Game of the Year: # 2 – Final Fantasy VII Remake

Yes, it finally happened: 2020 was the year we got a remake of Final Fantasy VII. Good, part of one, at least. It might not cover the whole story, but Final Fantasy VII Remake wears its love for the original game as a badge of honor. It’s as much an homage to classic Japanese role-playing as it is a reinvention – but those of you who have completed it will know it’s even more than that.

From the brilliantly crafted combat system to the superb soundtrack, Remake achieves so much. It’s both a powerful journey of nostalgia and an engrossing adventure in its own right, and it does a particularly amazing job of fleshing out a cast of characters already loved. It is a real success.

Now, we’re not saying Final Fantasy VII Remake is perfect – it certainly has its fair share of flaws – but there’s no denying the number of memorable moments it scrolls past the player. We’ll avoid spoiling any of those moments here, but there’s no doubt Remake has had a lasting impact on our vision for the cloud and the business.

And those boss fights! It’s fair to say that Remake has some of the biggest boss battles not just of 2020, but on PS4 in general. We’ve replayed the game a few times just to relive some of those encounters, which also shows the strength of the title’s truly impressive combat system, which combines action and turn-based controls pretty much perfectly.

So many things could have gone wrong with Final Fantasy VII Remake, but here we are watching a true Game of the Year contender. A great game and hopefully the start of something very special.

You can read our full Final Fantasy VII Remake review via the link.

Did Final Fantasy VII Remake deliver? Pay attention to where you swing this giant Buster sword in the comments section below.

How we decide our game of the year: Last December, our editorial team created a list of Game of the Year nominees based on our own review scores and various other factors. After much discussion, we narrowed down the list of nominees and asked all Push Square staff and the Push Square community to vote on their five favorites using a points-based system. The ten games with the most points by the deadline were then determined as our 2020 favorites.