Final Fantasy 7 Remake mod brings back the polygonal look

A previous mod for Final Fantasy 7 Remake swapped the high-resolution model of Cloud wearing a dress for a more low-poly look, but now the mod we've all been waiting for is here: one that replaces the expressive and high-resolution models of all Final Fantasy 7 Remake's playable characters for the pointy polygons of the 1990s. Specifically, of the 1998 Windows version, which you can tell because unlike in the 1997 PlayStation original they've got mouths. (A mystery our own intrepid Wes Fenlon delved into in Why the hell do they have mouths: a Final Fantasy 7 PC retrospective.)

The Polygonal Players mod by FantasyRaider replaces Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Barret, as well as Yuffie and Sonon from the Intermission chapter, in both gameplay and in-engine cutscenes—though the cinematics made with higher-definition models will show the remake's characters. It's super weird seeing Cloud's Lisa Simpson hair and staircase eyebrows alongside the modern-looking characters, and wielding high-def weapons, but entertainingly so.

To install Polygonal Players you'll need to download the .pak file from NexusMods and make a ~mods folder inside your FFVIIRemakeIntergrade\End\Content\Paks directory to put it in. It's a whole 6.5MB file for all those polygons.

Polygonal Players would probably combine well with the mod to restore the original's fixed camera. Meanwhile, there are of course nude Sephiroth mods for Final Fantasy 7 Remake in a variety of styles, as well as mods that give Cloud a keytar sword, put clown makeup on Sephiroth, and show off Cloud's washboard abs. Check out the dev console unlocker too. Truly, there's something to suit all tastes.

The Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy will continue with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which is scheduled for a winter release next year. Who knows what wonderful things modders will be able to do with that? I mean, once they've finished making Tifa's boobs bigger again, of course. 

Jody Macgregor
Weekend/AU Editor

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.