Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: How to Skip Chapter 1 and Nibelheim

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a massive adventure that will likely take most players dozens of hours to complete. Thankfully, some of those players will at least have the option of skipping the game’s first chapter (the Nibelheim segment).

To skip Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‘s first chapter, you will first need to complete the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth demo. That demo covers much of the game’s opening Nibelheim chapter, and there’s no need to replay it in the full game unless you really want to. Of course, this step kind of assumes that you played that demo in the first place. Otherwise, there’s really no point in playing the demo before the full game now that the latter is released. You might as well experience it as intended from this point.

If you did beat the demo ahead of time and want to skip ahead, though, then go to the “Bonuses” menu when you launch Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. There, the game will ask to check your console/storage device for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Demo, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and FF7R Episode INTERmission saved data. This menu will also provide a rundown of the bonuses you can unlock for having any or all of that saved data. For our purposes, though, you only need the demo data.

If you have that demo data, choose “Check Saved Data.” From there, simply start a Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth New Game as normal.

Please note, though, that you will not have the option to skip Chapter 1 right away. That’s because the full game contains an opening Midgar section not included in the demo. You’ll need to play through that section (it takes about 20 minutes) and reach Nibelheim and the open-world portion of the game. Explore the town for a bit, and you will receive a message that confirms your saved data was registered and asks if you’d like to “Skip to the village.” Unless you want to play through the demo again, choose “Yes.”

Technically, there are no disadvantages to skipping the first chapter in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Your demo progress carries over, so if you were happy with that experience, you might as well pick up where you left off. However, some may find this time skip jarring, especially since you technically rejoin the game at a crucial moment in the story that occurs right after the demo ends. If that demo is fresh in your mind, though, then the saved time (and the Kupo Charm and Survival Set rewards you get for completing the demo) seem to be worth it.