Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Queen's Blood card game sounds a lot like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's beloved minigame Gwent.
A demo shown to Game Informer showed off some side quests and minigames available in the highly anticipated sequel, alongside a brief mention of the card game unveiled earlier in 2023. When traversing a brand new city called Crow's Nest in the demo, Cloud and friends walked by an NPC talking about Queen's Blood.
Though details are slim as director Naoki Hamaguchi didn't give anything away, other Square Enix employees called it a strategic card game with deck building elements Cloud can play around the world of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Different NPC opponents have varying degrees of difficulty.
This does sound a lot like Gwent, a strategic card game with deck building elements featured in The Witcher 3. Players could travel the likes of Velen, Novigrad, and Skellige challenging inn keepers, merchants, and more to a game of Gwent, usually being rewarded with another card for the collection if successful.
Gwent was an immediate hit with fans of The Witcher 3, so much so that developer CD Projekt Red spun it into its own standalone game that spawned two spin-offs itself. Role-playing game fans will therefore be eager to see exactly how this minigame works in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth when it launches February 29, 2024.
Final Fantasy 7 is no stranger to card games, of course. The original had a card game called Triple Triad that offered simple but addictive distraction.
Fans are slowly but surely learning more about the game as that release date approaches. Square Enix has previously confirmed the game features new story content centred around Zack, and perhaps even incorporates backstory for Sephiroth included in mobile game Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis.
An ESBR rating also revealed some wild and wacky details about the game, including its deep cleavage, pools of blood, and a potential clue to Aerith's fate. And Square Enix dropped a ton of story details, screenshots, and more in a big update in November 2023.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
