FF7 Revelation and Advent Children: Hamaguchi on the Canon Connection

Final Fantasy VII Revelation was announced at Summer Game Fest as the third and final installment of the Remake trilogy that began in 2020 with Final Fantasy VII Remake and continued in 2024 with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. The occasion gave director Naoki Hamaguchi a chance to clarify the nature of the connection between this new title and Advent Children, the 2005 film that extended the original story two years after the 1997 game's conclusion. His answer isn't what many expected, and it substantially changes how Revelation sits within the broader saga ecosystem.

Hamaguchi Shuts Down a Simple Advent Children Adaptation

The question made sense: Advent Children takes place two years after the events of the original Final Fantasy VII, in a rebuilt Midgar haunted by a new threat tied to Jenova cells. Since the Remake trilogy radically reinterpreted the narrative trajectory of the 1997 game—starting with Remake and its "Whispers of Fate"—some players anticipated that Revelation would eventually converge with Advent Children's timeline in some fashion.

Hamaguchi explicitly rejected that reading. According to statements made during Summer Game Fest, Revelation isn't attempting to reconstruct or adapt the film: it's meant to conclude the specific narrative arc opened by the Remake trilogy, with its own temporal rules and stakes. In plain terms, the fates of Cloud, Aerith, and Sephiroth in this third installment won't be dictated by what the 2005 film already established.

What This Means for the Trilogy's Coherence

This clarification is as much editorial as it is narrative. Since Remake, Square Enix has built a trilogy that permits itself to diverge from source material—not out of lazy writing, but as a founding principle. Rebirth in 2024 confirmed this with sequences that rendered certain iconic moments from the original game ambiguous or outright altered.

If Revelation doesn't converge toward Advent Children, that means the Remake trilogy functions as an autonomous timeline, not as a disguised prequel. The narrative choices of the first two episodes—particularly around Aerith—aren't designed to lead into the established status quo of the film. It's a bold stance that exposes the studio to proportional expectations: if you're freeing yourself from canon, your ending must stand on its own.

FF7's 30-Year Legacy as Editorial Pressure

Square Enix will market Revelation in the context of Final Fantasy VII's 30th anniversary, an occasion that inevitably places the game under intense comparative scrutiny. In 1997, the original game redefined JRPG narrative standards on PlayStation, alongside Xenogears (1998, Squaresoft) and Chrono Cross (1999, Square), which extended that ambition for sophisticated storytelling. That legacy carries weight.

Concluding a trilogy that deliberately broke with its own canon during a commemorative year is a precarious exercise. The risk isn't disappointing the purists—they've been unhappy since 2020—but failing to satisfy players who entered the saga through Remake and expect a resolution worthy of the creative freedom the studio claimed.

Revelation Must Justify Its Departures, Not Evade Them

Hamaguchi's statement is honest, and that counts for something. Too many sequels or trilogy conclusions quietly reintegrate canon to reassure the most conservative audiences, diluting whatever made their approach original in the first place. By stating that Revelation won't aim to rejoin Advent Children, Square Enix owns the rupture introduced six years ago.

Yet owning it isn't enough. Final Fantasy VII Revelation will need to prove that its narrative divergences serve dramatic purpose, not mere shock value. On that measure—not on fidelity to 1997 material—this third installment will be judged.