Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has a menagerie of minigames, but there’s always been a clear winner. Queen’s Blood became a fan favorite almost instantly, with countless people even saying they’d be happy to play an entire spinoff based on the card game. Luckily we won’t have to wait for that spinoff, though, as Rebirth’s best minigame will be making a huge comeback for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3.
A Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth panel took place this past weekend during the Washington, D.C. anime convention Otakan featured producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Naoki Hamaguchi were part of the panel. When asked about Queen’s Blood, Hamaguchi stated: “I’ve been receiving so many requests. Right now we are preparing our ‘revamped,’ even better version, of Queen’s Blood for the next series title. I hope to be able to share more in the near future.”
That’s likely a relief for anyone who loved Queen’s Blood, especially considering we currently know next to nothing about the third game — other than the fact it’s the finale of the trilogy. But the inclusion of Queen’s Blood means Square Enix will still be including minigames to some degree. Because of the amount of story the game still needs to wrap up, it’s doubtful the third entry will be as minigame-heavy as Rebirth, but continuing Queen’s Blood is a universally good thing.
What made Queen’s Blood so compelling is two-part: It’s a well-designed minigame on its face and it enriched the world and story of Rebirth in incredible ways. It’s clear Square Enix took a bit of inspiration from The Witcher 3’s Gwent, as Queen’s Blood is a constant feature of the main story — from chapter three revolving around a huge card tournament to prominent side characters being opponents you can play.
Every new town you reach unlocks a new slate of Queen’s Blood opponents, yielding new cards and strategies as a reward. Rebirth does a fantastic job of growing the minigame across the entire experience. The rules become more complex, new cards have more dynamic effects, and opponents get harder. Even if you bypass all of the other side content, Queen’s Blood is something you can enjoy in tandem with the story.
The card game also shockingly has its own self-contained story, which isn’t revealed until you’ve beaten about half of the game’s total opponents. The Queen’s Blood story brilliantly builds on the lore of Final Fantasy 7, diving into legends about the alien being Jenova and its war with the ancient people called Cetra.
There’s every reason to expect the Queen’s Blood story to continue in the next Final Fantasy 7 game, especially considering that entry will be diving into Jenova and Cetra lore even more. Presumably this final game will take us to locations from the original game like Bone Village, the Northern Crater, and Mideel — all of which could tie into Cetra lore in some way. We also know the third game will feature Wutai in a big way, a location that was optional in the original game. It will be interesting to see is how engaging in minigames like Queen’s Blood is balanced against the more dire and immediate threats of the story, like the emergence of the weapons.
While we can continue to dream of a big Queen’s Blood spinoff game, at least we know more card shenanigans lie in Final Fantasy’s future.
