Many Final Fantasy 7 fans were disappointed to learn key character Red XIII is not playable in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, despite being one of the stars of the original game. But it turns out he is playable – briefly – via save editing.
Final Fantasy 7’s iconic red wolf / lion turns up in the remake during Chapter 17 as a guest character, but he’s controlled by the AI. You can’t control him yourself.
This week, software engineer and prolific game hacker Luciano “Xeeynamo” Ciccariello updated his Kingdom Hearts save editor so it works with Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and while at this early stage it has limited functionality, the editor makes Red XIII playable in combat.
The video below shows how Red XIII works in a fight. You can control his movement as you would the other playable characters. He has battle quotes, and you can attack, dodge and block. But you can’t change his equipment or materia, use magic or limit breaks.
Final Fantasy VII Remake – Red XIII Gameplay (Save Mod) Watch on YouTube
Unfortunately it’s not possible to have Red XIII stick around for long, as the party resets once someone has left or after a cutscene. We’ll probably have to wait until the release of the PC version of the game for modders to truly unlock Red XIII in the remake. That, or the next Final Fantasy 7 Remake game – whenever that comes out.