Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's depiction of Nibelheim is as raw and unrelenting as one might expect from a visually enhanced rendition of the original game. Though the title's opening sequence leans into Cloud's unreliable memories, the fact of Nibelheim's destruction remains; fire scourges across the small village as its citizens get crushed under burning rubble. The moment is the central catalyst for Cloud and Tifa's motivations and development across FF7's story, making it all the more eerie when they return to see an uncanny recreation of what it once was, devoid of the people that lived there save for one familiar face.