Final Fantasy Needs To Reinvent Itself Just Like Resident Evil Did

Published Jul 30, 2026, 2:00 PM EDT Jade King is Lead Features Editor at The Gamer and University of Sussex journalism graduate with 10+ years covering the video game industry. She has been seen in outlets such as Trusted Reviews, Kotaku UK, VICE, and more over the years covering everything from the latest releases to major events to in-depth interviews. She loves nothing more than speaking with devs, creatives, voice actors, and so many others about the passion behind their craft and bringing that into the hearts of readers everywhere. Every single Final Fantasy game is different. I often have family and friends ask me where to start with the series, and ultimately there’s no right answer to that question. You could jump into a modern entry like Final Fantasy 7 Remake or 16, appreciate classics like 4 or 6, or relive the golden era with 7, 8, 9, or 10. It all changes depending on the type of person you are and the sort of games you like. It’s an ever-evolving discussion that will change endlessly as new games are released, or old ones are reappraised with the passing of time. But nowadays, it does seem like Final Fantasy is increasingly appealing to an audience that already exists rather than finding ways to bring in newcomers who might be overwhelmed by the sheer number of games and assuming that there is a wider chronology that must be followed. My family and friends also ask me which one they should start with because they assume in an understandable way that Final Fantasy 16 is actually a sequel, rather than its own distinct adventure. Square Enix can only address this criticism by going back to the drawing board to figure out exactly what this series should be in the modern era, and whether it needs to evolve to survive. You know what I think? Final Fantasy needs to follow directly in the footsteps of Resident Evil. How Did Resident Evil Make Such A Massive Comeback? When Resident Evil 6 released back in 2012, the survival horror series was at an all-time low. It sold incredibly well, but critics tore the game apart for being a mediocre action blockbuster that failed to imitate Gears of War with bad gunplay, terrible storytelling, and way too many explosions. People like to claim that Leon’s campaign was a highlight, but it was a dim spark within a pile of mediocrity. Capcom knew this as well, since aside from the occasional spin-off and remastered effort, the company spent the next five years working away in secret on a reboot that would alter Resi's trajectory forever. It began with the terrifying Kitchen demo, which was shown off using PlayStation VR with no association with the series. Then, at E3 2016, it was revealed to be none other than Resident Evil 7: a first-person horror experience starring a new character in a world filled with horrifying villains and disgusting creatures that were more Hills Have Eyes and Texas Chain Saw Massacre than Umbrella Corporation. It was fresh, exciting, and understood that Resident Evil needed to return to its roots while also redefining itself if it wanted people to care. And it worked — millions of people fell in love with eventual mould man Ethan Winters and were swept up in the mystery surrounding this Louisiana nightmare as it slowly but surely linked back to the evildoings of Umbrella. Once it was in the rearview mirror, Capcom had a clear runway to reboot the universe further with a new timeline built to facilitate remakes of Resident Evil 2, 3, 4, and Code Veronica, while we have also received new entries like Village and Requiem which tie into the same wider story. Resident Evil is back on top of the world, and even surpassed Final Fantasy in lifetime sales recently despite being a much younger property. But is there even a way for Square Enix to replicate this success with such a different genre and with such a legacy? I honestly don’t know, but there will come a point where it will have to try. Will There Come A Time When Final Fantasy Has To Change? Despite being labelled as such, I don’t believe Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a particularly good way for newcomers to experience this legendary story for the first time. While the original title is rather archaic by modern standards, it still looks and plays wonderfully to me, but I’m also bound by irrational nostalgia that will never subside. The remake pretty much assumes prior knowledge of existing characters, events, and locations as it does everything in its power to subvert them and tell a brand-new story. As a lifelong fan, I love this, but it also turns away a potential audience of millions more because of its attachment to the past. I reckon a bunch of people still picked up Final Fantasy 7 Remake with excitement, then they discovered it was the first part of a trilogy that wasn’t going to materialise for another decade or so. That’s gotta be frustrating, even if you caught the JRPG bug and went back to some of the older games or even picked up 16. Speaking of, I honestly thought this was going to be a paradigm shift for the series as it shifted entirely to character action alongside a western tale inspired heavily by Game of Thrones. It sold and reviewed well, but failed to set the world on fire. So, I wonder if Square Enix needs to go back to the drawing board after the release of Revelation next year to figure out what’s next. After doing such a wonderful job with the FF7 Remake trilogy, Naoki Hamaguchi has earned the right to direct the next mainline entry. Let him produce something original. It sounds like a massive risk, but what if the next Final Fantasy was called exactly and only that? No number attaching the series to a confusing lineage, but rather a fresh start that expressed all the themes and ideas that make the series so compelling but with a new cast, a new battle system, and a new world for us to fall in love with. It feels like Final Fantasy exists in this state of constantly retreading the past instead of trying something new, and that has to change just as it did with Resident Evil. But can it manage that within the RPG genre, where wide open worlds, deep stories, and nuanced stories are expected? These games naturally take longer to make nowadays, which is why we have become so obsessed with remakes and remasters in recent years. They are safe bets, don’t require additional time to formulate new narrative or mechanical ideas, and have a legion of fans already built in. That’s definitely the case for Final Fantasy, but the impressive yet oddly lacking sales of Rebirth and 16 are concrete proof of that. I’ll show up for the rest of my life, but I don’t want to be alone, I want new folks to come along for the ride and fall in love with something I’m immeasurably passionate about. Square Enix Remaking games like Final Fantasy 8 is a terrible idea because they’ll require equal scope to what was seen in Remake, Rebirth, and Revelation. There are also several rumours of a Final Fantasy 9 remake being developed but subsequently shelved because it failed to meet quality standards. One of the only additional remakes I can see being incredible is an HD-2D revival of Final Fantasy 6. Keep the overall scale of the game the same, just deliver transformative visuals that are already a proven success thanks to Octopath Traveller. If I had a definitive answer for securing the future of Final Fantasy, I’d hand it over, but Square Enix has a lot of hard work ahead in order to come up with a solution. But I do think the series needs a rebranding or new title that isn’t held hostage by nostalgia so it can attract new audiences across all platforms, or experiment with reimaginings that don’t demand an entire trilogy to tell a single story. Regardless of what form it takes, taking inspiration from Resident Evil would be a pretty good start.