Can you play as Cid in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth?

The name Cid will be incredibly familiar to long-time Final Fantasy fans, but it's FF7's Cid Highwind that is perhaps the most memorable, leading many players to wonder if he is playable in Rebirth.

Alongside the existing cast of Cloud, Barret, Aerith, and Tifa, characters like Red XIII, Yuffie, and Cait Sith are going to be playable in the upcoming game. While coming face to face with the airship captain is a guarantee, we might all have to wait to be able to add him to our party.

Is Cid a playable character?

As revealed in an interview with IGN, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's director Naoki Hamaguchi confirms that Cid is not a playable character, but instead 'accompanies the party on their journey' and 'helps out' - despite not appearing in any combat scenarios.

Click to enlarge

This is an identical situation to Vincent's status in Rebirth, as he also will appear within the story but is not yet able to be added to your party. Unlike Vincent, Cid is a mandatory party member in the original game, and while it looks like we'll be visiting Rocket Town in Rebirth, we might just have to wait until the next game to get our hands on the Captain.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Cid is involved in the narrative though, as the Highwind or the Tiny Bronco could both prove to be incredibly fun tools for our party to explore the open world if they make an appearance.

We've got plenty more than you can learn ahead of the game's release on our Final Fantasy homepage, including a full list of the Rebirth voice actors and a look at some of the new mechanics in our most recent preview.