you get it.

The Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo update is launching tomorrow, and Square Enix confirmed exactly when the update will go live.