One of the longest, strangest stories surrounding Square Enix has been the strange absence of Final Fantasy VIII. While titles in the series such as Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII have seen multiple releases across multiple platforms, the one in-between has been nowhere to be seen outside of the PSOne Classics and Steam release. Speculation has pointed to missing source code, or a rights issue with the “Eyes on Me” vocal song as possible reasons for a lack of modern re-releases. But today, Square Enix announced a new, updated port with the official title of Final Fantasy VIII Remastered.
Unlike the other Final Fantasy core ports, this is the only one with “Remastered” in the title. What does that mean? Well, we don’t have a ton of details yet, to be frank. Square Enix touts updated visuals for this release, and looking at the trailer it’s obvious there’s a bump in resolution. Square Enix also appears to have altered the character models, while still retaining the low poly PlayStation visuals. Beyond that, Square Enix has not released further details.
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered will be launching for the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch, and the PC via Steam in fall 2019.