If you’ve played and beat Final Fantasy VII Remake, then you know that a new difficulty unlocked after the main story, called Hard Mode. Well, that difficulty is back in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and it functions just about the same. This is not going to be easy, though, since there are some restrictions in place that ups the challenge. This page will go over how to unlock Hard Mode, as well as offer some tips and tricks to overcome it.
Hard Mode will be unlocked after beating the main story for the first time.
Unlocking Hard Mode¶
Just like in FFVII Remake, you will unlock Hard Mode upon completing the main story. It doesn’t matter what difficulty you complete the game on, as that doesn’t affect anything. Beating the main story will also unlock Chapter Selection and that is how you will be playing Hard Mode. Under the System option in your menu, you will see Chapter Selection and upon picking a chapter, one of the difficulty choices will be Hard Mode. Like with Remake, you will not be able to use items during your Hard Mode playthroughs, so you’ll have to make do with spells and abilities to get through battles.
Additionally, the benches you find throughout your adventure will not restore your MP in Hard Mode. These are the benches with a vending machine next to them, which means you’ll have to be a little frugal with your magic usage. However, there is another type of bench in the open world, those at Chocobo Stops. These require a 
Cushion item to use them and they will still restore your MP, so you’re still able to go a little wild while exploring the various maps. Other than those two things, Hard Mode is just a tougher version of the story.
Level Up Characters and Materia¶
Prior to going straight into Hard Mode, you will want to make sure your characters are maxed out in level, which is 70. The fastest way of doing this is via the My White-Haired Angel quest that you can quickly do in Chapter 12 or 13. For more tips on how to level up quickly, check the Best Way to Farm Experience page. Likewise, you’re going to want some good materia for Hard Mode, with a lot of it being similar across all characters. Go to the Best Ways for Farming AP for tips on how to level your materia, as well as Post-Game Roadmap for which materia to level.
Using a Cushion at Chocobo Stops actually replenishes your MP in Hard Mode.
Dedicated Healer¶
For a portion of the chapters, you will have more than three characters for your party, which means someone will be sitting on the sideline. You can do something really sneaky with this extra character, too, as you can make them your outside healer. Normally, your MP is pretty limited, but there is a materia called HP-to-MP Materia. Equip this on that sidelined character to give them thousands of MP, which you can use to heal outside of battle. This might not be available in every single chapter, though, and you’ll have to be careful when that character will be inserted into the main story.
Smash Shinra Boxes¶
This should be self-explanatory, but Shinra Boxes are always found throughout the various areas. Breaking them might not yield much of anything, but you typically got items during your first playthrough. However, there was the odd chance that breaking one of these boxes would spawn a little orb that regenerated some MP. Thus, it’s a good idea to do this during the various chapters in Hard Mode, as you never know if you’ll need it.
Save Often¶
The number one rule for RPGs is equally as important in Hard Mode, as you never know if you’ll run into something that proves to be a real challenge. This could go from a stubborn enemy, or you might get into a battle where you use a lot of MP. It only takes a moment to simply reload your save and try a section again, with the previous knowledge on how to tackle it.
Don’t forget to learn the abilities on all of your weapons prior to starting Hard Mode.
Reprieve is Great¶
Reprieve is something you can unlock for certain characters, which allows them to withstand a hit that would otherwise KO them. This only works once per battle, though, and not everyone will have access to it, sadly. Tifa and 
Cait Sith will get it in their Folios, while some other characters get it via a weapon skill. Cloud has it on his 
Buster Sword, and Aerith will have it on both her 
Ceremonial Staff and Gambanteinn. If you don’t see it on on those, then you may need to increase the Weapon Level (so get more Manuscripts).
Switch Characters¶
While this is more of a general tip, it should really be used a lot more during Hard Mode. You do not want to stay on a single character during battles, so make sure you are constantly switching between them. This is not only because AI-controlled characters don’t build ATB very quickly, but enemies tend to focus on the character you’re controlling more often than not. You could learn to dodge and perfectly block attacks, but the AI will do it quite often, so it’s best to switch to another character when the one you’re controlling starts getting targeted.
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