Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is an expansive reimagining of a classic, full of involved side quests and many, many minigames. But just how long is it? Here we’ll let you know exactly how many hours it took different members of the IGN team to finish the story, and what they prioritised doing with their time.
Simon Cardy - Senior Editorial Producer
It took me just over 58 hours to reach the end of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s story. I made sure to explore each of the game’s many regions along my journey, but by no means in a completionist manner, with only around a quarter of the side activities finished – this included all of Tifa’s optional quests as I knew exactly who I wanted to spend an evening at the Gold Saucer with so built that bond up accordingly.
Nothing could quite match the allure of Queen’s Blood, though, as I took every opportunity to sink time into the surprisingly deep card combat minigame whenever an opponent appeared. Not only is it a really fun deck builder, but also packs its own dark storyline that reveals itself the more you play.
Overall, I felt like I hit a good balance between side and main activities on my playthrough, as the relationships I forged with each of Cloud’s ever-growing party resulted in the story’s big moments hitting even harder. I intend to go back to Junon, Cosmo Canyon, and beyond soon, but only after giving my thumbs a few days' rest from its fantastic, yet frantic action.
Dale Driver - Executive Producer, Video Programming
I blasted through my playthrough of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in a brisk 33 hours, rarely stopping to smell the desert roses. I’m a huge fan of the 1997 original, so my goal from the start was to not only see how they faithfully recreated all the moments I love, but also what they changed - and no amount of minigames or side quests thrown in my way was going to stop me getting those answers as fast as possible.
To make sure I wasn’t hideously under-leveled, my general rule of thumb was to tackle everything in front of me during the critical path, so it’s not like I bypassed the world completely. I just never went out of my way to hunt down the countless amount of extra activities.
After finishing the game I returned back to the world and then began exploring side-quests, minigames, and hunting down world intel. I was also determined to see all the dates Cloud can go on at the Gold Saucer, and I’ve easily sunk another 20 hours in so far - leveling up all my character relationships and exploring all the nooks and crannies Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has to offer.
Nick Limon - Supervising Producer
As a Final Fantasy VII obsessive, I didn’t just stop and smell the roses – I admired them up close, from afar, and pondered how I could puree them into artisanal ice cream. By the time I rolled credit on Rebirth, I had poured 89 Hours and 28 minutes into the game.
I was systematic about my time. I’d clear out all the sidequests of each respective town, followed by 100%’ing each region – but clearing each region was only a side effect of wanting to track down all the optional monster hunts and proto relic side quests. Additionally, I became obsessed with Queen’s Blood, making sure to find and devour every player and challenge the game could throw at me.
But despite my nearly 90 hours, I still didn’t 100% the game. Later in Rebirth, you unlock a collectibles museum that you can grind out minigames – and I’m assuming Chadley’s battle simulator missions – to fill out the museum, but no way was I going to do that in play through one. Maybe when I go back through on hard – but rest assured, I will be back for seconds. And maybe even thirds on PC – whenever that inevitably happens.
Mitchell Saltzman - Senior Producer, Guides
My time with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a little unique in that I played with the intention of guide creation, and thus spent a lot of time grinding the toughest summon bosses at their hardest difficulties for the sake of trying to understand and better explain their mechanics. As a result, I spent a total of 97 hours and 45 minutes on my playthrough.
Like Nick, I was fairly systematic in 100%’ing the World Intel of each region, though there are still several odd jobs that I need to go back to and complete, and minigames that I’ve yet to complete on their hardest difficulty to claim their greatest rewards. I want to make it clear that this is a rarity for me – I almost never spend time trying to 100% regions in an open world game – but found that it was uniquely compelling in Rebirth thanks to the way it smartly ties its World Intel activities to both memorable experiences and worthwhile rewards.
I wanted to find the Lifesprings so I could fight that region’s unique and challenging enemy; I wanted to complete all of the combat challenges to unlock new battles in the combat simulator; I wanted to find the crystals to power up my summons; I wanted to find all of the protorelics to see where its goofy story would ultimately end up; and I wanted to find all the excavation sites so I wouldn't fall behind on my Item Transmutations.
Even beyond the handful of sidequests that I still have to pick up, I've still got more Queen's Blood to play, Hard Mode to test my skills against, and Chocobo races to win. In short, this game is massive.
Matt Purslow - News and Features Editor
By the time credits rolled, I had spent 60 hours and 32 minutes playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. I imagine this will be a pretty typical playtime for most people, as while it’s far from 100% complete, those hours allowed for a healthy mix of story and optional content. I completed a few side quests in each of the open zones, as well as plenty of ‘World Intel’ activities, the quick-hit tasks that provide some easy variety. I also made sure to put focus on collecting every one of the iconic summons, and so by the time I hit the final boss I had a full team of magical gods to back me up when I was in need.
Crucially, doing that amount of optional content meant I was always at exactly the suggested level for the main storyline, and so there was never a point where I struggled to get past a boss or was forced to grind XP. But since I only did between 30-50% of what’s on offer in each area, it means I have plenty more to discover at my own pace now I’ve finished the story. In fact, I probably have a whole game’s worth of side quests, activities, and minigames left to play. And with gameplay this good, especially when it comes to the combat and the design of its open world hubs, I can absolutely guarantee you that I’ll be back for more.
