Queen’s Blood featuring Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Let me set the tone clearly: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is not just a sequel. It’s an event. A pilgrimage. A chaotic, beautiful, mind-bending odyssey through a reimagined world that somehow feels more alive than my actual neighborhood. I expected story twists. I expected gorgeous visuals. I expected Cloud’s emotional repression and Sephiroth showing up like a one-winged fever dream. What I didn’t expect… was Queen’s Blood. I am being so serious about this, I loved Rebirth but boy oh boy did I really enjoy Queens Blood. You know you’re in deep when you’re ignoring apocalyptic plotlines to duel a fisherman for a rare crab-themed card.
MSRP: $69.99
Platforms: PC (reviewed), PlayStation
Price I’d Pay: $69.99
I am probably the last person to review this game at this point; everyone has already given this game so many flowers its crazy. So, let’s just get this out of the way: Rebirth is a phenomenal RPG and a major upgrade over the Remake original. Combat is fast, flashy and strategic using the ATB bars to cast spells and use special abilities. There is a synergy system for attacks now that pairs off characters, some with flashy defensive moves and others with over-the-top attacks. The word is vast, detailed and filled with distractions. There are chocobo to breed and ride, there is collecting and of course a whole bunch of side quests to tackle. But then, in a quiet town… Cloud is handed a Queen’s Blood starter deck; and the real game begins.
When I had heard about the inclusion of a card game in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, I expected Triple Triad 2.0, which if you know, you know. However much to my delight Queens Blood is a beast all its own, a weirdly elegant mix of resource management, positioning and a dash of psychological warfare… all with a deck of cards. Not only just placing cards, players will conquer tiles, chain albitites and manipulate the space of the tiny gameboard in their favor. New cards can be acquired by dueling random NPC’s around the world but the best cards are held by some truly gifted Queens Blood players. In reality it’s just a super hard NPC that that the AI cheats for, I spent like an hour trying to get a rare card from a fisherman.
Let’s talk about music; because baybee, Queens Blood got a soundtrack that is so good it could headline an entire Final Fantasy concert. I don’t know whose decision it was to produce absolutely bangers of a soundtrack for card games here lately but between Marvel Snap and this, I just want to thank them personally. With flowers. Each match of Queens Blood kicks off with a theme that makes the player feel like they are in the finals of an epic tournament. The tracks range from jazzy tavern grooves to high-octane techno-orchestral mixes, and when you face off against elite Queen’s Blood opponents? Well, the music evolves, and changes as the match goes on until it ends with a fantastic crescendo of sound, celebrating the winner.
But ok look, cards aside, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is a wild, ambitious retelling of that original story that dances carefully between nostalgia and complete narrative changes. I was surprised to see a certain character interact with another character so early in the tale, and the changes just kept on coming from there; but in a good way. Each of the character felt like they had more depth this time around, and the side missions don’t just feel like extra padding like in Remake. The story has it all, humor? Yep. Trauma. Oh, it’s here for sure in some big doses. Even though I already know the story beats from Final Fantasy 7 but Rebirth still managed to surprise me time and time again in the best way. Come for the Queen’s Blood, stay for the excellent Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth tale.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
