Set immediately after Remake's events, players control mercenary Cloud Strife and a party of characters principally comprising the eco-terrorist group Avalanche, who embark on a journey across the Planet to prevent the megacorporation Shinra from exploiting its life essence, Mako, as an energy source, and defeat former elite SOLDIER Sephiroth, who seeks to unite with the Planet to achieve greater power.

Objective markers appear in the heads-up display, highlighting main story quests and sidequests to complete along with their respective distances from the party in the overworld.

Rebirth expands on the hybrid of action-focused melee combat and the Active-Time Battle (ATB) system introduced in Remake, in which the player takes control of a party of characters that can be freely switched between during gameplay.

During combat, characters use both physical attacks and magic, and can consume items for offensive, defensive and resuscitative purposes from a menu while gameplay is suspended around them.

The "Synergized" mechanic, first introduced in the downloadable content (DLC) "Episode INTERmission" campaign for Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (2021), returns, allowing party members to synchronize their attacks.

The game takes place on "The Planet" and centers on the journey of the main characters as they seek to end the tyranny of the Shinra Electric Power Company, which controls the megalopolis of Midgar by weaponizing the Lifestream, and defeat Sephiroth (Tyler Hoechlin / Toshiyuki Morikawa), a legendary veteran of Shinra's elite SOLDIER unit who was presumed dead and seeks to summon Meteor to wound the Planet, enabling him to attain godhood by uniting with the Lifestream.

[8] The protagonist and leader of the party is Cloud Strife (Cody Christian / Takahiro Sakurai), a former member of SOLDIER's 1st Class who now works as a mercenary assisting the eco-terrorist group Avalanche, which opposes Shinra's exploitation of the Planet and its resources.

Accompanying him are two of its members: Barret Wallace (John Eric Bentley / Masato Funaki), its brazen but empathetic leader, and Tifa Lockhart (Britt Baron / Ayumi Ito), Cloud's compassionate but shy childhood friend who works as a bartender at the 7th Heaven in Midgar and is a practicing martial artist.

They are joined by Aerith Gainsborough (Briana White / Maaya Sakamoto), a flower merchant who previously lived in Midgar's Sector 5 Slums and is the sole survivor of the ancient Cetra; Red XIII (Max Mittelman / Kappei Yamaguchi), an intelligent quadruped from Cosmo Canyon who Shinra held captive as a lab rat; and Yuffie Kisaragi (Suzie Yeung / Yumi Kakazu), an expert Materia thief and ninja from Wutai who resolves to join the team to realize Shinra's downfall after losing her partner Sonon Kusakabe in a failed attempt to extract the "Ultimate Materia" from their headquarters.

[9] Supporting characters play roles throughout the story, including Zack Fair (Caleb Pierce / Kenichi Suzumura[10]), Aerith's former boyfriend and the previous wielder of the Buster Sword, who escaped with Cloud after Shinra experimented on them using the cells of the extraterrestrial life-form Jenova; Cait Sith (Paul Tinto / Hideo Ishikawa), a robotic cat remotely controlled by Shinra's Head of Urban Development Reeve Tuesti (Jon Root/Banjō Ginga); Vincent Valentine (Matthew Mercer / Shōgo Suzuki), a former member of the Turks who Professor Hojo (James Sie / Shigeru Chiba) experimented on; and Cid Highwind (J. Michael Tatum / Kazuhiro Yamaji), a grizzled pilot from Rocket Town and an ex-Shinra rocket scientist who is dedicated to achieving spaceflight.

[11][12][13] Other characters include Bugenhagen (Frank Todaro / Yōhei Tadano), the elder of Cosmo Canyon; Avalanche member Biggs (Gideon Emery / Shūhei Sakaguchi), who, unlike in the original game, survives the Sector 7 Plate's collapse in Midgar and now seeks revenge against Shinra for the deaths of his friends;[14] Dyne (Dave B. Mitchell / Kenjiro Tsuda), a childhood friend of Barret from Mt.

Corel and the biological father of his adopted daughter Marlene;[15] and Elena (Piper Reese / Megumi Toyoguchi), a new recruit of the Turks who seeks to apprehend Cloud and his allies.

[16] Following the events of the previous game, Zack Fair reaches Midgar with a comatose Cloud, and it is revealed that he resides in a timeline where the end of the world is imminent as a result of the Planet's mako having been depleted entirely.

There, Sephiroth went insane after discovering that he was actually an artificial being created from Jenova's cells and set fire to Nibelheim, then murdered many of its inhabitants, including Cloud's mother and Tifa's father.

They also meet and recruit new members into their party: Wutai ninja Yuffie Kisaragi, remote-controlled fortune-telling robot cat Cait Sith, freelance pilot Cid Highwind, and ex-Turk supersoldier Vincent Valentine.

During the promotion of Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020), Square Enix confirmed that it would not cover the original's complete story, but rather act as a standalone first game in "a multi-part series, with each entry providing its own unique experience".

[17] Game director Tetsuya Nomura cited a "massive undertaking to reconstruct Final Fantasy VII from the ground up with the current technology" as the reason why a remake was not possible for some time.

[25] In regards to the technical improvements made in Remake's enhanced 2021 port, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Nomura noted that while environmental effects such as fog were added to the port in order to, "further enhance the sense of realism and immersion in the world", he advised fans to wait for future entries that would take proper advantage of the PS5's hardware and features in both gameplay and graphics.

[29][30] Reunion was part of the Final Fantasy VII Remake project and served as a prequel to the main trilogy, with the remaster designed to familiarize players with the story of Zack Fair ahead of his appearance in Rebirth, where he would play a more significant role.

Game director Naoki Hamaguchi promised that Rebirth would feature a "wide and multifaceted world with a high degree of freedom" with multiple story routes, in comparison to the more structured, linear progression throughout Midgar in Remake.

A new trailer was revealed at The Game Awards 2023, which showcased the song "No Promises to Keep" by Loren Allred, as well as new gameplay footage, including Vincent Valentine and Cid Highwind.

[48] The Collector's Edition of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth includes access keys for downloadable content (DLC) items that can be equipped on the party earlier in the game.

Critics have praised the game's expansive open world, enhanced combat mechanics, and nostalgic recreation of key moments from the original.

[79]The debut of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in January on Steam led to a strong sales boost for the titles, having placed 3rd on the monthly chart.