Today, the review embargo on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was lifted, heralding a significant moment in gaming. While it’s still early days, the sequel to the Remake has already made waves, emerging as the highest-rated game in the Final Fantasy series since 2000’s Final Fantasy 9, according to Metacritic, the foremost review aggregation site in the video game industry.
As pointed out by Benji-Sales on Twitter, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth boasts an impressive 93 rating based on 119 reviews on Metacritic. This surpasses the scores of notable titles like Final Fantasy 16, Final Fantasy Remake, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, Final Fantasy 15, and Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.
It’s quite a list, and I won’t delve into each respective Metacritic rating, but I can confirm after personally checking that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth holds the highest rating since Final Fantasy 9, which currently sits at 94.
With 114 Reviews in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is currently the 2nd Highest Reviewed Final Fantasy Game of All-Time on Metacritic, only behind Final Fantasy 9 back on PlayStation 1
It's now the highest scoring Final Fantasy game of the last 23 years pic.twitter.com/xSAiUzLs3q
— Benji-Sales (@BenjiSales) February 22, 2024
A tweet on February 22, 2024, highlights the milestone further, noting that with 114 reviews, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth stands as the second-highest-reviewed game in the franchise’s history on Metacritic, trailing only Final Fantasy 9 from the PlayStation 1 era. It’s a testament to the game’s quality, marking it as the highest-scoring Final Fantasy title of the past 23 years.
Admittedly, while Metacritic offers valuable insights, it doesn’t provide a complete picture, especially considering the wealth of beloved Final Fantasy games predating the website’s inception.
While you can find them all on Metacritic, many of the older reviews are now defunct links, and the data from that era isn’t always comparable to contemporary releases. Nevertheless, achieving the highest rating in 23 years is an achievement worthy of recognition.
In our own review by Iain Harris, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is lauded for its excellence. Harris writes, “Among its many highs, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth showcases the beloved RPG series at its pinnacle.
The chemistry between characters continues to shine, improvements to side-content ensure that the original’s standout moments are even more compelling, and the combat system remains Square Enix’s most engaging fusion of modern action and active time battle heritage.”
