Coming at this from the perspective of someone who knows the plot of the original game but has no nostalgic connection to it. I thought this game was brilliant. I’m a massive Kingdom Hearts fan, but I’ll be the first to admit that Nomura’s writing is often less than stellar. Yet I found Remake to be one of the most cleverly written games I’ve played in a while. It’s not going to win any Pulitzers or whatever awards games win for writing. The way this game doesn’t just retell the events of the original, but builds on that story and remixes it into something entirely new.

Really the only knocks against this game are that sometimes the new sections drag on for way too long, and fighting aerial enemies is damn near impossible as Cloud or Tifa. Also, the side missions in this game are mostly dull, and the unlock method for summoning materia is kind of esoteric and confusing. Otherwise, great game.