Gaming website Nova Crystallis asked Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata if it had any plans on using the engine to develop the remake and he responded with “Final Fantasy VII (Remake) is not planned to be made with that.”
The Luminous Engine was developed by Square Enix and is being used to develop Final Fantasy XV which many people seem to agree looks absolutely breathtaking.
On the other side of things, Square’s other huge upcoming title, Kingdom Hearts III although initially being built with the Luminous Engine is now being developed on Unreal Engine 4.
If Square has no intention of using its own Luminous Engine, then it would make sense that they might use Unreal Engine 4 for the remake.
While both engines are incredibly powerful, this may be a larger indication of exactly how much Square Enix plans on changing in the Final Fantasy VII remake. Tetsuya Nomura has previously stated that this remake will be significantly different than the original - and that is including the iconic battle system.
While it is a mystery as to exactly what engine Square plans on using to make this game, it is clear that fans of the original are in for quite a bit of change.
Nomura has also recently mentioned plans to draw inspiration from 2005’s spin-off film, Advent Children.