Malcolm Wolff

This game is a masterpiece. Every chapter, if not a thoroughly enjoyable extension to the original game for the sake of world building and character development, is a brilliant reimagining of the most memorable parts of the original. The combat is a welcomed revamp of the lovable but antiquated turn based system that has been getting phased out in recent years. The mixture of horizontal and vertical progression provided by the gear, materia and leveling systems offers a lot of replay value outside of main story progression. Similarly, while some people call the side quests and fights “filler”, many of these quests are love letters to the original game and provide content that fans may have expected from later parts much earlier in the series- particularly regarding certain materia and concepts from the golden saucer. Everything about this game was clearly created by the diligent work of a large army of talented Square Enix employees that have a deep love for the original, and it shows. This game is absolutely a 10/10 game and I would be surprised if it wasn’t named game of the year.