The remake of the acclaimed Playstation classic Final Fantasy VII finally releases on April 10, and there’s a demo out you can play now.

A lot of news was floating around about the new Final Fantasy VII Remake , from delays to the announcement that the game would only cover a small portion of the original. Now, a release date has finally been set (April 20), and not only that, there’s a demo out players can try right now.

Like many fans of the original Final Fantasy VII, I’ve been skeptical about all the mixed news the remake was receiving. This is especially true because it’s a recreation of one of my, and many others, most beloved games of all time.

Firing up the demo, any concerns I had were almost immediately squashed. The opening cinematic is a shot for shot recreation of the iconic Final Fantasy VII opening, showing all of Midgar through sweeping pans and going down into the streets to see Aerith simply smelling a flower. A wave of nostalgia hit me not only through the visuals, but the score, too, which is newly remastered from the original composer, Nobuo Uematsu.

The music of Final Fantasy VII is so important and a defining element of the entry in the series, and so to hear a modernized version of the score threaded between cutscenes going seamlessly into exploring and then battle sequences, it was a joy to hear.

Nostalgia aside, the demo gives us a glimpse of how this is much more than just your standard remake or reboot. I would compare it to the recent Resident Evil 2 remake, which made that Playstation survival-horror classic feel like an entirely new release. What stood out most of all to me was the character models and voice acting; it turns the already incredible storytelling of Final Fantasy VII up a notch to new cinematic levels which we’ve never before seen from this story.

And then there’s the gameplay, which is also unlike anything we’ve experienced from a Final Fantasy game before. It definitely has the potential to turn off some loyalist fans, but for me, I found the exciting action-based gameplay a welcome invigoration to the genre. The loose, frenetic style reminded me of what the latest installment Final Fantasy XV was trying to achieve.

During battles, you maintain control of one main character but still have supporting characters in your party. The players you’re not controlling will automatically deliver attacks, but you can also quickly command them to do certain moves or even switch over to control that character completely. This is something new to the Final Fantasy universe of battle systems, and it’s a unique way to bring this remake out of the realm of being just another Final Fantasy game.

The biggest concern most fans have with Final Fantasy VII Remake is that it isn’t the complete game. The remake only covers the portion of the original game that goes up through the escape from Midgar, which, as fans know, marks only the beginning of the actual open world gameplay found in the rest of the classic RPG.

I very much had this same concern; that is, until I played the demo. The very opening sequence of infiltrating the reactor and planting the bomb with the team of Avalanche led by Barret is handled with an entirely new layer of detail and nuance, and it unfolds in a completely different way than the original. Somehow, it feels more fully realized from an already very fully realized (albeit dated) game.

With this, it’s clear the adventure of Cloud Strife simply making his way with Barret, Tifa, and Aerith through Midgar, through Shiva Corporation and eventually escaping the boundaries of the city…it’s going to feel like a full game in its own right. However, there’s no escaping that it’ll still be a game with a massive cliffhanger as newcomers realize the ending of the remake is just the beginning of the actual game.

I’m curious to see how Square Enix will roll out future installments and how many there will be, considering what we’re getting in the first entry of the remake only covers one of three discs, without even delving into the open world yet.

Having played the demo of Final Fantasy VII Remake, any fears, doubts or disappointments I was prepared to have with this hotly anticipated release have been quelled. Perhaps it’s the danger of something fueled by nostalgia and disappointment could be right around the corner, but I’m more than ready to dive back in with Cloud and the gang to journey through, and ultimately escape, Midgar.

And best of all? As included in the most recent trailer, the cross-dressing element fans were afraid would be erased from the original, appear to be handled in a modern and bold way with a character saying plainly “notions of gender don’t apply.” April 20 can’t come soon enough.