Final Fantasy 7 Remako HD Mod Launches, Enhances PC Graphics In A Big Way

With Final Fantasy 7 ports now on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, there's never been a better time to jump into Square's 1997 classic. But the graphics are definitely dated. The FMV cinematics are low-res, and the pre-rendered backgrounds, which haven't received a facelift for many, many years, are pretty muddy next to the upscaled character models.

If you're on PC, however, that version of Final Fantasy 7 suddenly looks a whole lot better. And it's thanks to a mod called Final Fantasy 7 Remako HD, which just released version 1.0.

What the Final Fantasy 7 Remako HD mod manages to accomplish is stunning. Using the power of artificial intelligence, the mod works to analyze every image in Final Fantasy 7 and upscale it to look more in line with other upscaled assets. If you've played one of the newer FF7 ports, you've probably winced as you've seen the game's incredibly sharp characters move around the rather low-res background images meant to represent different areas. With the Remako HD mod, those same areas are now more sharp themselves, as though Square itself dropped higher-resolution images into the game.

You can see the mod working its magic here.

And the Remako HD mod's effects aren't just seen in the pre-rendered backgrounds. The mod also cleans up the games FMV cinematics, making them look much more clear, too. It's as though Remako HD recreates the Final Fantasy 7 that your mind remembers, rather than the one you might've played on a CRT television back in the late '90s. And the more we see the mod in action, the more we wonder: why on earth hasn't Square Enix been doing something like this for all of its past Final Fantasy titles? In fact, why isn't every game developer doing this with every old port from the era of standard definition?

If you own a PC copy of Final Fantasy 7 and want to install the Remako HD mod, there's a great guide here from the developer of the mod itself. And if you've been thinking about getting a copy of FF7 on Xbox One or Nintendo Switch, you might want to consider the PC version instead. It's easily the best-looking version now.