Final Fantasy 7 Remake co-director compares part two’s evolution to Horizon Forbidden West

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Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s co-director has spoken about how Horizon Zero Dawn and the upcoming sequel Forbidden West have impacted him.

“Horizon Zero Dawn, the first game of the franchise, left a huge impression on me as a game creator,” Naoki Hamaguchi writes on the PlayStation Blog (opens in new tab), in a feature where game developers were asked about their most anticipated games of 2021. “I was taken by the deep immersive experience provided by the unbelievable graphics as well as the unique world I found myself in, a future where civilization has collapsed.”

“In the sense that the next title is expected to evolve even further, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which I’m in charge of is expected to do so the same way,” the co-director continues. “For that I have a personal affinity for Horizon (laughs). As a fan, I’m very much looking forward to Horizon Forbidden West.”

It would certainly seem like Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 is set to expand in a big way, as those who are familiar with the original game will no doubt know. Final Fantasy 7 Remake ends with Cloud and company departing Midgar for the wider world, and it’s this wider world that we’ll be venturing into in part two, just as we did back in 1997.

In that sense, it’s easy to see how Hamaguchi’s feeling the pressure for his next game to “evolve even further,” bringing in open world elements that were almost entirely absent from the first part of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. 

An orchestral performance of Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s stunning soundtrack took place over the weekend remotely in Japan. While some translators claimed that co-director Motomu Toriyama had said new information about the game would be revealed during the showcase, no such information ever came about, and fans that were expecting an announcement of a PS5 port or part two news were disappointed.

If you’re still confused as to what actually went down at the conclusion of part one of Square Enix’s epic remake, head over to our Final Fantasy 7 Remake ending guide for more.