Following January’s release of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade for Nintendo Switch 2, Square Enix is back with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth just five months later. That port was spectacular, bringing Remake over beautifully in what is still one of the best ports available on Nintendo Switch 2. While Remake has plenty of impressive environments, it is all contained in one city. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth takes players out to a massive world for the first time, and the prospect of how that experience would carry over to Switch 2 was a little frightening for some.
It’s no secret that I think the world of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. I awarded it a 5/5 at launch, and it was Final Weapon’s Game of the Year 2024. I have played over 500 hours of Rebirth across PlayStation 5 and PC, and it is safe to say that I know my way around this world quite well. In my eyes, the Nintendo Switch 2 release of the game was the perfect opportunity to have another excuse to spend a few dozen more hours in this world, wherever I want to be.
I’ve spent a good amount of time with the Nintendo Switch 2 port over the last few weeks, and overall, this is a very impressive port that pushes the console hard while achieving great results. There are a few hiccups and bumps in the road, but it’s nothing that takes away from the experience Rebirth looks to offer. One of the biggest RPGs of the past decade is available now on the Switch 2 in great form, and it’s hard to ask for much more than that.
Venturing Into The World
For those entering Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for the first time, the grand world beyond Midgar awaits. Following the Escape from the City of Mako, Cloud and the party arrive in Kalm before jetting all across the world, tracking down the Black Robes in pursuit of Sephiroth. Rebirth brings three new party members in Red XIII, Yuffie Kisaragi, and Cait Sith, with each having plenty of key moments throughout its 40-hour story. Recreating the rest of Disc 1, fans of the original have plenty to look forward to in the story, as do newcomers.
This journey goes through seven massive regions filled with towns to explore, activities to discover, and bosses to defeat. This transition to the world beyond Midgar doesn’t leave behind the scale found in Final Fantasy VII Remake, as you will constantly find larger-than-life cities that continue to make this world more engaging. Rebirth offers iconic areas like Cosmo Canyon, Junon, the Gold Saucer, and many more.
The combat system has been overhauled with a new Synergy system, based on both Skills and Abilities. With these, you can team up and perfect attacks with multiple party members filled with style and deal massive damage. Aerial combat in particular was reworked, allowing characters like Cloud to better deal with flying enemies in each environment. New party members are also a blast to play as, and it’s hard to get bored even hundreds of hours later with all the skills, abilities, and materia at your disposal.
There is so much to explore and discover, whether that’s through interacting with each party member throughout the main story or clearing each of the game’s side quests. For more on my thoughts about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth‘s story, world, characters, and more, check out my review of the PlayStation 5 version. But let’s move on to what really matters with the Switch 2 port: performance.
Pushing Switch 2 to Its Limits
Nintendo Switch has a history of questionable or subpar ports, but so far, things have looked pretty dang smooth for Switch 2. We’ve already received Cyberpunk 2077, Resident Evil Requiem, Pragmata, and even Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is set to release on the system in October. After plenty of testing, it’s easy to say that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth continues the trend of great ports to the system.
At a high level, this is a very impressive and competent port. Almost every detail has been preserved, and Square Enix has carefully combed through each element of the game to determine how to keep everything smooth and stable. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth runs at a locked 30 FPS, identical to Remake Intergrade on the system. The game hits this a majority of the time, but I did experience a hiccup or dip every now and then. Largely, these almost always occurred when running in certain towns like Kalm and Costa Del Sol, or while exploring massive areas like the Grasslands. At least based on my time with the game, I never ran into any hiccups with the frame rate in combat. Needless to say, there are a few frame rate-related bumps throughout, but it’s not frequent enough to define or detract from the port.
Regarding resolution, I am very satisfied. Docked mode is where Rebirth shines the most on Switch 2. In many cases, it is near indistinguishable from other versions unless you look super closely. On my 4K OLED TV, I often had to walk up close to really notice some of the cutbacks in cutscenes, which is a huge credit to the fidelity Square Enix manages to deliver upon with this port. Each area looked sharp, and besides a few minor things like jagged edges, pop-in, and fabric/hair quality, I’d be surprised if anyone walks away disappointed.
Speaking of pop-in, this is one area where the Switch 2 port lags behind other platforms. The original release did not really have this problem, but Square Enix has opted to have textures like grass, tree branches, and leaves only load in as you get close to them. There’s also significantly less foliage overall, and the same goes for NPCs. It can be a little jarring running around town and watching NPCs spawn right in front of your face. I do think this can be quite distracting in both docked and handheld mode, but in all honesty, I accepted it and stopped realizing it was there after a few hours. I didn’t find it breaking my immersion docked, but there were certainly instances of that in handheld mode. Pop-in is an interesting phenomenon in this port, as I do believe Square deliberately chose to utilize it for the sake of keeping the draw distance and level of detail high. This is more noticeable in towns, as although some textures are now less detailed, the draw distance and scale are rendered like in any other version. Some may disagree, but I believe this was the right call. I’d much rather have pop-in but maintain the scale of the world and everything it has to offer when looking in the distance.
In my Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade review for Switch 2, I discussed the grainy checkerboard pattern that appeared on certain textures. This is a byproduct of DLSS, and while it was present in certain areas of Remake, it was never a major distraction. Rebirth, however, certainly has more instances where DLSS can be a bit in-your-face, so to speak. The action icon that appears whenever you can squeeze between walls, hop on a chocobo, or climb a ladder often appears pixelated. Throughout the environment, it’s really easy to spot different items or backgrounds that are strained by this artifacting. This isn’t something every player will notice or even care about, but it is there and a byproduct of the technology powering this port.
Beyond that, many of the environmental textures have been drastically lowered compared to PS5. Some of the floor and distant rocky textures weren’t all that impressive on PS5 or even PC, but it can be really noticeable running around and spotting some of these modified Switch 2 textures. Most of this is contained in muddy ground textures or distant mountains or walls, but running up to them can be a bit jarring. Again, I do think some decisions had to be made here, and this was a lever that was lowered in favor of others. Not every location or environment has these, but you will notice a few odd textures here and there. It’s nothing preventing you from enjoying the game, though.
Moving to handheld mode, there is a clear shift in image quality downwards. The team has leveraged dynamic resolution scaling alongside DLSS to keep things smooth across the board. But you never see this resolution changing on the fly due to DLSS maintaining the steady top resolution. However, the low-end 380p range for handheld mode can play into image quality at times. Characters can look a little dull or blurry, and the game as a whole can feel a bit soft. It’s still clearly Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and plays as such, but there is a noticeable difference between the quality in docked and handheld modes.
I mentioned character hair and artifacting earlier, and this really appears prominently in handheld. There’s a certain fuzziness that can show up in cutscenes for characters on handheld that is not present in docked. Even in cutscenes where the camera moves to one individual character, it’s hard not to notice the obviously lower resolution and hair rendering. In gameplay, Tifa in particular can be distracting as her hair is almost see-through when running.
I’ll also mention that I ran into a few version-specific bugs on Switch 2. Cloud got suspended mid-combat and was stuck in one battle, a weird lighting bug in Junon completely flipped the lighting when turning the camera, and an elevator button in Junon didn’t appear until I reloaded a save. I’ve communicated these issues to Square Enix, and I have no doubt these and any others I potentially missed will be addressed very quickly.
Also, for those curious about battery life, be aware that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will drain your Switch 2 dry faster than any Mako Reactor. Most AAA ports on Switch 2 have faced similar fates, but be aware that you likely will want to pack a portable charger if you plan on playing this for longer than 100 minutes portably. I was continuously shocked at how quickly the battery life drained when playing, but part of that is also due to how immersed I was in it. All of a sudden, an hour and 15 had gone by!
At the end of the day, I think it really depends on what you’re looking for from handheld mode. The flexibility to switch between handheld and docked is more than enough for me to be satisfied with handheld mode’s visuals, and these are, once again, miles ahead of Steam Deck. I don’t take too much offense to these drawbacks for the most part, as they were not super common and very brief, but they are there. I’m hoping that Square Enix can tighten a few things in a future patch, but rest assured, this port is still in great shape. It’s Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on the go.
A Very Impressive Port
As someone who seeks to make the most of my 4K OLED TV, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on Switch 2 is not my preferred way to play the game—and that’s completely okay. This port does exactly what is asked of it and beyond, delivering a massive RPG on the go with minimal drawbacks. Docked mode is absolutely stellar, and while handheld mode leaves a bit to be desired, the drawbacks are understandable considering the priorities of the port. The Switch 2 version never feels like a compromised version of Rebirth, offering exactly what you’d expect for a port of this caliber.
Even with pop-in, a few frame rate hiccups, and some artifacting, I never once had the desire to stop playing this version in favor of another. Switch 2 fans should rest assured that you are getting a complete port that likely pushes the console to its limits. I find it hard to believe the performance decisions on this port will take away from the well over 100 hours of content to complete and discover for any player.
I really am quite impressed at how well Square Enix seems to have harnessed DLSS on the Switch 2. It makes me confident that the company is going to continue to release games day and date on the system, even with consoles like the PS6 on the horizon. The third and final game in the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy is already confirmed, and I’d be shocked if Kingdom Hearts IV didn’t release day and date. Other publishers should be taking notice of how DLSS is being leveraged in these ports, as it’s making ‘impossible’ games run smoothly on a system as thin as my cell phone.
With Final Fantasy VII Rebirth joining Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade on Switch 2, Nintendo fans have everything they need to prepare for the final game in the trilogy. Rebirth is such a joyous game I’ll be playing for years to come, and I’m so happy to finally have the ability to pull out the game and play wherever I go.
Disclaimer: Square Enix provided a Nintendo Switch 2 copy of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for review purposes.
