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Preview: Playing Final Fantasy VII: Revelation On PS5 Has Me Worried For The Switch 2 Port
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
Nintendo Life's hands-on preview of Final Fantasy VII: Revelation, played on PS5 ahead of its simultaneous release across all platforms on 8th April 2027, raises concerns about how the game's vastly expanded open world will run on the Switch 2. The writer, who previously found that Rebirth's Switch 2 port handled its open Grasslands area only "well enough" with visual and performance compromises, reports that Revelation's world is so much larger and more densely packed with content that it makes Rebirth look like "a proof of concept" by comparison, casting doubt on whether the less powerful hardware can cope.
During a 50-minute hands-on session set in Chapter 4, the writer freely explored using the Highwind airship, noting that Square Enix said it would take over 20 hours to see everything available at that point in the story. Diving from the airship into the Gongaga jungle and then travelling to Yuffie's homeland of Wutai, the writer followed a main quest investigating the Kurisagi Corps amid a conflict between the Wusheng Loyalists and an interim government, while being repeatedly diverted by side quests, including a cat-hunting photo mission. Despite enjoying the trilogy's combat and Wutai's scenery, the writer remains uncertain whether the scale of Revelation's open world will prove "a step too far" for the Switch 2 port, despite Square Enix's strong track record with the first two games.
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In short
- FF7: Revelation launches simultaneously on all platforms, 8th April 2027.
- PS5 preview shows a vastly larger open world than Rebirth.
- Writer doubts Switch 2 can handle the game's scale.
How this story developed
- 2 months ago Nintendo Life's expanded hands-on preview of Final Fantasy VII: Revelation, played on PS5 ahead of its simultaneous 8th April 2027 launch across platforms, adds further detail that deepens the writer's concerns about the game's Switch 2 port.
- 2 months ago Nintendo Life previewed roughly 50 minutes of hands-on gameplay for Final Fantasy VII: Revelation on PS5 ahead of its simultaneous multi-platform launch on 8th April 2027, and came away worried about how the ambitious open-world game will translate to the Switch 2.
- 2 months ago Nintendo Life's hands-on preview of Final Fantasy VII: Revelation, played on PS5 ahead of its simultaneous release across all platforms on 8th April 2027, raises concerns about how the game's vastly expanded open world will run on the Switch 2.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The preview demonstrates that Revelation's open world is substantially larger and more densely populated than Rebirth, which itself required compromises on Switch 2. Given the architectural differences between the PS5 and Switch 2—the latter having significantly less processing power and memory—it is reasonable to question whether meaningful performance can be maintained across such an expansive environment without cuts that might undermine the experience.
The case against
Square Enix has successfully delivered both prior Final Fantasy VII Remake games to Switch 2 with playable results, demonstrating genuine competence in scaling their technology. The Switch 2 represents a substantial leap in capability over the original Switch, and developer expertise in optimisation continues to improve. A hands-on preview of one chapter tells an incomplete story; the full port remains unmade, and Square Enix's commitment to all-platform simultaneous release suggests confidence in their ability to deliver.
Explained simply
Final Fantasy VII: Revelation is the third and final part of Square Enix's remake trilogy of the classic 1997 role-playing game, following Remake and Rebirth. It is due to launch simultaneously on multiple platforms, including PlayStation 5 and Nintendo's Switch 2, on 8th April 2027, and features an open world for players to explore alongside its main story.
The concern raised centres on whether Nintendo's Switch 2, a less powerful console than the PS5, will be able to run Revelation's open world smoothly, given that it is reported to be much larger and more content-heavy than the equivalent area in Rebirth. Rebirth's own Switch 2 version was already seen as a compromise in terms of visuals and performance, which is why the scale of Revelation's world has prompted fresh doubts. Square Enix is the Japanese publisher responsible for developing and releasing the game across all these platforms.
This matters to readers because it touches on a wider, ongoing debate in gaming about how well big, graphically demanding titles can be adapted for less powerful hardware without losing quality, and what that means for players who want a consistent experience regardless of which console they own.
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