Final Fantasy VII art team reveals old-school way they got the game’s sandwiches looking so good

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s sandwiches look good enough to eat, which makes sense considering how they were created.

One of the cool things about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is all the little visual details the game is packed with. The original PS1 Final Fantasy VII is a beautiful game in its own right, but its pre-rendered backgrounds didn’t really allow for close-up views and representations of all the daily-life objects you’d come across in an actual city…like sandwiches.

Yes, sandwiches. As you walk through Rebirth’s towns and villages, you’ll come across a variety of cafes, restaurants, and bars where NPCs are relaxing and dining. Some players have been especially impressed by how lovingly detailed some of the in-game sandwiches are, and the official Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Twitter account has shared how the artists got them looking so good: by making real sandwiches.

今日は #サンドイッチの日 です#FF7リバース に登場する美味しそうなサンドイッチはARTチームの担当者が実物を手作りして撮影しテクスチャにしたそうです

このサンドイッチは、実際に #スクエニカフェ でも手作りでご提供ぜひご賞味あれ#FF7R #FF7 pic.twitter.com/6rQ5uMnSwW

— FFVII REMAKE (@FFVIIR_CLOUD) March 13, 2024

Shown in the tweet’s left photo are sandwiches made by the Rebirth art team, and on the right are the sandwiches that appear in the game. After making the sandwiches, the art team photographed them, and then those photos were used as the textures for the in-game graphics.

That might seem like an easy way to get around doing digital modeling work, but bear in mind that the method meant that before Square Enix could have delicious-looking sandwiches in the game, it had to make delicious-looking sandwiches in real life, which is a challenge in itself.

Knowing that the sandwiches existed in real life before the game, some Twitter commenters wistfully said they wished they could have eaten them. It turns out, though, that some of the sandwiches exist in real life after the game’s release as well. The Square Enix Cafe in Tokyo’s Akihabara district is currently running a Final Fantasy VII Rebirth collaboration, and one of the menu items is the Kalm Handmade Shrimp and Avocado Sandwich, looking just like it does in Rebirth’s starting village.

And if you forget to snap a commemorative photo before you eat it, you can always look at it in the game.

Related: Square Enix Cafe
Source: Twitter/@FFVIIR_CLOUD via Hachima Kiko
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Insert image: Square Enix Cafe
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