Vincent Valentine will not be playable in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Square Enix has confirmed that Vincent Valentine will not be playable in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and instead, similar to Red XIII in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, he will fight alongside the group.

Last week, Square Enix unveiled the mystery surrounding Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth with a detailed trailer. Not only was the release date of the game confirmed, but we also got a proper first look at characters like Cait Sith and Vincent Valentine. Since Cait Sith was revealed as playable in the trailer, fans are wondering if they can also play as Vincent or if he is just an NPC in the story.

Unfortunately, it seems that fans of Vincent Valentine will have to wait until the next game to play as the beloved edgelord, as the director of Rebirth, Naoki Hamaguchi, confirmed in an interview with IGN that he will only join the group as a "supporting character," similar to Red XIII in Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

Hamaguchi said, "Regarding Vincent's playability, he will be more of a supporting character for the group in terms of Rebirth. So, it will be similar to Red XIII in the Remake."

Interestingly, Tetsuya Nomura also recently commented on this topic in an interview with the PlayStation Blog. In the interview, Nomura was asked about Cait Sith and Vincent Valentine as playable characters, and he responded vaguely that some characters in the game will appear as "accompanying members" who will become official group members in the next game. Although it was fairly obvious who Nomura was referring to, the IGN interview confirms that it is indeed Vincent Valentine.

Nomura said, "The original group members are all present in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. In the previous title, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Red XIII became an accompanying member in the latter half of the game, but in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, he will be an official playable group member. Similarly, in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, there are characters who are accompanying members and will become official group members in the next title."

Now we know for sure that Nomura is referring to Vincent Valentine here, confirming that he will be fully playable at least in the third and final part of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy. It's a bit disappointing that he won't be playable in Rebirth, but at least we will spend some time with him and see how he fights in battle, just like we did with Red XIII in the last game.