During a recent reveal, Final Fantasy 7 introduced a whole new wave of games in addition to Rebirth, the second part of the main game’s remake. Unfortunately, this new wave of Final Fantasy 7 games will probably not include remakes of Before Crisis or Dirge of Cerberus.Before Crisis was a Japanese-only mobile prequel to Final Fantasy 7 released in 2004. This Turks-based RPG never finished its localization, and remains the only Final Fantasy 7 anthology title never released internationally. Final Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus, on the other hand, was a third-person shooter sequel released for PS2 in 2006 which focused on Vincent Valentine, a fan favorite character from Final Fantasy 7. Though it received mixed reviews professionally, it generated a significant cult following. However, in a recent interview with executive producer Yoshinori Kitase and creative director Tetsuya Nomura, Famitsu discovered Square Enix did not have plans to remake either of these games alongside the upcoming Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, or Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis. “The staff said that they would like to remaster Dirge of Cerberus, and tried to calculate the cost of Before Crisis,” Nomura said, but it was not in the cards at present.
Players have been especially hopeful for a Final Fantasy 7: Before Crisis remake for a long time. Though it was originally going to be released internationally, the localizations were canceled during production due to technological problems. As the mobile game is no longer available, Before Crisis’ story can no longer be played outside of emulations and fan translations.
While Dirge of Cerberus is not on the schedule for a remake, its influence can already be felt within Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade. Weiss and Nero–two characters from Dirge of Cerberus–appear within Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade's extra episode. “It is a common world where all the titles related to FF7 are connected,” Nomura said, suggesting more elements from Dirge of Cerberus, and possibly Before Crisis, could show up in other FF7 remakes and games.
It is important to note that Nomura and Kitase stated there were no current plans for remaking these games at present. While it currently seems unlikely, it could still happen in the future.
While players are excited about the resurgence of Final Fantasy 7 content after over a decade, many are disappointed Dirge of Cerberus and Before Crisis didn't make the cut. The games each offered new perspectives and content to the Final Fantasy 7 universe, and players would be woeful to miss out on in a new generation of games. Hopefully the Final Fantasy 7 devs can continue to synthesize the story beats from those games into future titles like Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade did, so they are not lost to the annals of history.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion will release this Winter for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.