Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s demo gets Performance Mode update to fix underwhelming visuals

In a rare move, Square Enix is releasing a patch for the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo, improving the visuals in the game’s Performance Mode, which have been criticized by fans worldwide.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has a demo that’s being released across two updates. The first update is available now, and it features the infamous Nibelheim portion of the story, where Sephiroth learns the truth about his origins and begins his descent into darkness.

The second update is expected to arrive before the launch of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on February 29. This update is set in the Junon region and will allow players to experience the game’s open-world element, with its associated quests and monsters.

Not everyone is happy with the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo, as the game has been promoted as a graphical and performance powerhouse for the PlayStation 5, yet some were overwhelmed by the game’s appearance in the demo.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s demo is getting patched

The official Final Fantasy VII Twitter/X account has announced that a patch will be released for the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo on February 21 to improve the visuals of the Performance Mode. These same changes will be active in the full release of the game.

The update to the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo scheduled for February 21st will apply improvements to the visual quality when selecting “Performance Mode” from the graphics options.

The same improvements will also be applied to the full game. #FF7R pic.twitter.com/Yt92XVuHF0

— FINAL FANTASY VII (@finalfantasyvii) February 14, 2024

“Game looked so bad they had to update the demo damn lol,” one user commented, while another said, “Good. I was almost going to go have my eyes checked because everyone was saying it looked “amazing” and I was seeing a blurry mess.”

“I played it on graphics mode and couldn’t understand why people were saying it looked so bad,” another user wrote, “then I watched someone’s playthrough who switched to performance mode and yep now I know what they meant lol.”

The consensus is that the Performance Mode looks far worse than the Graphics Mode with low-res textures and poorer lighting. The trade-off is for the better frame rate, which will be more important to some fans than others.

Hopefully, the demo patch will address the fans’ concerns and add the Junon section of the game. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth promises to be one of the biggest games of 2024, and it would be a shame if muddy textures diminish the game in the eyes of fans.