There are few fictional locales as iconic as Final Fantasy VII’s Midgar. Originally envisioned as a rain soaked New York-esque metropolis, the final sprawling cityscape kept the Big Apple’s detective noir grit – but imbued it with a quietly ominous steampunk flavour. Boot up the PS1 original today, and its blurry pre-rendered backgrounds still conjure up a startling sense of place – Midgar’s billowing chimneys and dusty streets blending seamlessly with skyscrapers that could preside in modern-day Tokyo.
Drawing visual comparisons to Blade Runner and the character-led melodrama of Star Wars, this PlayStation 1 role-playing game has attained an almost mythological status – a pioneering playable parable about climate change destined to be retold time and time again. It was to fans’ delight, then, when 23 years after the release of the low-poly original, 2020’s Remake saw Final Fantasy VII reborn in high definition.
