“The Unknown Journey Will Continue.” Those are the words that the stellar first chapter of the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy ended with. The possibilities for the follow-up were exciting, only eclipsed by the anticipation I felt for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth after it was revealed. And just like Remake – no, even more so – Rebirth blew so far past my hopes and expectations with such confidence that I can do nothing but applaud this masterpiece.

Picking up after Cloud and his party leave Midgar, Rebirth follows the iconic heroes into the wider world of Gaia while on the hunt for Sephiroth, an ex-war hero whose master plan seems to include the end of all life on the planet. The gang is also on the run from Shinra, the malevolent megacorp that is literally draining the planet’s lifeforce to satiate their leaders’ greed. That may sound all doom and gloom, but fear not: Rebirth offers plenty of laughs and joy as well. Instead of trying to downplay the sillier aspects of Final Fantasy VII, Rebirth proudly flaunts them. If you thought Remake’s Honeybee Inn sequence or Cloud’s most memorable outfit in Remake were wild, you better buckle up because they were just getting started.

The excellent worldbuilding in Remake is doubled down on and expanded in Rebirth too, as you get to explore multiple locations, both familiar and new to those who have played the original. The way Rebirth updates the likes of Junon, Cosmo Canyon and other places from the original games is downright magnificent; it manages to recapture the same awe I felt when first seeing the pre-rendered backgrounds and groundbreaking art style of their 1997 counterparts. There are also multiple open world biomes in Rebirth, packed with collectibles and side quests. Most biomes have an unlockable summon, which are brutally difficult fights if you decide to immediately head out for them, but can be made easier by exploring their domains and finding information on them. I managed to just barely conquer the earthen behemoth Titan after minimal exploration of the grasslands, and while it was an exhilarating fight, I think I’m going to spend far more time exploring the other regions before tackling their summons.

Speaking of region-based unlockables: Chocobos! Exploring the maps while sitting on the back of a feathered friend is one of my favorite things to do in the entire game. There’s no chocobo breeding this time around, instead you find most of the different kinds (most of which have unique traversal abilities) as you explore the maps. The stealth sections you go through to capture a couple aren’t anything amazing, but they did nothing to lessen the exhilaration of speeding, climbing, and gliding through Gaia or participating in a race in one of the Gold Saucer’s many mini-games.

Rebrith also deserves plenty of love due to the jaw-dropping quality of its visuals. I am of the mind that a game doesn’t need to have top-tier graphics or art direction to be truly great, but this is easily the best-looking open world title I’ve ever played. Maybe even the best-looking video game in general? There’s just so much detail in the environments and character models (although random NPC’s are noticeably less polished than the main characters) in such a huge game that it’s kind of baffling. I’ve already added a few hours to my playtime just by messing around with the game’s photo mode. Remake was a beautiful game, but Rebirth is undeniably prettier.

Like the visuals, the combat and character progression from Remake were improved upon in Rebirth as well. The revamped leveling system allows for more diversity in character builds, and the addition of synergy attacks (two-person supermoves which were first introduced in Remake’s DLC chapter) allow for awesome pairings that not only boost a given pair’s battle prowess, but look unbelievably cool too. That is, unless you pair someone with the talking cat Cait Sith, which is hilarious instead.

The most laudable aspect of Rebirth is the way it builds up its core characters and how they interact with each other. Throughout the game, Cloud grows closer with Tifa, Aerith, Barret and the rest of the party via running missions together, doing odd jobs, and even hanging out at the beach. There’s an in-game system that monitors and displays how close you are with your comrades (via colored emojis and notifications after making certain decisions) but the actual depth of these relationships is far more nuanced. Almost everyone in the party is dealing with some kind of trauma or tragedy from their past, and you can feel the healing begin as they build comradery with their newfound allies. A particular highlight for me was seeing Tifa and Aerith working together and growing even closer as they slowly chip away at Cloud’s stoic, aloof persona to bring the ex-SOLDIER out of his shell. I loved all of these characters in the original FFVII, but I never got attached to them the way I have in Rebirth. It’s those connections that make every single part of the journey and story so effective, each of their successes fist-pumpingly fantastic and their pain or sadness so moving that I would often tear up.

Ratcheting up the emotions even more is the sublime soundtrack. New versions of Nobuo Uematsu’s 1997 score are combined with remixed versions, some completely original tracks, and the result is my favorite soundtrack from any piece of media. This is the kind of music that stays with you long after you first hear it, immediately pulls you back to that initial moment, and brings up the same genuine emotion you felt at the time.

Finally, I will bring up the parts of Rebirth that I didn’t absolutely love. There are a couple of puzzles that feel a little wonky (despite giving you multiple controller/touchpad options for them) and the majority of the mini-games are thrown at you a little too quickly. There’s also a part of the story’s climax that isn’t explained all that clearly, but I imagine we’ll learn more about it in the opening hours of the trilogy’s final entry. These are just small nitpicks among an epic, emotional and consistently amazing experience though.

After playing through Rebirth and letting it all sit in my mind for a while I realized that I can only end my review in one way: by saying that it’s one of my favorite video games of all time, surpassing even the original Final Fantasy VII. With such stunning visuals, soul-stirring music, energetic combat, emotionally impactful characters, a gargantuan world and the way it revisits or reinvents some of gaming’s greatest moments while also making its own, how could it not be?