Kingdom Hearts III (officially the eighth instalment in the main series) is an upcoming fantasy action adventure role playing game that is currently in development by the 1st production department of Square Enix (Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex) that is currently set to be published by Square Enix.
With Kingdom Hearts III appearing for the first time on a Microsoft consoles, the title will be coming to the Xbox One as well as the PlayStation 4. There’s no official release date for the game, nor is there a rough estimation of the release date given that the title has only recently been officially revealed to be a product in development by game director, Tetsuya Nomura.
As is the case with many of Square Enix’s titles, the development process of Kingdom Hearts III is strange and sometimes goes quiet for long periods of time, but despite this there are still some note worthy pieces of information worth covering. With Kingdom Hearts normally being developed by Square Enix’s Product Development Division 1 team (who previously developed Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance as well as having worked on the HD1.5 Remix), Kingdom Hearts III is being handled by the Osaka based 1st production department of Square Enix.
Following the successful launch of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, a Japanese exclusive re-release of Kingdom Hearts II that launched on March 29th of 2007 on the PlayStation 2, Tetsuya Nomura was approached by Disney who voiced their interests in having a sequel. Addressing the issue of releasing it, Nomura stated that they had various ideas, but were not at a point where they can reveal something. However, at this time Final Fantasy XV (which was FF Vs XIII at the time) was (and may still be) a main concern for Nomura, likely consuming much of his time which is a contributing factor to the long gestation period for Kingdom Hearts III.
Speaking at a “Square Enix Presents” interview in 2013, the series producer Shinji Hashimoto said “So at E3 this year we announced Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV”, “Both have Tetsuya Nomura as their director, so we can’t create these two big games at the same time”,”It’s a difficult job, as we want each game to be perfect in terms of quality.”
It was also announced that Kingdom Hearts 3DS (Dream Drop Distance), which released in 2013 would be tying into Kingdom Hearts III, announcing that the game would not only tie in its story but also it’s gameplay mechanics. The game fell into a rather obscure period of silence where despite all the above, there was no official comment saying that Kingdom Hearts III was actively (or even passively) being developed.
This changed on June 10th 2013 when it was officially announced during Sony’s E3 press conference when they showed a teaser alongside the intent to release the game on the upcoming PlayStation 4. It was alongside this showing that they announced that this would be the first time that a Kingdom Hearts game would be coming to a Microsoft console, the intent being to port the PS4 game version.
This news however may well have arrived prematurely with Nomura expressing his displeasure with the games announcement. As stated, he didn’t intend to announce the game until certain goals were reached in other projects. Speaking to Famitsu he commented on this, saying that the announcement was purely to appease irritated and impatient fans (every impatient or upset fan is potentially a lost sale, so when this adds up a company must make a move or else they must re-evaluate their predicted sales targets), in an interview with Famitsu Magazine, Nomura stated that fan’s impatience was one of the reasons behind revealing the game.
While not much solid information is available regarding gameplay, some details are available given that gameplay will be similar to that of Kindgom Hearts II. Players will construct a party of warriors who all make use of different skills, talents and powers to combat their opponents.
Players will engage the foe in a traditional RPG battle scenario with them selecting their next action from a drop down menu that the characters on screen avatar then enacts. The summoning feature will be returning, but will be in a different form than what is seen in other games. There is also stories of multiplayer being considered, but there hasn’t been much information made available in this matter.
Kingdom Hearts III continues on and picks up where Dream Drop Distance left off, seeing Sora returning alongside Riku, Donald Duck, Goofy, and King Mickey as they search across various Disney and non-Disney landscapes. While this is going on king Mickey and Riku are searching for individuals who have previously wielded Key blades as they plan to thwart Master Xehanort’s evil schemes.
Sora: A young 14 year old boy, Sora has been chosen to be the wielder of the Keyblade. A large key shaped weapon used to combat the darkness. Sora makes repeat appearances through the series and is often the key character in the development of the game.
Riku: Riku is one of Sora’s friends and is also a wielder of a Key blade.
Donald Duck: A Disney character with an iconic history plays the roles of the courts wizard in Kingdom Hearts.
Goofy Goof: Another Disney character of legendary status, Goofy fulfils the role of Captain of The Royal Guard.
King Mickey: Perhaps the most well-known cartoon character of all time, Mickey Mouse leads with the role of King Mickey Mouse.
Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.
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