Case Study: Square Enix achieves a modern-yet-nostalgic FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE with Adobe Substance Painter

Discover the Substance 3D workflow for Square Enix’s FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE

Square Enix, the video game developer behind FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE, faced the challenge of updating the beloved 1997 classic with modern visuals while preserving its nostalgic ‘90s look. With pressure to produce a huge volume of assets quickly and keep the remake faithful to fans’ expectations, the team turned to Adobe Substance Painter and Substance Source to support its character, monster, and environment workflows.

Adobe helped Square Enix streamline texture creation and asset management across the project, enabling the team to build multiple textures at once, reuse smart materials, and maintain consistency with PBR-based workflows. The result was a modern-yet-nostalgic visual style, faster development and design phases, reduced production costs, and smoother texture application across the game’s assets.

Square Enix

Masaaki Kazeno

Character Modeling Director