Three years since the release of Kingdom Hearts 3, we finally have confirmation the story isn’t over as Square Enix has announced Kingdom Hearts 4, though there’s no mention of any platforms or any release date.
Many thought Kingdom Heart 3 would end the story, and much of the game pointed towards that. After what seemed like a perfect wrap-up, a final cutscene left fans interested and confused about what was next.
Square Enix kept a tight lid on what it was planning until the 20th Anniversary of Kingdom Hearts yesterday. While there were many rumours of a big announcement, Square Enix brought out the big guns with the announcement of Kingdom Hearts 4.
One of the important notes from the trailer is that everything was captured in-game. The hyper-realism design of Sora and The Heartless looks straight out of a Final Fantasy game. While many people took to Twitter to voice their sadness about losing the fun cartoon look, the end of the trailer sheds like on what to expect. Sora is in one world with a realistic look, and Donald and Goofy are still in the original Kingdom Hearts world and have maintained their iconic cartoon look.
The trailer also showcased a new parkour system that takes advantage of the realistic city design. A new grappling hook mechanic also leads us to believe that manoeuvrability will be a big part of combat and exploration.
With so many plot points of the Kingdom Heart’s Universe answered in the last game, the story of 4 is a mystery. Watching Sora fight the heartless stood two iconically dressed characters in their black clocks. Could we finally get an answer on who the Master of Masters is?
It was confirmed that Kingdom Hearts 4 is only in early development, so it may still be a few years away. It is also being developed under the new Unreal Engine 5. This could mean so much more in store that we can’t even imagine yet. Square Enix currently has an incredible lineup of games on the way; where does Kingdom Hearts rank on your list of what’s coming from this publisher?