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Kingdom Hearts is one in every of my favourite franchises. There’s one thing in regards to the mixture of Disney, Last Fantasy, and pure anime moments of hype that make me unable to place my controller down. I’ve 125 hours in Kingdom Hearts 3, regardless of it and the DLC solely taking me round 30-35 hours complete. I’ve overwhelmed Kingdom Hearts 1 Last Combine in lower than ten hours for a speedrunning trophy. I’ve grinded away at Kingdom Hearts 2 Last Combine and the Roxas struggle that gave many individuals a nightmare as a baby. So it’s not with a light-weight coronary heart nor a light-weight tone that I say that Kingdom Hearts lore is getting too massive for itself and that it might serve it properly to start out contemporary with Kingdom Hearts 4.
Kingdom Hearts Lore Is Huge
For a short little bit of context, each single Kingdom Hearts sport has linked to the remainder of the collection. Regardless of folks on the time considering Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Reminiscences can be fully unrelated to the remainder of the collection, it really had completely pivotal moments that will be key to understanding what went on in mainly each different sport within the collection.
The identical occurred with Kingdom Hearts Union Cross, a cell title for the collection, during which we discover out some details about the previous of the Kingdom Hearts universe that was completely key to understanding the motives of the villain of the saga and the appearances of a number of of that sport’s characters in Kingdom Hearts 3 correct. It’s this linkage between the video games that usually places folks off the collection and makes them cautious about touching one thing with a lot lore. Actually, who can blame them when the collection has titles like:
- Kingdom Hearts 1 Last Combine
- Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain Of Reminiscences
- Kingdom Hearts 2 Last Combine
- Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
- Kingdom Hearts Delivery By Sleep Last Combine
- Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded
- Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD
- Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Delivery By Sleep Last Combine A Fragmentary Passage
- Kingdom Hearts Union Cross
- Kingdom Hearts Again Cowl
- Kingdom Hearts 3
- Kingdom Hearts Darkish Highway
- Kingdom Hearts Melody Of Reminiscence
It’s this core linkage that I hoped the collection would abandon going ahead, no less than if solely at first levels of organising the brand new story arc for the collection.
His Goals, Shattered.

After all, my hopes have been fully crushed the opposite day, due to an interview that Tetsuya Nomura, collection creator, had with Recreation Informer. In mentioned interview, Nomura spoke in regards to the already-announced new cell installment within the collection, saying the next:
“In comparison with our previous cell releases, it’s lots nearer to the collection and likewise linked in some ways to Kingdom Hearts 4. The best option to get extra new data and hints about Kingdom Hearts 4 can be first to play Lacking Hyperlink. I do know that not all people is absolutely into smartphone video games, so some followers may not be actually excited for it, however we’re making it in order that it’s one thing that anybody can soar proper into.”
Studying this quote precipitated me to sigh in defeat. Really, Kingdom Hearts can not escape the trimmings of itself and thus can not uncover a brand new identification for a brand new era. Kingdom Hearts 4 being revealed and confirmed virtually immediately throughout the trailer itself to be persevering with straight on from the ending of Kingdom Hearts 3 and Kingdom Hearts 3: ReMind, during which Sora finds himself inside a mysterious new realm referred to as the Quadratum, we have been by no means actually going to get a totally new slate for the collection, however I hoped that it might forgo the cell sport lore and maintain Kingdom Hearts Lacking Hyperlink as one thing fully separate in the identical approach that Kingdom Hearts Darkish Highway is.
Kingdom Hearts 4 Has Required Studying

You see, Darkish Highway may need come out after the ending of ‘The Darkseeker Saga’ (what followers and the creators have dubbed the primary set of video games main as much as Kingdom Hearts 3), nevertheless it’s a really particular a part of that saga, including context and character to the worlds inside. Kingdom Hearts Lacking Hyperlink might have completed one thing comparable, however it appears that evidently as an alternative, it will likely be required studying earlier than taking part in Kingdom Hearts 4.
I’m going to play Kingdom Hearts 4 no matter lore-ties, I at all times was. I’ve an excessive amount of of a sunk-cost fallacy at this stage, and I truthfully adore the characters that Nomura and firm have developed throughout the various video games. I’m simply anxious that in some unspecified time in the future, it’ll be a case of diminishing returns, and I’ll discover myself caring much less and fewer in regards to the video games till, finally, it’s only a passing curiosity. If the lore offered throughout the cell video games is on the market in a extra concise format, then it received’t be as a lot of a difficulty, nevertheless it took till the tip of service for Kingdom Hearts Union Cross to have the whole story obtainable in a single package deal, so I don’t significantly have my hopes up that Nomura and Sq. Enix will do the fitting factor with regards to storytelling.