Forget the Final Fantasy 7 remake – this mod uses AI to update the 1997 original

It's heralded as one of the greatest, if not THE greatest JRPG of all time, making the forthcoming Final Fantasy 7 remake one of the most hotly-anticipated games on the horizon.

But the proposed jump to an all-3D, episodic re-imagining of the 1997 PlayStation original for the upcoming current-gen revival has rubbed some hardcore fans up the wrong way. Where are the turn-based battles? The beautiful hand-drawn backgrounds? There's a fear that some of the original's charm will be lost in the conversion. 

So, if you're looking for something a little more faithful, and own the PC version of the game, a brand new, AI-powered mod may be what you're looking for. Feast your eyes on the Remako HD mod:

AI makeover

"Using state of the art AI neural networks, this upscaling tries to emulate the detail the original renders would have had," writes the mod's author. 

"This helps the new visuals to come as close to a higher resolution re-rendering of the original as possible with current technology."

Essentially, it's a smart upscaling technique – the image is re-rendered at a far greater resolution than the original. Some detail is lost, but the original feel of the game is very much preserved.

It's something that Nintendo has also been experimenting with, alongside Nvidia. In China, Nintendo's games are available on the Nvidia Shield, with the chip maker using its neural processing techniques to give the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess a bit of spit and polish.

Seemingly still no closer to release, this is a great way for Final Fantasy fans to revisit the seventh entry in the series in style. Check out the beta for the mod here.

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