[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for the original Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.]

The original Final Fantasy 7 pulls a brilliant, almost nasty, narrative trick. Just as the game sells players on the idea that its protagonist, Cloud Strife, is the hero and overall cool guy of the game, we then learn that in actuality, the whole idea of him that the game has shown us is based on a lie. Instead, Cloud mixed himself up with his comrade Zack Fair, and he cultivated an entire false version of himself predicated on someone else’s memories. Because of this, Cloud Strife is perhaps one of the least reliable narrators in literally all of video games. And now, the ending of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth just adds a whole new layer onto that.