Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi revealed that he frequently revisited The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for inspiration during the development of the latest installment in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series. Hamaguchi stated that while Final Fantasy 6 was a formative title in his youth, The Witcher 3 served as a crucial creative influence as a developer.
Hamaguchi explained that his team aimed to integrate storytelling more seamlessly into gameplay, avoiding the approach of simply inserting cutscenes. He studied how The Witcher 3 and Horizon Zero Dawn achieved satisfying, cinematic moments within their interactive frameworks. "We do have to acknowledge that there are certain moments that bring satisfaction that can be only achieved by doing it within the video game medium," Hamaguchi said. "I think that is exactly something that The Witcher 3 and games like Horizon were really excelling at, just delivering these satisfactory moments. They feel cinematic. That was something that we were trying to follow suit with."
The Witcher 3, released over a decade ago, remains highly regarded as an open-world title. It is set to receive a remastered edition on September 29, with an expansion, "Songs of the Past," planned for release next year, ahead of the anticipated The Witcher 4. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is slated for a PC and console release in April 2027, promising a vast, planetary-scale world and incorporating activities such as snowboarding alongside its main campaign to defeat Sephiroth.