Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Gamescom 2026 Hands-On Preview

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Is Shaping Up Great, But I Played Its Most Boring Side Mission Published Sep 10, 2026, 8:01 AM EDT Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 2,500 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, got context around some AI drama, and revealed how Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on more than one occasion. He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times. Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. Final Fantasy 7 Remake was my Game of the Year in 2020. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was a game I bounced off within a few hours. Never have I felt such a disparity in my enjoyment between two titles so similar. Remake felt like a perfectly refined RPG, where everything felt controlled but still allowed for a level of freedom and customization that I enjoyed. Rebirth, by contrast, tried to do too much. Its plodding opening was met by the friction of a giant open world, and it fried me with decision paralysis. I’ll go back to it one day, but I certainly preferred the more linear nature of Remake. At this year’s Gamescom, I got to go hands-on with the final instalment of the remake trilogy, Revelation, and I left with the strong feeling that the full game is going to be more of what turned me away from Rebirth. Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Is Already Feeling Like Rebirth On Crack I’ve played dozens of open-world games. Heck, Elden Ring is probably my favorite game of all-time, depending on the given day. And when it’s not Elden Ring, it’s usually The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I’m no stranger to exploring vast worlds; it just didn’t feel right for Rebirth, and Revelation is going to be reading from the same hymn sheet, on a much grander scale. Before jumping in, we were given a brief. I was playing Revelation’s fourth chapter, which alone was 15 to 20 hours, and had just gained access to the Highwind, the vehicle which would let me fly freely across the world. We were advised to visit one of a list of locations, some we’d seen in previous entries in the remake trilogy, like the Golden Saucer and Costa Del Sol, which had changed over time, and new ones like Wutai and the Mideel Archipelago. In each of these areas, we were given some recommended quests and side-quests to follow. So as not to waste time, I picked Mideel and dived straight from the Highwind down to the lands below. It all felt very familiar to me at this point; Final Fantasy’s stunning score accompanied me as I ran around Mideel as Yuffie. I sauntered over to the quest board and picked the mission Square recommended to me. In Revelation, you can now run around the map and complete the whole game with any party member. A lady had lost her Chocobo, and with the world’s doom hanging over them, my gang and I decided to help. It was not the mission I’d have chosen if I were working at Square Enix and wanted to show off a game with ambitions as grand as Revelation. I was given details of the lady’s burly white bird and set off, first stopping at its resting place to find its scent, before following its trail. I eventually found Chocobo standing with another of its kind. It was in love. But it was bad at it and struggled to attract the Chocobo opposite, which eventually fled. After a pep talk from Cid, the Chocobo darted off chasing her beloved. Of course, I had to chase after her; I’d promised I’d return her to her owner after all. I got to explore a little of the verticality Mideel had to offer before encountering the bird again. It fled again. I repeated this process a few times, with a couple of battles in between, before she eventually won him over and I got her home safely. It’s the kind of quirky side-mission that gives the Final Fantasy games their soul, but the tedious nature of following a Chocobo from point A to point B, then to points C and D, meant I barely got to experience the blood and thunder that will undoubtedly pack the game. Piloting the Highwind was fun, and combat and exploration felt very much the same as the previous entries, which is fine, but it didn’t grip me. I wanted a taste of the colossal Weapons that threatened my party, or to explore the new system that is akin to classic Final Fantasy Jobs. Instead, I chased Chocobos for the best part of 30 minutes. I will go back to Rebirth and, eventually, Revelation when it releases. Side-quests are optional for a reason, so don’t let this temper your expectations, but I wanted more. I wanted a real look at what will make Revelation the blockbuster it will inevitably become.