Something to look forward to: The second part of Square Enix's planned three-part remake of Final Fantasy VII is set to launch on PC nearly a year after the PlayStation 5 version. Performance details and PC features have been revealed along with the full system requirements sheet.
Although it doesn't utilize the same graphics engine, the PC system requirements for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth closely resemble those for the notoriously demanding Final Fantasy XVI, so its performance might be similar. Fans continuing from Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, released in 2022, have noted the sequel's significant spec increase.
The game's 155GB storage requirement should be unsurprising to anyone who has installed high-end games in recent years. However, those still using older graphics cards should know that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth doesn't support AMD RX 5000 or Nvidia GTX 10 series.
Achieving 1080p 30fps gameplay with low graphics settings demands at least an RX 6600, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060, or Intel Arc A580. Shader Model 6.6 or newer is required, but it's unclear if that is preventing RDNA1 and Pascal cards from running the game. Alan Wake II enforced similarly stiff minimum requirements due to its use of mesh shaders. More recently, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle locked out older cards because it demands hardware-accelerated ray tracing.
Although Square Enix recommends high-end GPUs like the RX 7900 XTX or RTX 4080 for 4K 60fps gameplay with high graphics settings, the spec sheet doesn't account for upscaling. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth supports Nvidia DLSS, but the company hasn't confirmed whether FSR and XeSS are also included.
Square Enix also notes that anyone using a 4K display should have at least 12GB of VRAM. Many recent high-end games have encountered performance difficulties in 4K when running on GPUs with 8GB or 10GB of memory, such as the RTX 3080.
The game's PC edition features improved lighting and textures compared to the PlayStation 5 version. Furthermore, DualSense functionality is supported over USB. While Square Enix can't promise Steam Deck verification yet, the company is optimizing the game to be playable on handheld gaming PCs, which might improve performance overall.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will be available on Steam and the Epic Games Store on January 23. The full MSRP is $69.99, but a generous 30 percent early-bird discount is available until launch, reducing the pre-order price to $48.99.
Although Square Enix hasn't confirmed whether the game will receive a free demo for users wishing to benchmark their PCs, the chances of seeing one are good, as Final Fantasy XVI and the PS5 version of Rebirth offered demos.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on PC requires GeForce RTX 20 or Radeon 6000 series GPU, 155GB of storage
