It's no secret that Final Fantasy 7 Remake's ending differs from what fans might have expected from a remaster that completely honored the game's original story. While Square Enix promised changes were coming early into Final Fantasy 7 Remake's development, the extent of those changes has often been less clear when it doesn't relate directly to altered gameplay mechanics like the FF7 Remake combat system or its use of materia throughout the game.

Even if the Final Fantasy 7 Remake new ending was closer to what fans came to expect from the original story, it would've been a question of where it ended and how it managed to remain interesting. Square Enix was faced with an interesting challenged from FF7 Remake's ending, since the new game only captures a portion of the original's narrative, ending during the party's first time leaving Midgar. If that were maintained during the new Final Fantasy 7 Remake ending, it would be difficult to end on a climactic note that satisfied both new players and returning veterans in the wait for the next instalment of the episodic remastering process.

Related: Final Fantasy 7: How to Beat The Box Smashing Mini-Game

Luckily, Square Enix adopted a new, bold approach to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake ending, shaking things up in a dramatic way and setting up a series that will have plenty of opportunities to surprise everyone who plays its subsequent games. With that said, however, creating the new FF7 Remake ending meant generating some major changes to the game's plot, character development, and final cliffhangers, leaving fans with a slew of questions about what happened and what's to come. For that reason, we've put together a comprehensive guide on the biggest plot points of the new Final Fantasy 7 Remake ending. Be warned, however - there are major SPOILERS ahead for those who haven't yet played the game and, if fans want to experience the new ending themselves, it's best to avoid this discussion for now.

FF7 Remake Cloud Tifa Bar

What Happens At The End Of Final Fantasy 7 Remake?

Things progress fairly similarly throughout most of Final Fantasy 7 Remake's ending chapters until the party reaches the top floor of the Shinra building, which results in a massive shift in narrative. There, Barret is temporarily murdered before the Whispers reset destiny to its proper flow, while the party discovers that Sephiroth is attempting to mess with the original Final Fantasy 7 storyline. Essentially, Sephiroth has become aware of the fact that he's destined to fail in his quest to destroy the planet with Meteor, and is now taking steps to fight against destiny in order to change that, manipulating the party into a similar position.

The boss fight that takes place once through the portal at the end of the highway in Final Fantasy 7 Remake is the party literally struggling against, and defeating, destiny. Successfully stopping the Whispers from preserving each character's fate places Cloud in a dimension alone with Sephiroth, who states that there's only seven seconds remaining for Cloud to make a decision while also hinting at having even larger plans for the whole of creation than just altering destiny.

Cloud then returns to a location that will be familiar to fans of the original game, as the entire party is spit out of its battle on a cliff over-looking Midgar from the outside. With the party having successfully escaped, they've also completely reset the narrative for Final Fantasy 7 Remake's ending, meaning that what happened in the original game is no longer guaranteed to happen in the new episodic releases. The obvious major implication here is that Aerith might not die in the newest games, but there are other major ones as well.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Zack Fair Alive FF7

What Does Final Fantasy 7 Remake's New Ending Mean?

The major meaning is one that the game itself promises for players before the ending credits roll proper - that there's a new adventure that will be continued in the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Remake episodic releases. It's also a strong indication that Square Enix won't be afraid to experiment and tweak major plot elements going forward, which should create fresh excitement for the remake since a re-tread of exactly the same story wouldn't have offered many chances for surprises.

There are other major implications in the ending, though. First and foremost - how much do Cloud, Aerith, and Sephiroth know about the timeline that was supposed to occur? It's heavily implied that Aerith is aware she's going to die at the end of her journey with Cloud and friends, as she cryptically hints at destiny and looks sorrowful doing so on multiple occasions, especially when describing the Whispers to Cloud, Tifa, and Barret in Shinra HQ. Cloud, for his part, appears to experience flash forwards during the game's progression, with key images relating to both the Reunion and Aerith's death playing at different points. How much of Final Fantasy 7 Remake's ending being different will be known to the actual characters themselves remains a mystery until the next game.

Perhaps most importantly - and with the least amount of certainty - it appears that the ending of Final Fantasy 7 Remake suggests there are multiple, splintered timelines throughout the game's world as a result of the party's defeat of destiny. The game's ending clearly shows that Zack Fair survives his ill-fated encounter with Shinra in at least one scenario, carrying Cloud away himself and reflecting on the image of Midgar he sees from the same cliff the party finds itself on at the end of the game. That can't possibly be what happened in the timeline that fans play through in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, however, as Cloud still carries Zack's buster sword and has the abilities he would only have with Zack's death - not to mention Aerith's brief interaction with the spectre of Zack, implying he's dead in their story. It appears the Final Fantasy 7 Remake ending is not just playing with one narrative, but perhaps multiples, and could even tie in to spin-off games that might receive their own remakes as a result.

All of that is speculation, of course. What's a certainty is that the new Final Fantasy 7 Remake ending sets up subsequent games as must-watch titles, and that everything we assumed we knew about the Final Fantasy 7 story is about to be turned upside down two decades after it first entered popular discourse.

Next: Final Fantasy 7: How to Reset Weapon Upgrades

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is available now for PlayStation 4.