Final Fantasy VII Remake has one hell of an opening. The camera pans over the wastes of Gaia before zooming in on the littered streets of Midgar. Aerith holds her flower basket and walks out to the street. A train rushes on before coming to a stop. A boy with spikey blonde hair jumps to the platform and places an impossibly large sword on his back. Then, I pause the game and put my Switch 2 to sleep to take a call from my partner.
Since its inception, the Nintendo Switch 2 has done nothing but impress me with just how powerful it is. Whereas I’d scoff at the notion of playing Hogwarts Legacy on its predecessor, carrying around a beautiful open-world game with me on the Switch 2 is actually starting to become a reality. I suppose I really shouldn’t have been surprised after seeing first-hand just how gorgeous Cyberpunk 2077 is on Nintendo’s latest system, but Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade truly feels like a miracle port.
For the purposes of this review, I played almost entirely in handheld mode. For me, that’s the whole point of getting a game on the Switch 2 — to take a game on the go and see how it compares to the TV/console experience. In handheld mode, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade runs at 1080p and a locked 30fps. Some may balk at 30fps, but for me, that’s perfectly acceptable especially since it’s a consistent framerate. Throughout my playtime with the game, the framerate never dropped once, and that’s impressive.
As far as resolution goes, I was similarly stunned by how good Final Fantasy VII Remake looked on the smaller screen. Sure, some of the character models don’t look quite as detailed as their PS5 counterparts, which is where I originally played the game, but it’s certainly more than good enough. Apart from the occasional wonky hair texture here and there, I was pleasantly surprised by how crisp everything looked. The shadows and reflections help add a layer of immersion to the whole experience, and I found myself constantly glued to the screen, taking in every bit of detail in Midgar.
It’s probably worth noting that my Switch 2 is kitted out with dbrand’s Killswitch case and grips (unsponsored but I love dbrand so if you’re reading, hit me up), which makes holding the console itself way more comfortable than it would feel in its bare form. But I expect if you have any sort of grip installed on your Joy-Cons, you’d be able to enjoy the game in handheld mode for hours on end, which I certainly did. Switching between party members and throwing out commands on Normal mode with the smaller face buttons posed no issue for me. I was initially concerned that readability might be an issue, considering how much information the HUD and the menus can throw at you, but with the Switch 2’s bigger screen size, I had no problems on that front either.
Really, the only complaint I have with this port is a universal one that I’m sure all Switch 2 owners have: the battery life. Playing through the entire bombing mission, which takes around 45 minutes or so, ate up 50% of my battery life. This means that you can expect to get around close to two hours of game time before you’ll need to plug it in. The Switch 2’s battery life is abysmal, as we all know, so don’t expect to get a marathon session out of this one without a charger nearby.
That being said, being able to take Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade with me on the go is a huge enough bonus that I’m willing to put up with these drawbacks. Over the past few days, I’ve enjoyed being able to put the game down whenever I wanted, only to wake the Switch 2 back up a few hours later and jump back in with no interruptions. The game feels remarkably snappy no matter how many times in a row I had to put the Switch 2 to sleep to tend to something else, like taking a phone call or going for dinner, and then waking it up again.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade‘s Switch 2 port is a technical marvel on all fronts, and it serves as a stellar showcase of what Nintendo’s new console is truly capable of. I never thought this was a game I’d enjoy so thoroughly on the go, but now that I’ve experienced it, you can bet I’ll be waiting for that Rebirth port with bated breath.
A review code for the game was provided by the publisher. You can check out our review policy here. Reviewed on Switch 2.
