With so many games on the market, it's not uncommon for people to accidentally gloss over some absolute classics over the years, and one of those for me is Final Fantasy 7. I've always loved the look of the PS1 game, but Legend of Dragoon is the similar RPG that I was devoting my time to back in the day, and FF7 never ended up getting a look-in.

Yes, I know you can still play the original on Xbox these days, and perhaps at some point I'll get around to it, but with the Final Fantasy 7 Remake on the horizon, I thought this provided a good opportunity to check out the demo ahead of the full game's Xbox release on January 22nd. And you know what? I'm really liking it so far!

The demo throws you into what I believe is the start of the game, initially playing as the sword-wielding hero-for-hire character known as "Cloud" (yes, I know he's mega-famous, but he isn't to me!), and I was immediately shocked to learn that the combat isn't turn-based in this remake. Instead, it employs a fluent and satisfying hack-and-slash system that also features the ability to slow down time in order to access spells and items.

You get around an hour's worth of gameplay in the free Xbox demo, which sees you grouping up with a collection of characters in order to take down what's known as a "Mako Reactor". Along the way, you also get the chance to switch between Cloud and Barrett (a muscle-man focused on ranged attacks), and it quickly becomes clear that switching between characters is the key to keeping enemies on their feet, especially with the more boss-like encounters.

And I have to say, even though I don't really know what's going on yet, the story seems intriguing and the presentation is excellent. Final Fantasy 7 Remake definitely feels like a big-budget game, even for something that was first released almost six years ago, and the best compliment I can give is that the demo left me wanting more.

The optimisation for FF7 Remake seems to be amazing as well, at least on the platforms I'm playing on. I spent around 45 minutes on Xbox Series X, which is where the above screenshots are taken from, and it feels like an ultra-smooth 60FPS experience (albeit on a VRR-enabled display) with impressive visuals.

After that though, I switched to the ROG Xbox Ally X for the final 15 minutes, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it immediately synced my save with the Series X version. Yes, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is an Xbox Play Anywhere title even when it comes to the free demo, so switching between console and handheld is seamless. The Xbox Ally X seems to handle it with ease as well — I was playing at 720p (just a preference thing) with multiple "High" graphics settings, and didn't even need to use the "Turbo" power mode to reach a stable 60 frames per-second. There was loads more room to squeeze out even greater visuals, but it didn't feel necessary.

I still haven't decided if I'm definitely buying Final Fantasy 7 Remake on January 22nd yet, but it's certainly got me intrigued to finally see what this game is all about. To be honest, I might even go back and finally play the original PS1 version first — you actually get it included for free as part FF7 Remake's pre-order bonus on Xbox.

This might all sound kind of ridiculous if Final Fantasy 7 is ingrained in your brain like so many other classic games, but somehow it never locked onto my radar! If you've got any tips for me as I potentially embark on this journey, or you want to share any other stories about the Final Fantasy franchise, please do drop them in the comments below!

Will you be picking up Final Fantasy 7 Remake on Xbox next week? Come and tell us.