Final Fantasy VII Remake: how to unlock hard mode and chapter select

Warning: contains some spoilers
Small moments like this add untold flavour to the game
Square Enix

Final Fantasy VII Remake's most challenging difficulty mode is hidden away, along with being able to replay all the chapters in the game.

Warning, we're going to discuss some tiny spoilers here, but we won't reveal anything about the end of the game or the final chapter.

On your first playthrough of the game, you'll only be able to choose from three difficulty settings — Classic, Easy and Normal.

Once you complete the game, however, you'll unlock a whole new difficulty level in Hard mode and the ability to replay any chapter of the game with the Chapter Select option, which will be added under the 'System' settings in the menu screen.

Cloud and Aeris fight against Don Corneo's men in a new arena
Square Enix

Make sure you save your game after you complete it, otherwise you'll lose a lot of progress. Fret not, the game explains this process rather explicitly.

Regardless, with the game completed and saved, you'll see a little note on your cleared-game save which says 'Chapter Select'. This means that this saved data has access to Hard mode and Chapter Select.

Now you can set the difficulty to Hard Mode in the system settings and replay through whichever chapter you want. You can start from the beginning of the game or part-way through.

Note: You cannot start an entirely new game in Hard Mode, you must use your clear-game save file.

This means that the two settings essentially play out as a New Game+ mode, whereby you keep all your current stats, levels, material AP and weapons from your cleared-game save and you can start the whole game again on hard mode.

This mode is not for the faint of heart, mind you because you'll not be able to use any items whatsoever in combat or outside of it.

Which means no more potions, ethers, phoenix down and so on — now you'll have to rely solely on using Esuna to clear status ailments and recovering all lost HP with cures.

This goes a long way at shaking up a great deal of the normal battle meta you might've been used to and it helps add an excellent new challenge to the game.

Hard mode adds a whole new depth to the game
Square Enix

You will still be able to fully recover your HP and MP by resting on benches and at inns, so make sure you don't blast through all your MP in your first fight — this mode will reward more tactical minds.

With Hard Mode also comes the addition of new items and weapon manuscripts to collect, and tough challenges to try out in the VR battle and the Corneo Collesium.

If you were wondering about replay value, here's your answer. Battles are much more intense and there's now a far greater trade-off when using magic and MP you might need later on.

Importantly, this added challenge brings with it a substantial hike in experience, AP and SP, so it's the perfect way to max out any material you didn't get to full in your first playthrough.

We gave the game a 5/5 in our review. Final Fantasy VII Remake delivers on everything it promised, from music, combat, story and the world presentation — this is one you don't want to miss.

Final Fantasy VII Remake will become available on Friday April 10, but a lot of people have received copies early as Square decided to ship them out last week.

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