By breaking the original story of Final Fantasy 7 into three parts, the team behind Square Enix’s ambitious remake trilogy created a challenge for themselves. Remake has the iconic reactor bombing mission to kick things off, but how do you recreate that magic three times over? Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth opens with a dread-inducing sequence detailing the Nibelheim incident five years earlier. Now, Final Fantasy 7 Revelation takes a similar, though more rapid-fire approach, steering headlong into Cloud’s fractured mental state at the end of Rebirth.

During a roughly 40-minute hands-on demo of the game’s first chapter on a PlayStation 5 Pro, I ventured into the Northern Crater, took the newly playable Cid and Vincent for a spin, and watched Cloud tiptoe right up to the brink of collapse. The time flew by, and I came away ravenous for more — even if I remain mostly unconvinced that Revelation’s newest tweaks to the remake’s combat system are entirely necessary.

From what I can tell, Revelation picks up very soon after Rebirth leaves off, with Cloud and company departing the City of the Ancients to pursue Sephiroth at the Northern Crater. As the party ventures deeper, they begin to feel the intoxicating effects of all the Mako energy in the area (it’s like the Force, but also magic soul petroleum). Barret and Cid comment that they’re feeling tipsy. Yuffie wants to go home to Wutai, fearing an imminent Shinra invasion. All the while, Tifa continues to unconvincingly ignore Cloud’s rapid deterioration, for her own sake as much as his.

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