Final Fantasy VII Remake North American Box Art Revealed, Plus New Screenshots and Gameplay Footage

Potentially the most anticipated video game remake of all time just dropped a bunch of images that will have fans salivating. The Final Fantasy VII Remake's North American box art was revealed today morning by Square Enix, and just taking a single look is enough to feel the nostalgia rushing in. 

The iconic shot of young soldier Cloud Strife gazing up at the headquarters of the nefarious supercorporation Shinra, which so thoroughly captivated players in 1997, has been faithfully recreated using the modernized visuals of the remake. And it's no surprise, either - the remake has gone out of its way to cleave as closely to the original masterpiece as possible even while innovating in its gameplay and graphics to a stunning degree. The remake is even including 'Classic Mode' to allow fans of the original turn-based gameplay to eschew the new real-time action elements added to combat and stick with a thoroughly revitalized version of the original combat system. You really can't ask for more than that kind of respect for fans of an iconic game being remade 20+ years later. 

More than just the box art was revealed today, however. On top of a juicy array of screenshots, Square Enix also uploaded footage of the new combat system in the form of a fight against the sewer beast Aps. The fast-paced gameplay footage shows off combat from the perspectives of Cloud, Aerith and Tifa at various points, and it looks absolutely incredible. Capping things off is one of the most iconic recurring FF summons, Ifrit, who has a brand new coat of (fire) paint, and shows off that summons are no longer one-and-done bits of flash, but very real assist characters who stick around to use special abilities, and then exit with a bang when the Summon Gauge depletes. As a longtime FF player, this entire segment had me in goosebumps with excitement. You can see the footage for yourself below and get hyped as we wait for the Final Fantasy VII Remake's 3/3/2020 release.