FF7 Revelation Director Acknowledges ‘Open-World Fatigue,’ Aims to Tackle It With Better Guidance

A Bigger World Needs More Direction

Speaking in an extensive interview with Eurogamer, director Naoki Hamaguchi acknowledged that open-world fatigue is real. That is an especially important concern for Revelation, considering its world is set to be even larger than the one players explored in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

There are a lot of open world games out in the world right now, and [the idea of ‘open world fatigue’] is a very important concept to me,”

Rebirth offered expansive regions filled with combat challenges, towers, minigames, and side quests. The variety helped, but completing every icon could turn exploration into a checklist. So it would be interesting to see how Revelation tackles this problem and not make the adventure feel bloated.

According to Hamaguchi, their team has placed a stronger emphasis on guiding players. The challenge will be providing that direction without making exploration feel rigid.

But for me personally, as a creator, I think it’s very important to offer proper guidance for the players in open world games. It’s important for players to know what to do, and know where to go. In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, we made sure to make it easy for the players to understand how much content there is, and how difficult that content is. That design philosophy is applied to Revelation: players have all the guidance that they need. This is something that both myself and the development team were very careful about when we designed the game.”

The best open worlds encourage curiosity while ensuring players rarely feel lost or buried beneath repetitive objectives. It is part of why an older title like Gothic 2 still delivers such a distinctive open-world experience: its world feels deliberately constructed rather than assembled around an endless stream of markers.

Fast Travel Is Part Of The Solution

Hamaguchi also discussed rethinking fast travel in the interest of player agency, suggesting that Revelation’s traversal systems are receiving more attention than a basic map expansion. Highwind is an example of the guidance system implemented in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation.

“That’s [speaking of Highwind] another example of the guidance we’re giving players, without directing them too much. The world is even bigger than it was in Rebirth, so it is more important than ever for us to ensure there’s enough guidance here, so people have no issues enjoying what this game has to offer.”

Revelation’s increased scale pushed the developers to focus specifically on how players are guided. Ideally, that also means clearer progression, meaningful navigation choices, and fewer activities.

Square Enix Is Asking The Right Question

Revelation still has to deliver on these ideas, but Hamaguchi’s comments are encouraging. Open-world fatigue is not solved by shrinking every environment or removing optional content. It is solved by respecting the player’s time and making exploration feel purposeful.

Rebirth already established a strong foundation. If Revelation can preserve that sense of adventure while trimming the checklist mentality, its larger world may feel exciting instead of exhausting.