If you've been looking forward to playing as Red XIII in the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake, we've got some bad news for you. Nanaki won't be playable as a main party member in the remake; instead, he'll join as an AI guest character during the final stages of the game.
Speaking to VG247, co-director Naoki Hamaguchi said that Red XIII joins the game too late for players to fully appreciate his development arc as a playable character. He'll fight alongside you as an AI-controlled ally during the last part of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Hamaguchi says that Red will use all of his "nostalgic moves" from the original Final Fantasy VII and that you'll be able to see those moves on display.
It's worth bearing in mind that Final Fantasy VII Remake's first episode will only encapsulate the Midgar portion of the original Final Fantasy VII. Red XIII only joins the party at the very tail-end of this segment. Some fans are holding out hope that when Hamaguchi says that he isn't playable in Final Fantasy VII Remake that he's only referring to Part 1 of what is planned to be a three-part experience. We don't yet know if this is the case, however; it could be that Red isn't playable for the entire experience. Given his central role in the original narrative though, it's unlikely. You'll also still be able to take full control of Cloud, Aerith, Barret, and Tifa.
Square Enix has also just dropped a demo for Final Fantasy VII Remake on the PlayStation Store. If you want to check out Cloud and co's exploits during the opening Mako reactor bombing mission, head over to the store and download the demo. If you download it before May 11th, a free theme will become available to download starting April 10th. Progress in the demo won't carry over to the full game, so bear that in mind before you min-max your characters.
