FF7 Revelation's Combat and Exploration Deep Dive revealed Piko, a chocobo companion who levels up and fights in battle, alongside the FITS role system, new playable characters Cid and Vincent, and a Red XIII-focused Queen's Blood saga.
FF7 Revelation's Chocobo Isn't a Mount Anymore, It's a Party Member
Piko Grows Up With Your Party, and Fights Like One Too
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation closed out the September 3 PlayStation State of Play with a dedicated "Combat and Exploration Deep Dive" trailer, revealing Piko as a permanent party member in both exploration and combat. Chocobos have been a franchise staple since the original 1997 release, almost always functioning as disposable, interchangeable mounts you rent, ride, and forget. Revelation quietly breaks from that tradition with Piko, a specific, named chocobo who travels with the party for the entire game rather than being swapped out at each new region.
According to the PlayStation Blog, Piko serves as both a mount and a combat ally this time around, growing stronger alongside the party and gaining new capabilities that assist during both traversal and battle. That includes stepping directly into combat: Piko can strike enemies mid-fight, turning what's traditionally been a glorified fast-travel tool into something closer to a living party member with his own growing kit.
The Rest of the World Gets Bigger Too
Piko isn't the only traversal upgrade. Per the trailer, players will explore an expansive, largely unconstrained version of the planet aboard the airship Highwind, dropping into specific locations from the sky rather than following a fixed route. On the ground, a new grappling gun lets the party scale vertical spaces, including the buildings of Wutai, a returning location getting expanded focus in Revelation, alongside the lush Gongaga Jungle.
The deep dive also showed off a new character-switching system that lets players swap between party members on the fly while exploring the open world, not just during combat encounters, a change aimed at making traversal feel more dynamic than earlier entries in the trilogy. That system extends into quest design too: the PlayStation Blog confirmed players will be able to choose which party member takes on certain quests, with that choice affecting how specific story events and gameplay scenarios unfold, creating narrative experiences that shift depending on who's sent to handle a given task.
FITS Adds Four Distinct Roles, With New Party Members to Fill Them
Combat's centerpiece is FITS, officially short for Function-Integrated Tactical Suitwear, a system that assigns characters one of four roles, Warrior, Knight, Black Mage, or Summoner, each meaningfully changing how that character plays and what abilities they have access to. The system was first teased at gamescom in August, but this deep dive gave the clearest look yet at how those roles actually shift combat dynamics rather than simply being cosmetic outfit swaps. Per the PlayStation Blog, FITS also changes more than just abilities, each outfit visibly alters a character's appearance too, doubling as a fashion statement alongside its combat function.
That system also gets more to work with this time around: the trailer confirmed Cid Highwind and Vincent Valentine as newly playable party members, joining the existing cast and expanding how players can mix and match FITS roles across the full roster. The deep dive specifically showed off Cid wearing the Knight FITS and Vincent wearing the Summoner FITS.
Queen's Blood Returns With a Red XIII-Focused Saga
Outside of combat and traversal, the trailer also touched on Queen's Blood, the tactical card minigame introduced in FF7 Rebirth. Revelation brings the card game back with a new saga centered on Red XIII, introducing tougher opponents who can use special abilities to actively change the state of the board mid-match, rather than simply playing higher-value cards.
Pre-Orders Are Live, With Two Premium Editions Detailed
Pre-orders for FF7 Revelation are now open on the PlayStation Store. Per the PlayStation Blog, everyone who pre-orders the game, regardless of edition, will receive a Mecha-Chocobo & Moogle Summon Materia as a bonus.
Square Enix also detailed two upgraded editions alongside the standard release. The Premium Edition includes the base game, a Story Expansion Pass covering two story-focused DLC releases with further details still to come, 24-hour early access ahead of launch, an in-game accessory called the Reclaimant Choker, and a set of consumable items meant to help with the early stages of the journey. The Premium Plus Edition builds on all of that with a digital art book, a digital mini soundtrack, a Polydroid Alexander Summon Materia, an in-game armor piece called the Nymphwing Bracelet, and an additional accessory, the Risk Taker's Choker.
FF7 Revelation is set to release simultaneously on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 on April 8, 2027, closing out the Remake trilogy that began with FF7 Remake in 2020. Square Enix has billed it as the most ambitious and feature-rich entry in the trilogy yet.
Sources:
Final Fantasy VII Revelation - Combat and Exploration Deep Dive Trailer (YouTube)
Final Fantasy VII Revelation - PlayStation Blog
FF7 Here's everything you need to know - Square Enix
