Final Fantasy 7 retranslation mod promises English-speaking players an experience 'as close as possible to that of Japanese-speaking players'

Dialogue from the Shinra Archaeology Cut of Final Fantasy 7: "The guy in there seems pretty ill."

(Image credit: Square Enix/Shinra Archaeology)

I never finished Final Fantasy 7. I know there are plenty of people who can forgive the stilted, over-formal oddity of its English translation, but I'm not one of them. Fortunately, there are other people out there who think FF7 deserves better, including the Shinra Archaeology Team. This squad of modders has put together the Shinra Archaeology Cut of Final Fantasy 7, a retranslation mod that just hit 1.0.

This version of FF7 "fixes mistakes in the original English translation; improves tonal accuracy using idiomatic language; and conforms to the localization choices of the Compilation and Remake trilogy where applicable to ensure continuity through the Final Fantasy VII series." Which means if you move on to the excellent Final Fantasy 7 Remake afterward, you won't find it too jarring.

"The aim of this retranslation is to give English players a narrative experience and foundation of lore that is as close as possible to that of Japanese-speaking players", the Shinra Archaeology team says.

As someone trying to sell you a set of Buster Swords on the Home Shopping Network might say, "But wait, there's more!" This mod also has an optional cut-content component that "restores numerous events, maps, animations, and lines of dialogue that were cut from the final release."

You also have the option to choose between different versions of the FMV cutscenes, pixel-art portraits that were found in the demo but not the final game, a red outfit for Yuffie based on her original design, and pre-rendered backgrounds seen in the Japanese version but not the international one. What I'm saying is, this is basically the Bloodlines Unofficial Patch Plus of Final Fantasy 7 retranslation mods.

To install the Shinra Archaeology Cut you'll need the 7th Heaven mod manager. It's compatible with any version of FF7 on PC, and will even run on the Steam Deck, though you'll need to install the 7th Deck mod manager instead. Enjoy your moseying.

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.