Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Director Naoki Hamaguchi Says It Was “Absolutely Essential” to Avoid Turning the Remake Into a Personal Fan Project

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi says one of the biggest challenges of developing Square Enix’s remake trilogy has been preserving the identity of the original game without simply recreating it or turning the project into the developers’ own interpretation.

Speaking in Edge Magazine Issue 429, Hamaguchi explained that the team has remained committed to the central themes established at the beginning of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake project. The upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will serve as the third and final entry in the modern remake trilogy.

Hamaguchi wanted to avoid turning FF7 into a personal fan project

According to Hamaguchi, the development team did not reshape the story based on reactions to individual installments. Instead, the developers approached the trilogy as a connected project and maintained the direction established with the first game.

“We haven’t altered the core of the story based on reactions at any given time,”

Hamaguchi told Edge Magazine.

“It wasn’t easy. I felt it was absolutely essential to avoid turning a masterpiece like FF7 into something that felt like my own personal fan project.”

The remake trilogy has introduced significant changes to the 1997 original, including new characters, expanded storylines and the mysterious Whispers. However, Hamaguchi says the challenge was bigger than deciding which individual elements could be changed.

Hamaguchi explained that the development team continually questioned whether its new ideas still belonged within the identity of Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

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“The real challenge wasn’t simply incorporating elements that differed from the original or introducing new interpretations,”

he said.

“It was constantly asking ourselves whether what we were creating could truly be called FF7R.”

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is scheduled to launch on April 8, 2027, bringing the remake trilogy toward its conclusion. Players can experience the story through Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, while the original 1997 game remains an important reference point for the modern interpretation.