FF7 Remake Tips, Guides, And Spoiler-Free Walkthrough

Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7 Remake may seem a bit linear at first, but it's actually a vast, mechanically dense game that can easily become overwhelming to both returning fans of the original and newcomers. We've created a huge number of FF7 Remake guides and walkthroughs to help you on your journey to liberate Midgar from the evil grasp of the Shinra Electric Power Company. Below you can find links to every chapter we have up so far of our walkthrough, as well as some tips guides to aid in further refining your skills. We've got a lot, so look to the Table of Contents to find what you're looking for.

Be sure to check back often as we update this roundup with new guides focused on the new additions made to the PS5 version of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which includes new story DLC starring fan-favorite character Yuffie. Otherwise, read our updated FF7 Remake Intergrade review for our full thoughts on the PS5 version of Square Enix's critically-acclaimed RPG.

FF7 Remake Spoiler-Free Walkthrough

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• Chapter 14
• Chapter 15
• Chapter 16
• Chapter 17
• Chapter 18

FF 7 Remake Side-Quest Walkthroughs

• Chapter 3
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 14

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Tips & Guides

Below you can find numerous guides focused on an array of subjects, including general tips, combat, materia, mini-games, summons, and more.

Important Tips To Know Before Playing

FF7 Remake is quite a different beast from the original. Despite following similar beats, it changes up how the story progresses and how the game plays. Fortunately, we’ve put together a brief visitor’s guide detailing seven tips to help make the best use of your time in Midgar.

• Important Tips To Know Before Playing

Essential Things The Game Doesn't Tell You Straight Away

FF7 Remake has a lot of moving parts and, as such, carefully dishes out information as and when it's necessary. But if you're familiar with the franchise, or RPGs as a whole, there may be specific things you're looking for from the outset. As a result, you'll probably be asking a lot of questions long before the game is ready to give you answers. We don't want you sweating the small stuff instead of enjoying the game, so here's a bunch of spoiler-free heads-ups that'll save you a bit of stress.

• Essential Things The Game Doesn't Tell You Straight Away

Materia Beginner's Guide

If you're a newcomer to FF7, then you're likely to be somewhat confused about by its Materia system, which has you slotting special orbs to give your party special abilities. To help give clarity about this essential part of FF7's combat system, we've created an explainer detailing everything you need to know.

• Materia Guide: How These Colored Orbs Work, Best Practices, And How To Get More

Materia Loadout Guide

As mentioned, Materia is an integral part of FF7's combat system. You should equip as many Materia orbs as you can early on, especially the spell and attack ability ones. But your Materia choices have consequences, since the ones you use most will become even stronger--so you might be wondering which ones are worth equipping and investing into. There are a lot of choices, so we've created a guide to give you some clarity to what's worth pursuing.

• Materia Loadout Guide

Essential Materia You Might've Missed

If you allow yourself to be swept up in the momentum of your mission to liberate Midgar, it can be easy to miss valuable collectibles accidentally. Some of the most important is Materia, which are colored orbs you can equip to characters to beef up their base attack skills by providing them spells, abilities, and summons. You're not going to want to bypass all the useful Materia you can collect throughout your journey. That's why we've detailed the easiest ones to miss.

• Essential Materia You Might've Missed

Weapon Upgrade Guide: How To Best Spec Each Character

In FF7 Remake, you can customize your party's stats and further specialize their roles in battle via the Weapon Upgrade system. This series of weapon-specific skill trees expands the more you level up your characters and increase their max SP (skill points), which eventually increases their weapon level and allows you additional skill tree nodes to further strengthen the weapons they're using. To help you specialize your party properly early on, we've outlined some background on Weapon Upgrades, as well as a reliable approach to upgrading your party's weapons during the game's first handful of chapters.

• Weapon Upgrade Guide: How To Best Spec Each Character

Weapons Locations: Where To Find Every Weapon

Each character in FF7 Remake has six different weapons, and each one has its pros and cons. Some weapons are better for straight melee fighting, others amp up your magic capability, and a few carry benefits like increased critical hits and boosted defenses. Weapons and their upgrades are the avenues through which you can customize your characters and their roles in battle. But while some weapons come your way through the course of the story or are waiting for you in shops, others are in particular places that you can blow right past. Here's how to find every weapon in the game, for every character.

• Weapons Guide: Where To Find Every Weapon

How To Unlock More Limit Breaks For Your Party

You'll discover early on that some of the most powerful attacks your party can perform are Limit Breaks. Each party member starts with a single Limit Break to lay down devastating damage with, but it's possible to get more! Here's how!

• Limit Break Guide: How To Unlock More Limit Breaks For Your Party

Don't Skip The Side Missions, And Here's Why

So you've been waiting 15 years for the remake of Final Fantasy 7, and you can't wait to speed through the whole thing to satisfy that insatiable nostalgia of yours, but take a deep breath because you're going to want to experience everything the game has to offer. Well, slow down! You shouldn't pass up even some of the more menial side missions, and here's why!

• PSA: Don't Skip The Side Missions, And Here's Why

How to Find The Keycard During That Chapter 3 Side-Quest

When you jump into FF7's first semi-open area, you're likely to become confused by an early side mission called Just Flew In From The Graveyard. This relatively simple quest requires you to venture back into an abandoned factory you visited during a previous side mission. Your objective is to exterminate a single flying Drake, but the catch is you need a keycard to open a locked door leading to where it's located. Unfrotunately, finding that key isn't as easy as you might think, so we've explained how to find it, as well as how to complete the side mission.

• PSA: How to Find The Keycard During That Chapter 3 Side-Mission

Boss Guide: How To Defeat Every Boss (So Far)

FF7's Remake's complex battle system leads to a variety of exciting encounters against Shinra's military and wild Fiends--which are demanding on occasion. But the game's biggest challenges are its lengthy, involved boss fights, which put your understanding of its battle mechanics to the test. To ensure you're ready to tackle every fight, we've compiled a walkthrough detailing how to fight many of the game's bosses.

• Boss Guide: How To Defeat Every Boss (So Far)

Summons Guide: How To Unlock Shiva, Fat Chocobo, And More

Summons are some of the most sought-after magical spells in Final Fantasy games, and this tradition continues in FF7 Remake. They're mostly optional and can be easy to miss when you're not taking time to go off the beaten path of the story to find them. Check out our guide detailing how to find them all.

• Summons Guide: How To Unlock Shiva, Fat Chocobo, And More

How To Unlock Chadley's Secret Summon

The most powerful of Chadley's Summon Materia is also the most difficult to get. Here's everything you need to do to unlock the final summon and defeat it in battle. Be warned, there are spoilers in this particular guide, so proceed with caution.

• How To Get Chadley's Secret Summon

Moogle Medals Explainer

As you play the early hours of FF7, you'll likely start to rack up a decent stock of Moogle Medals as you explore the streets and slums of Midgar. You might be wondering what they do. Fortunately, we've got answers! Here's everything you need to know about this weird currency.

• Moogle Medals: What They Are, Where To Get Them, How To Use Them

Chapter 9 Choice Guide: Johnny, Madam M, And Chocobo Sam

Compared to previous chapters in FF7 Remake, there are more questions presented to you during Chapter 9, and that's because the answers you give influences how the story proceeds. Here's how it all works and what exactly it impacts.

• Chapter 9 Choice Guide: Johnny, Madam M, And Chocobo Sam

Mini-Games Guide: All the Rewards You Get

After years and years of waiting for FF7 Remake, did you think after all this time you’d have just as much fun playing a game of Darts as shutting down Shinra? Neither did we! If you’re wondering what to expect, or more specifically, are curious about the rewards you get from FF7's various mini-games, then look no further! We’ve got all the info you need.

• Mini-Games Guide: All the Rewards You Get From Completing Them

What Would Suit Tifa Choices And Dress Guide

In Chapter 3, Tifa will ask you a question that will have an effect later in the game, but it's not clear when you're asked how your answers will change things. Here's what you need to access the scene with Tifa, what the answers will do, and why they matter.

• What Would Suit Tifa Choices

How To Get Every Dress In Wall Market

When you reach Wall Market in Chapter 9, you'll unlock a number of dresses for the party based on your actions throughout the game. How the dresses are determined isn't super clear, and while you'll only see a handful, there are actually nine possibilities--and seeing them all unlocks the "Dressed to the Nines" Trophy. You'll need to complete Final Fantasy 7 Remake once in order to get them all; here's how.

• Wall Market Dress Guide

Chapter 14 Resolution Scenes Guide

Spending time with its various characters is what FF7 Remake is all about. In Chapter 14, you'll see a poignant scene featuring Cloud and one of the other characters, but as in the original, who shows up depends on a number of your actions. Here's all the choices that matter in unlocking all three Resolution scenes.

• Chapter 14 Resolution Guide

Johnny Scenes Guide

If you want to earn the Trophy entitled "The Johnny Experience," you'll have to make a few key choices to track down everybody's favorite slumdork, Johnny. Here's a detailed look at where you find all the scenes and what you need to do to unlock them.

• The Johnny Experience Scenes Guide

Don Corneo's Secret Stash Locations

One of the tougher side-quests in Final Fantasy 7 Remake sends you wandering through the slums, searching for the hidden riches of Don Corneo. The stashes are in out-of-the-way places, and earning the key to unlock them is a whole process as well. We've got all the locations marked and a rundown of all the information on what you'll need to do to open them in Chapter 14.

• Don Corneo's Secret Stash Locations

Secret Medicine Locations

The Chapter 14 side-mission "Secret Medicine" asks you to find a handful of ingredients to help the doctor of Sector 5 make medicine to care for the locals. Unfortunately, the things he needs are pretty hard to come by. We've tracked down everything you'll need and how you can get it in our handy guide.

• Secret Medicine Locations

Music Disc Locations

The soundtrack of FF7 Remake is a standout, but in addition to the music that plays throughout the game, there are also special songs you can collect as you work your way through Midgar. These tracks are all found on music discs that can be grabbed all over the city and played at jukeboxes, and they have some of the best versions of classic FF7 tracks in the game. There are 31 music discs scattered throughout Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and while many are on the beaten path, a few are easy to miss in out-of-the-way places. We've got a complete rundown of where to find every single music disc in the game.

• Where To Find Every Music Disc

Elevator Or Stairs?

Chapter 16 includes a tough choice: Should you take the stairs to reach the top of Shinra Tower, or risk the elevator? Your choice has an effect on the story as you work through the chapter, so here's everything you need to know to make the decision.

• Should You Take The Elevator Or The Stairs?

Hard Mode Tips

Once you've made your way through FF7 Remake the first time, you'll unlock a Chapter Select menu, as well as a new Hard Mode. It amps up the danger by taking away your ability to use items or replenish MP by resting. Fighting your way through is the only way to get Platinum, and you'll need need to beat the mode to reach some of the game's greatest challenges and best rewards. Here's everything you need to know to survive in Hard Mode.

• Hard Mode Tips

Manuscripts Guide

Amping up your weapons is essential to defeating FF7 Remake's toughest challenges, but when your characters top out at Level 50, you stop getting SP to improve your gear. After that, you'll have to seek out Manuscripts to keep strengthening your weapons. Here's where to find them all.

• Manuscripts Guide

Enemy Skills Guide

Once you earn the Enemy Skills Materia, you'll be able to turn your enemies' attacks against them. To do that, though, you'll need to find all the enemies with skills you can steal. We've compiled a rundown of where each learnable Enemy Skill is, who has it, and how you can get it.

• Enemy Skills Guide

Three-Person Team vs. Top Secrets

The toughest challenge in the game is an optional boss fight in Chadley's Combat Simulator: the Pride & Joy Prototype. Taking it down requires you to do a whole lot of things, but it unlocks the best accessory in the game. Here's everything you need to know to get to, and beat, the Pride & Joy Prototype.

• Three-Person Team vs. Top Secrets Guide

The Ending, Explained

FF7 Remake's conclusion can be a little bit...confusing. The game expands on the source material with new additions and a new direction that's not in the original, and there are a lot of implications for where future installments of FF7 Remake could go in the future. Here's everything you need to know about the ending.

• FF7 Remake Ending Explained