Final Fantasy VII: Ascend the Shinra Tower board game releases on November 6 in Japan, January 2027 for West
Update (20 April)
Square Enix has formally confirmed that they will sell the Final Fantasy VII: Ascend the Shinra Tower board game not only in Japan but also in North America and Europe. The company has also opened pre-orders for the board game on both the North American and European Square Enix Stores.
The board game is being priced at $34.99 in the North American store and €34.99 in the European store. But while it releases first in Japan this November, those in the West will have to wait a couple more months as the release window in both regions are set in January 2027.
Original (17 April)
Square Enix has revealed that they will release a new Final Fantasy VII-themed board game titled Final Fantasy VII: Ascend the Shinra Tower. The company has also opened pre-orders for the board game on their Japanese e-Store, where it will be available on November 6 at ¥4,400.
This board game will be basically based on Arclight Games' Cat and the Tower, and Square Enix also confirmed that they are collaborating directly with Arclight to produce this FFVII adaptation.
The general gist of this cooperative board game is that the players will have to guide Cloud Strife to climb the Shinra Tower, which will have its structure gradually built by the players. However, the tower's structure is deliberately made to be more unstable towards the top, so players will have to cooperate by determining how to place additional wooden character blocks to maintain the tower's balance.
The game will be won once Cloud has reached the 8th floor without the tower collapsing. The whole board game will take around 15-30 minutes to play.
The board game will come with an instruction manual available in not only Japanese but also English, French, and German. The package will contain 20 floor pieces, 54 wall pieces, and 24 action cards.
It will also have 24 wooden character blocks that feature not only the protagonist Cloud, his party members Tifa, Aerith, and Barret, and the Avalanche group members Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge, but also the antagonist Sephiroth and Shinra's Rufus and Reno, along with lesser Shinra soldiers and mech units.
SQUARE ENIX recently announced that they are releasing new tabletop board game ASCEND THE SHINRA TOWER – FINAL FANTASY VII Board Game in January 2027. Co-developed with Arclight, Inc (headquartered in Tokyo), the game is a cooperative balance board game based on the characters and lore from the popular video game FINAL FANTASY VII.
Inspired by FINAL FANTASY VII, this thrilling cooperative balance board game has you and your teammates working together to ascend the unstable Shinra Tower. Stack “Floor Tiles” atop “Wall Tiles” of varying heights to build upward, level by level. As the Shinra Tower rises, it gradually begins to tilt, becoming increasingly unstable…
Maintaining balance through teamwork and discussion becomes the key to success in this cooperative challenge.
Foes who stand in Cloud’s way will appear one after another within the Shinra Tower. Borrow the strength of your allies to overcome these enemies as Cloud continues his ascent toward the top. If you can prevent the Shinra Tower from collapsing and help Cloud reach the 8th floor, you win the game — but the final challenge still awaits…
Will you be able to overcome your nemesis Sephiroth and save the planet from crisis?
All newly created artwork featured on the package and on the game’s wooden components is fully supervised by Tetsuya Nomura, the original character designer and story concept creator of FINAL FANTASY VII.
Cloud, along with familiar allies such as Tifa and Aerith and the foes they face, appear on wooden pieces featuring charming, storybook‑style artwork – a fresh reimagining of the FINAL FANTASY VII characters created for this board game.