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Lee D'Amato
Published 41 minutes ago
Lee D’Amato is a writer born, raised, and based in Queens, New York. With collective thousands of hours in games like Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Elden Ring, and The Legend of Zelda, he's now writes game features, guides, and reviews for Screen Rant, but has covered a wide range of topics, including ancient history, affordable travel, and overall health.
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A new Final Fantasy 7 tie-in novel is scheduled for release in just over two months, set to further expand the story of Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith. The Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 is significantly bigger than the original game, Advent Children, Crisis Core, and the remake trilogy. It includes countless lesser-known entries that expand its lore and build on its characters, some of whom are finally starting to leak into the main continuity.
Now, according to a post by Square Enix on X (formerly Twitter), Final Fantasy 7 is gearing up for the release of Dear Destiny, a new tie-in novel. Written by original FF7 writer Kazushige Nojima, who also wrote previous FF7 novels On the Way to a Smile, The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story, and Traces of Two Pasts, Dear Destiny is scheduled for release in Japan on January 30, 2026.
Final Fantasy Fans Rejoice, Cloud And Tifa Are Back
What Dear Destiny Is About
Cloud and Tifa from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in front of a background showing the Gongaga region.Custom image by Katarina Cimaljevic
According to a machine translation of Square Enix's original tweet, Dear Destiny seems to mainly revolve around Cloud and Aerith as a sort of prelude to the events of Final Fantasy 7. Keeping it spoiler-free, the tweet reads:
"After the church's guardian angel takes flight and departs, the reunion in the Sector 7 slums begins to turn the gears of fate."
This almost sounds like Dear Destiny is an attempt to bridge the gap between FF7 Rebirth and the third part of the remake trilogy. However, Square Enix's online store (spotted by Siliconera and machine translated from Japanese) provides a different summary:
"A sequel to the novel "Final Fantasy VII Remake: Trace of Two Pasts." It tells the story of Aerith and Tifa before the main story begins, plus Cloud's time as a Shinra soldier."
So truthfully, it sounds like Dear Destiny is more of a prequel. It's a direct sequel to the previous FF7 novel, Traces of Two Pasts. The story of that novel is framed as an interaction between Tifa and Aerith near the beginning of FF7 Rebirth, after the party has passed through Kalm.
In Traces of Two Pasts, as the title implies, Tifa and Aerith take turns sharing details of their backstories. Tifa discusses her childhood friendships, especially with Cloud, before turning to the series of events that brought her to Midgar.
In her chapters, Aerith tells Tifa about Hojo's early experiments on her and Ifalna, how she escaped from the Shinra Building, her childhood in the Midgar slums, and her search for tenuous connections to her father, Gabriel.
If I had to guess, it sounds like Dear Destiny may build on that backstory concept, with a frame story that serves as an immediate follow-up to the events of FF7 Rebirth while flashing back to episodes from Tifa and Cloud's pasts.
We Don't Have Long To Wait, Either
...Or Do We?
Tifa with a slight smile at the Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Dear Destiny is scheduled for a January 30 release, which means it's just over two months away at the time of writing. The problem is that this is a Japan-exclusive launch, as far as we can tell. It could be much longer until Dear Destiny comes to the West.
It took almost two years for Traces of Two Pasts to get an official English-language release; it came out in July 2021 in Japanese, and March 2023 in English. While we don't have sales figures for the last FF7 novel, it seems to have gotten excellent fan reviews, with a 4.15/5 on Goodreads. Its success in that regard might drive a fast-tracked translation for the sequel.
So even though it's only a few weeks away, it could be a while before Dear Destiny is available for purchase in English. Until then, we're all anxiously awaiting news on what's next for Final Fantasy 7.
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OpenCritic Reviews
Top Critic Avg:
92/100
Critics Rec:
97%
Released
February 29, 2024
ESRB
T For Teen Due To Blood, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
Developer(s)
Square Enix
Publisher(s)
Square Enix
Engine
Unreal Engine 4
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Genre(s)
RPG
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