Fans Restore Lost Final Fantasy VII Content

Enthusiasts have restored the mobile game Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode from the Final Fantasy VII universe, nearly 20 years after it was considered lost.

After nearly 20 years, enthusiasts have successfully restored one of the most enigmatic games in the Final Fantasy VII universe. Thanks to the mobile game preservation community, Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode, a spin-off released in 2006 for Japanese mobile phones, has been brought back to life.

The game told a standalone story about Vincent Valentine, featured full voice acting, and was distributed in episodes through Square Enix servers. After the authorization system was shut down in 2018, the project became unavailable and was considered lost.

A breakthrough came in 2024 when an enthusiast under the pseudonym Yuvi obtained the encrypted game files. To decrypt them, custom software based on OpenCL was created and more than 90 servers equipped with NVIDIA RTX 4090, RTX 6000, A5000, and other professional accelerators were deployed. The operation cost approximately $900.

Fans can now begin translating the game. This restoration is especially timely given the development of Final Fantasy VII Revelation, where, according to Director Naoki Hamaguchi, events and characters from Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core, and Advent Children will play an important role.