The Steam relaunch of Final Fantasy VII has not gone smoothly: in a surprise move, Square Enix released a new version of the iconic RPG on Valve’s platform, promising an improved gameplay experience while replacing the PC store version that originally launched back in 2013.

The switch has now happened, so players can once again revisit Cloud and his party with additions such as x3 speed during battles, travel, and certain events, plus an option to disable random encounters. However, the community’s first impressions were so poor that the game quickly fell into “Mostly Negative” territory, prompting Square Enix to rush out a first patch to stabilize the situation.

Final Fantasy VII Has Only 39% Positive Reviews on Steam

More specifically, this new version of Final Fantasy VII currently sits at just 39% positive user reviews on Steam. According to user feedback such as the review posted by ehs03y3ol, Square Enix raised the FPS cap from 15 to 30, which speeds up battles and actions, but did so without properly adjusting the animations – creating a noticeable desynchronization between movement and audio.

Since most complaints focused on the pace of encounters, Square Enix moved quickly and published a first patch that addresses this issue along with other problems. In fact, some users who were previously frustrated by combat speed have already updated their reviews after testing the new patch, adding fresh positive votes to the overall score. Even so, other players still feel this edition needed far more polish: “battles now work ‘properly,’ but they’re still not 60 FPS like the PS1 version. Nothing else was fixed”, wrote AnimuBoobari.

Many players are also criticizing the way Square Enix handled this release, arguing that a nearly 30-year-old legendary RPG returned in 2026 in a deficient state. It is possible that, over time and with additional patches, the title will eventually win fans over and climb toward a decent Steam rating, but right now its review profile is harsh enough to scare off anyone considering jumping back in.

Source: 3DJuegos