Square Enix announced the long-awaited Final Fantasy 7 Remake PlayStation 5 upgrade during Sony’s February State of Play. The upgrade has numerous enhancements in store, but that’s not all that was revealed. SE also unveiled a new story episode taking place before the party leaves Midgar is on the way. The whole package for PS5 will be called Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Intergrade and will release June 10, 2021 alongside the PS4 to PS5 upgrade.
Intergrade includes a paid, PS5-exclusive DLC starring Yuffie and a companion from Wutai, a region Cloud and friends visit after leaving Midgar in the original game. In it, they face off against Shinra operatives while trying to steal a valuable Materia to restore Wutai’s honor.
Players who currently own Final Fantasy 7 Remake on PS4 can upgrade to the PS5 version for free, and those with a physical copy of FF7R will need a PS5 with a disc drive to upgrade. They will, however, need to purchase the Yuffie DLC separately once they upgrade.
Intergrade is a separate package for PS5 and has a few purchase options. It can be purchased separately on the PlayStation Store or bundled digitally with Final Fantasy 7 Remake for PlayStation 5 for $69.99. There’s also a digital deluxe edition for $79.99 that includes a mini-soundtrack and digital artbook. Pre-orders for either edition include a Cactaur summon.
There’s also a physical standalone release for Intergrade, though Square Enix didn’t say how much that will cost or what bonuses it may include.
The FF7 Remake PS5 upgrade improves the game’s textures and lighting, adds fog effects where applicable, reduces load times, and adds a photo mode.
It’s also introducing performance and graphics modes. As with other games using similar features, such as God of War on PS5, FF7R‘s performance mode prioritizes 60 fps, while graphics mode emphasizes delivering 4K visuals.
Another addition is Normal (Classic) difficulty mode. This new mode enables auto attack so players can focus on issuing menu-based commands similar to the original Final Fantasy 7.
How much content Intergrade includes and what it will cost on its own isn’t clear, though Square Enix did suggest they would release later FF7 Remake installments in shorter chapters to avoid long gaps. All of this comes alongside news of Square’s mobile battle royale game set 30 years before the classic JRPG.
