Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has a deck-building minigame that's giving me major Witcher 3 vibes

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will feature a card-based deck-building minigame.

Game Informer has published an exclusive preview of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, guided in a hands-off session with co-director Naoki Hamaguchi. In the town of Crown's Nest - a brand new location created just for Rebirth - Hamaguchi walks past a man offering to play Cloud at an intriguing card-based minigame.

Hamaguchi won't divulge any information about the minigame itself, but in talking to other development staff, Game Informer learns that it's a "strategic card game that Cloud will be able to compete in across the region." There'll be different NPCs to battle in the game, each with their own difficulty levels.

It sounds like, from Game Informer's comments, that we'll be adventuring around to collect cards from opponents in this Rebirth minigame. Did someone say Gwent? This is sure bringing back some memories of CD Projekt's excellent card-based game from The Witcher 3, and it could be just as big a time-sink.

We already knew Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was going big on the minigames, what with Cloud battling Soldiers in a boxing minigame, and all the wildness of the Gold Saucer. Leads like producer Yoshinori Kitase previously said the remake just wouldn't be the same as the original game if it didn't include some of the wackier aspects of the original PS1 game.

Elsewhere, Final Fantasy 7 is bringing back the series' open-world map, which we haven't properly seen in action since Final Fantasy 9 in 2000. It's just another way Square Enix's developers pay homage to what came decades before, while still putting their own spin on the new RPG.

You can check out our new games 2023 guide for a look ahead at all the games still left to launch this year, and beyond into 2024.