Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis is reviving a game you can’t play any more, kind of

Upcoming mobile game Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis will, in a roundabout way, be bringing back the now-unplayable Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier.

Finding out back in February 2021 that Final Fantasy 7 would be getting a battle royale spin-off was certainly a surprise, but the news that it would be shutting down just about two years later definitely wasn’t. The problem with it shutting down is that it was meant to add to the lore of Final Fantasy 7, acting as another prequel to the events of the original game. Now, it turns out that The First Soldier is being brought back through the other Final Fantasy 7 remake: Ever Crisis.

Over on the official Ever Crisis Twitter account, it was announced that the game will feature a new story called The First Soldier. “Starting tomorrow, we’ll be giving you a glimpse of FF7 Ever Crisis’s new original story, Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier. Please look forward to it!” reads the tweet. While the tweet doesn’t explicitly make reference to the delisted battle royale itself, it’s more than obvious that they’re just taking the story from it, and putting it in Ever Crisis.

The battle royale gameplay almost certainly isn’t coming back, as Ever Crisis is turn based like the original FF7, but it does seem like the story will be present at the very least. Overall, mobile games aren’t great for preservation reasons, but at least you’ll be able to experience the story of The First Soldier for yourself.

We’re not that far away from the release of Ever Crisis now either, as the game will be launching on iOS and Android devices September 7. Described as “another possibility for a remake,” you’ll be able to re-experience the events of the original game, as well as of its movie sequel Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, and prequel games Before Crisis and Crisis Core.