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While we wait for the Final Fantasy 7 remake, this mod gives the original an HD lick of paint

HD and Barret.

It finally feels like Square Enix's long-awaited Final Fantasy remake is grinding into gear, but we still don't have a release date to salivate over. While we wait, there's a mod for that.

The Remako HD Graphics Mod, by CaptRobau, features improved graphics with four times the resolution of the original. Perhaps the most striking improvement is made to the game's full-motion videos, but it also spruces up the pre-rendered backgrounds and improves battle and world textures.

What's cool is the mod's resolution boost was accomplished using an AI upscaling tool called AI Gigapixel. It all sounds rather menacing!

Cover image for YouTube videoFinal Fantasy 7 Remako HD Graphics Mod - v1.0 Release Trailer

"The Steam version of FF7 might have had Full Motions Videos (FMVs) with a resolution of 1280x896, in reality, these were actually 320x224 videos blown up to a larger resolution," CaptRobau explained in a blog post.

"So I had to go through all of the game's 100+ FMVs, scale them down to their actual size before upscaling them again with my AI-powered upscaling tool. Now they actually have a HD resolution of 1280x896."

The Remako HD Graphics Mod shouldn't be compared to Final Fantasy 7 remake, of course, but it's a decent shout if you fancy dipping your toes back into the wonderful world of Midgar without it looking quite so 90s.