Mobile game Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis updated on Friday, adding a much-anticipated new chapter detailing the story of a young Sephiroth.

The new chapter is added to The First Soldier set of missions and reveals new layers to the villain's backstory.

Fans have been busy discussing the story on social media since the update's release - could there be implications for the forthcoming Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth?

Major story spoilers follow.

To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings We Played Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth! Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth New Gameplay + ImpressionsWatch on YouTube

The key moment fans have shared from The First Soldier is Sephiroth holding up a photo of a woman he calls Jenova, who he believes is his mother.

Except it's not Jenova. It's Lucrecia.

You see, Sephiroth was the son of Shinra scientists Hojo and Lucrecia. Jenova was an alien entity mistaken for one of the ancients. Hojo injected Lucrecia with Jenova cells while she was pregnant, which is why Sephiroth has such exceptional power.

Experimented on her unborn child, responsible for Grimoire's death, caused Vincent to become an immortal monster, did nothing about jenova visions of Sephiroth's crimes, hid in a crystal instead of owning her responsibilities, but sure, she so pretty, let's simp ??#FF7EC pic.twitter.com/O6v5NVwrhR

— Silver Wield (@SilverWield) September 29, 2023To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings

Hojo told Sephiroth his mother was Jenova, but not the alien truth. This new story wrinkle from Ever Crisis, however, adds further tragedy to his backstory: the photo of Lucrecia proves Sephiroth knew who his birth mother was, he just knew her by a different name.

SEPHIROTH HAS A PHOTO OF LUCRECIA BUT HES BEEN TOLD HER NAME IS JENOVA?!?!?THATS THE MOST TRAGIC THING EVER IM GONNA CRY ?????ALSO LUCRECIA LOOKS SO STUNNING ???#FF7EC pic.twitter.com/3RaTYdwXwY

— Kat Valentine @ FF7 REBIRTH HYPETRAIN (@sophkat7) September 29, 2023To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings

And really, the true villain of the game is Hojo, who lies to his son about who his mother is by showing him his birth mother and making him believe she's somebody else.

I CALLED IT. I'M CRYING... ?She's beautiful... Curse that damn Hojo. My heart hurts so much... Lucrecia. #FF7EC #Lucrecia #Sephiroth https://t.co/kHpE8BDEKx pic.twitter.com/aSyvrl5TYj

— Phantomyre ? Artist | FF7 Rebirth (@Phantomyre) September 29, 2023To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings

Thinking abt how almost everyone joined soldier cuz they wanted to be a hero like Sephiroth, while he never had a choice, no one asked him what he wanted before, no one cared about it, just trained him since young age & threw him to the war, cuz that was all he was born for (1/2) pic.twitter.com/HVAJeBaP5H

— alexia? Sephiroth ?? (@sephyethereal) September 28, 2023To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings

Experimented on her unborn child, responsible for Grimoire's death, caused Vincent to become an immortal monster, did nothing about jenova visions of Sephiroth's crimes, hid in a crystal instead of owning her responsibilities, but sure, she so pretty, let's simp ??#FF7EC pic.twitter.com/O6v5NVwrhR

— Silver Wield (@SilverWield) September 29, 2023To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings

Watching the new Ever Crisis content with young Sephiroth is seriously pulling on the heartstrings… pic.twitter.com/iNy2ToCydJ

— M. J. Gallagher (FFVII mythology) (@FFVIINovels) September 30, 2023To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings

While the added backstory for Sephiroth does give some intriguing new details, I'm honestly not a huge fan. As a hero-turned-villain in the original game, Sephiroth is an enigmatic figure but all this explanation saps the mystery and ambiguity out of the story.

What's more, while I'm excited for Rebirth and its story changes, I'm concerned about how much extra backstory will be added and how complex its web of realities will become. Will Young Sephiroth feature in the game, as well as playable Sephiroth? Will we see Lucrecia? Will Hojo explain himself?

Some people have pointed this out, but the #FF7EC trailer has a line Rosen asks Sephiroth:"Who exactly is the life you are trying to save?" that almost looks like it connects to Rebirth's trailer line:"Will you exist in the world I'm trying to save?"Very interesting...? pic.twitter.com/zf0A4ImfiF

— ☆オードリーAudrey☆ (@aitaikimochi) September 27, 2023To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings

In fact, is this Ever Crisis story proper canon? Or an alternate timeline? It's all getting a bit Kingdom Hearts, which is before you compare young Sephiroth's character design with Nomura's other work.

I'm really getting Riku vibes from Young Sephiroth's appearance in Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis pic.twitter.com/LeQz2VnDk3

— Rome (@RomeJRPG) September 27, 2023To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings

If you're keen to play through the young Sephiroth chapter yourself, it's available now in Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis - but it only unlocks once other story missions have been completed, if you can stomach a bombardment of microtransactions.

It also looks like more story content will be continuously added to Ever Crisis based on other Final Fantasy games. That's according to a livestream for the game, translated by Final Fantasy streamer Aitai Kimochi.

Nomura: We will of course go through Advent Children, Before Crisis, and even Dirge of Cerberus. However the story releases will be based on which story is completed first, then a new story will be added. #FF7EC For Before Crisis, the original game had about 10 playabale… pic.twitter.com/XzwRRpzTt0

— ☆オードリーAudrey☆ (@aitaikimochi) September 26, 2023To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings

The game has also been announced for Steam.