Square - Enix
If you ’re getting ready to start yourFinal Fantasy VII Rebirthadventure , rent me offer you fair warning : it is alonggame . If you ’re planning to do every sidequest , minigame , and Chadley combat battle , you ’ll be divagate around Gaia for 100 hours . That ’s not an exaggeration ; I hit credits in 73 hour and I still had a monumental checklist of side depicted object to make out .
Considering that length , you ’ll want to prioritise the best contentedness if you want to get through the story in a timely affair . Some minigames are good to decamp , but there ’s one you absolutely should not sleep on : Queen ’s pedigree . Not only is it a surprisingly deep deck - detergent builder , but it contains a secret story all its own that makes itRebirth‘s absolute best minigame .
Square-Enix
All hail the queen
Introduced early inRebirth‘s story , Queen ’s pedigree is an optional card secret plan that appears all over the world . It ’s essentiallyRebirth‘sGwentequivalent , giving players an in - world pack of cards - building game to obsess over . That ’s become a bit of a cliché in forward-looking open - earth games , but Queen ’s stemma is the good take on the idea I ’ve ever catch .
Queen ’s descent play like a mix betweenMarvel SnapandSplatoon 3‘s Tableturf Battles . Two actor take turns localize placard on a storage-battery grid - based control panel with three lane . At first , players can only drop cards in the first column of their side . extra spaces need to be catch to dally cards on it . That ’s where the deck - edifice look comes in . Every posting contains its own point value , but also a specific grid pattern that will claim spaces and set aside players to leave out bill on them . The ultimate finish is to capture lane by score the high bit of points in them . Whoever has the most at the end wins .
It ’s not hard to winRebirth‘s first few battles against NPCs , but Queen ’s Blood catch astonishingly strategical the deeper the adventure go . high-pitched - level bid requires some spatial reasoning as instrumentalist do n’t want to open up too much of the board at once . That ’s because opponents can take mastery of claimed space if a lineup has n’t been played on them . Winning requires a patient scheme that goads opposite into vulnerable positions . It ’s all about cutting off an opponent ’s approach to free space with proper board direction .
It did n’t take long before I was utterly obsessed . Queen ’s Blood plays like a intermixture between a circuit board game and a mystifier biz , which clear for a deeply satisfying deck - builder that could have been a standalone plot . Rebirthis also smart about roll out new twists easy . Later in the plot , it introduce support abilities , lineup that can be played on top of other cards , and advanced scheme build around destroying cards . By the time I acquire to the last battle , it felt like I ’d crafted an unbeatable deck .
Even with that praise , Queen ’s line might still sound like skippable side substance . I would n’t fault you for thinking that deal the role wit minigames play in similar title . But there ’s a turn that makes it more riveting . Without go into too much detail , Queen ’s line of descent has a disconsolate underbelly . The more you rank up in it and vote out champions , the more its secrets are bring out . It gets a full - on tale arc that ’s totally gonzo and one ofRebirth‘s best mystery .
Queen ’s Blood put up a great snapshot of whatRebirthdoes so well . It never does anything half - heartedly . Every random minigame is take very earnestly and load up with surprising depth . Chocobo Racing , for instance , has way more tracks than you ’re have a bun in the oven and a tie-in - in sidequest to boot . There are no shortage of examples like that throughout Gaia , but Queen ’s Blood is the pinnacle of Square Enix ’s all - in design philosophy . It ’ll leave you wishing for a full spinoff game , a physical version , or both .
Final Fantasy VII Rebirthis available now on PlayStation 5 .
