Following the new Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth trailer, which featured the exciting first appearance of Vincent Valentine, the game’s developers have revealed that the red-cloaked pseudo-vampire will actually appear in Rebirth in a similar way to the remake of Red XIII. I have confirmed that I will be joining the party.
This is according to IGN’s exclusive interview with the developer, in which director Naoki Hamaguchi acknowledged Vincent’s role:
“In terms of whether Vincent will be a playable character, he will be a character that accompanies the party from a Rebirth standpoint,” Hamaguchi said. “So this is going to be similar to the Red XIII remake.”
Specifically, this means that Vincent will not be playable in Rebirth, but will be a party member of some kind. In the “Remake”, Red XIII joins the team midway through the story and fights together, but it is not possible to control him or change his equipment during battle. However, this does not mean Vincent will be permanently removed from the party list. Red XIII is playable in his Rebirth. That means Vincent could potentially join the group in the final section of the trilogy (whenever it’s released).
Vincent is one of the most beloved party members in the original FF7, so his appearance in the recent Rebirth trailer was a welcome announcement. In the original game, Vincent is an optional party member met in Nibelheim who joins the party for his own revenge mission. Vincent was popular enough to get his own spin-off game, His Dirge of Cerberus, which received mixed reviews at the time.
We recently saw a major new teaser for Rebirth at Sony State of Play. There, we could see not only Vincent, but also Cait Sith, the Gold Saucer, and many other characters. According to Square Enix, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth will include 100 hours of content and one very special scene that fans are “dying to see.” Rebirth is currently scheduled to be released on February 29, 2024, initially exclusive to his PS5.
We also spoke with producer Yoshinori Kitase and creative director Tetsuya Nomura about Zack Fair’s role in Rebirth and how Chocobos work. You can read the full interview here and see a preview of the game here.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter at IGN. Do you have any story tips? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Additional reporting by Bo Moore.