Red XIII might have lost his status as a playable character in Final Fantasy VII Remake, but he will still play a vital role in the game as an ally to the party.
In Final Fantasy VII, the player encounters Red XIII in the Shinra Headquarters, where they free him from his imprisonment at the hands of Hojo. Red XIII joins the party and remains with the group until the end of the game, helping them in their fight against the Shinra Corporation and Sephiroth. Final Fantasy VII Remake only covers the Midgar portion of the original game and the developers decided that Red XIII should only be an NPC ally of the party instead of a playable character, as he doesn't join the group until near the end of the game.
Red XIII might not be playable in Final Fantasy VII Remake, but he will still play a vital role in the game. Co-director Naoki Hamaguchi talked about Red XIII's role in Final Fantasy VII Remake on the Square Enix website. A new floor has been added to the Shinra Headquarters and Red XIII will be the key to conquering it.
However, the development team feel the same way that the fans do when it comes to seeing Red XIII as an important character, and we designed his gameplay in a special way to offset him not being playable in battle.
I won’t reveal exactly what that entails, because I want people to enjoy it when they actually play the game, but I will say that FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE has added a new upper floor to the Shinra Building to present a climax that was not in the original.
The key to navigating this floor lies in using Red XIII’s unique physical abilities to overcome environmental obstacles. Letting the player experience his heroics in this way is something that I’m confident will please the fans.
Red XIII might not be playable in Final Fantasy VII Remake, but it will just be the first entry in the series. Assuming that the second Final Fantasy VII Remake picks up from when the party leaves Midgar, then Red XIII should become a playable character for the remainder of the series.
We still don't know how much of the remaining story the other Final Fantasy VII Remake games will cover, so it's possible that other characters will suffer the same temporary demotion to NPC status as Red XIII. In the end, all of the characters should return as party members by the end of the series, even if the fans have to wait a while to see all of the members of AVALANCHE fighting side-by-side once more.
Final Fantasy VII Remake will be released for PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2020.
Source: Square Enix