The story of Final Fantasy 7 Remake will be fleshed out in an upcoming mobile game called Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier. This new game is set decades before the events of FF7 Remake and it could answer questions that fans have about the timeline.

FF7 The First Soldier was announced after Sony's recent State of Play event. It's an upcoming battle royale game in the vein of Fortnite where players combat each other using a mixture of weapons and spells from Final Fantasy 7. All that exists of FF7 The First Soldier so far is a brief trailer showing battles taking place in familiar locations, such as Midgar. It seems that the players will have to contend with monsters from FF7 as well as other players. Summon monsters will also make an appearance, as Ifrit appeared in the trailer, though it's unclear how they will be used.

Related: Is FF7 Remake Intergrade Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2?

The story of FF7 The First Soldier will put it further back in the timeline than any other game in the series, including the Japan-exclusive Before Crisis. This means that the game could include new events that have never been witnessed before, depending on how important the story of FF7 The First Soldier is to the overall Final Fantasy 7 experience.

FF7 The First Soldier: The Thirty-Year Gap

Zack in Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core holding the hilt of a sword on his back.

The trailer for FF7 The First Soldier on the official Final Fantasy YouTube channel confirmed that the game takes place thirty years before the events of FF7 Remake. This means that it also predates the events of every other game in the original Compilation of Final Fantasy 7. One of the most interesting things about FF7 The First Soldier is that fans will finally learn more about the world before the Shinra Corporation took over.

The only nation that managed to resist the Shinra Corporation for any length of time was Wutai, and that was defeated at the start of Crisis CoreFF7 The First Soldier has a chance to reveal the other nations that existed in the past and their struggles against the Shinra, which could form the backbone of the game's premise as well as lead to things which may be explored in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2. The game could involve teams of enhanced Shinra soldiers facing off against resistance forces from different countries.

FF7: The Birth Of The One-Winged Angel

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Sephiroth

The timeline of FF7 was always murky, which was explained in-universe by the Shinra Corporation classifying important documents. As such, players don't know exactly when characters like Angeal, Genesis, or Sephiroth were born. It's possible that FF7 The First Soldier could show the early lives of those characters.

Related: Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis Explained: Every FF7 Game Being Remade

It's established in FF7 that Sephiroth is a war hero and that he fought in battles for years before the Nibelheim Incident. A young version of Sephiroth could act in a similar way to the hero units from Star Wars Battlefront 2 and perhaps players can temporarily play as him in FF7 The First Soldier as he annihilates enemy forces. Sephiroth was widely believed to be the first member of Soldier, and the story of FF7 The First Soldier could show his rise to power.

However, a lot of FF7 The First Soldier's plot depends on the timeframe the game is set in. It's believed (but not confirmed) that Sephiroth was born thirty years before the events of FF7, but FF7 The First Soldier could jump ahead in time, or alter his age to better fit with the timeline.

Next: Red XIII Deserves A DLC Chapter In FF7 Remake Intergrade

Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier will be released for Android and iOS devices in 2021.