FF7R EPISODE INTERmission (New Story Content Featuring Yuffie) (DLC)

I went into INTERmission with modest expectations. A side chapter tacked onto a PS5 upgrade, starring a character who was optional in the original 1997 game, running through locations the base game already visited. On paper, that sounds like filler. In practice, Yuffie Kisaragi is one of the most enjoyable characters Square Enix has put in front of a gamepad in years, and the two-chapter runtime flies by partly because of how good it feels to play as her. The setup is a parallel story: while Cloud's group is doing their thing, Yuffie and her Wutai partner Sonon Kusakabe are running a covert op to steal a top-secret materia from Shinra HQ. Chapter one drops you into the Midgar slums for exploration, NPC interaction, and the Fort Condor minigame, a rock-paper-scissors tower defense mode where you challenge residents and unlock new unit pieces. It is hit-or-miss, but it gives the slower first chapter some texture. Chapter two shifts gears hard into combat, as the pair infiltrate Shinra headquarters in a tight, fast-paced sequence. The tone across both chapters leans comedic. Yuffie plays her extremely dangerous espionage mission like a kid on a field trip, and that lightness is a genuine tonal relief after the heavier stretches of the base game. The combat is where INTERmission earns its keep. Yuffie plays unlike any character in FF7 Remake. She throws her 4-Point Shuriken for long-range damage, recalls it to orbit an enemy and deal damage over time, and can switch its elemental affinity between fire, ice, lightning, and wind mid-fight using Elemental Ninjutsu. Sonon cannot be directly controlled, but his ATB charges are yours to spend on his abilities, and the Synergy mechanic lets you link the pair together: when synergized, Sonon mirrors Yuffie's attack type, their joint abilities Synergized Art of War and Synergized Windstorm hit significantly harder, and precise guarding triggers Sonon's free counter. The trade-off is ATB charges more slowly while synergized, so there is a genuine rhythm to toggling in and out of it. On top of that, Sonon's Self-Sacrifice passive revives Yuffie at the cost of his own health if she goes down, which keeps the difficulty interesting without feeling punishing. Two new weapons per character, new materia including the summon Ramuh, and a Shinra Combat Simulator gauntlet unlocked post-story give veteran players something to grind toward on Hard Mode. The criticisms are fair and worth knowing upfront. The whole thing runs three to five hours on a first playthrough, closer to six or seven if you do everything. The locations recycle Midgar slums and Shinra HQ areas from the base game, which stings if you finished Intergrade immediately before starting this. The side content outside Fort Condor is thin: one Turtle's Paradise quest with weak rewards, a box-breaking minigame returning from Remake's Sector 5, and not much else. The story does not reshape anything in the base narrative. It runs parallel, and outside of a few late-game reveal moments that tee up future story threads, it mostly exists to give Yuffie the introduction she deserved in Remake proper. Critics who found it inessential to the main plot are not wrong. But that framing undersells what the DLC actually delivers: a tightly paced action slice with a specific character done exceptionally well. If you finished FF7 Remake and liked the combat, this is an easy call. If you are new to the Remake trilogy on PC and working through it in order, treat this as required reading before moving on. Yuffie's mechanical identity here carries significant weight in understanding why she matters going forward. Alex, Scout Team