Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director kept coming back to The Witcher 3
The director finishing Final Fantasy 7's remake trilogy kept returning to The Witcher 3 for lessons on how to tell a story through play.
Naoki Hamaguchi, game director on Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, said CD Projekt Red's fantasy role-playing game, in which players guide a monster hunter through choices and combat, shaped his own game creation work. He spoke in an interview with Emma Fyffe for GameSpot, published on 15 September 2026. GameSpot
He kept returning to it. Hamaguchi said he frequently revisited The Witcher 3 for inspiration when starting work on the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series, the three-part retelling of Square Enix's 1997 role-playing game.
The team studied more than one reference. Hamaguchi said the Remake team looked closely at how The Witcher 3 and Guerrilla's Horizon series built cinematic pay-offs inside gameplay mechanics, rather than stopping the action for spectacle.
The goal was play, not just film. He said the team wanted satisfying cinematic moments native to the video game medium, instead of only inserting cutscenes, the non-playable film-like sequences, into the game world.
Hamaguchi also pointed further back for a personal influence. He said Final Fantasy 6 was a very impactful title for him when he was younger.
Revelation is planned to launch for PC and consoles in April 2027. It is listed for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S and PC, with Matt Mercer as the English voice of Vincent Valentine. Square Enix Square Enix
This is not the first time the team has named outside inspirations. The card game Queen's Blood in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the second part of the trilogy, took inspiration from Marvel Snap and Splatoon, the fast territory-claiming shooter from Nintendo. GameSpot Hamaguchi has also discussed Revelation's new FITS system and, in a separate GameSpot interview, the past moments he was most excited to recreate.
What makes this stand out is the through-line. For a series with its own famous history, its director is still looking elsewhere to learn how small decisions in play can land with the weight of a favourite film scene.
