Kingdom Hearts 4 Trailer Analysis, Details & Theories

A little surprise, and without squeaking or squeaking, Square Enix The first Kingdom Hearts 4 teaser trailer has been released to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series created by Tetsuya Nomura. It was an unexpected announcement, also because it was “only” three years since launch. Kingdom Hearts 3And for those familiar with the chronology of the series’ biblical development, these three years seem like the blink of an eye. Don’t hold your breath, because we don’t have dates yet, let alone confirmed platforms: we’re still in the early stages of game development, but despite that, we’ve glimpsed the series’ future in these three minutes. of the picks, which is enough to be able to make some educated guesses.

Also, while on stage in Tokyo to celebrate not only Nomura himself, but also the series’ historical author, Yuko Shimomura, the Japanese company also announced a new mobile title, Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link. This is all we know about our country Reviews of Kingdom Hearts 4 And at the beginning of a new arc listed.

A fresh start but no

As promised, one chapter closes and another opens. authorized lost masterThe new narrative arc, which follows the story of the Dark Seeker (also known informally as the Xehanort Saga), marks a fresh start, but is also a direct continuation of Kingdom Hearts 3’s deduction, and in this case, the downloadable story. Content Kingdom Hearts III: Re Mind and sub music Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory. The rhythm game centered around Kairi’s memories was initially described as a subtitle, and proved an essential part in understanding the mosaic that began to take shape: at the end of the game, in fact, our team found out where Sora is. . Finished, disappearing at the end of the third chapter.

We know that the protagonist has reached a (fake?) iron king, the game-in-game that we find in the Toy Story setting during the Kingdom Hearts 3 campaign. It is clearly inspired by other works of Tetsuya Nomura, such as Final Fantasy vs. XIII, Verum Rex worked on introducing a new character, Yozora. In a way, this brief tutorial seems to have become the cornerstone of the new narrative arc: The links between Yozora, Sora, and Noctis were written in the past, but now the new humor puts more flesh on the fire.

We see Sora wake up in a city. SquareIn a modern and realistic living room. It looks like the game will start a week after the conclusion of Kingdom Hearts 3 and Sora’s arrival in this world, where only Strelitzia will welcome him.

At first, and let’s face it, breaking out of the complex legends of Kingdom Hearts becomes much more difficult. Strelitzia It is the guardian of the keyboard that appeared in Kingdom Hearts Union χ: Initially, Strelitzia, a simple dandelion, trained by Ava herself, would have become the leader of a guild fortune teller, had she not been killed by the darkness. Therefore, his humorous code words are not at all random when he compares Quadratum to the afterlife. And it is another very strange life, full of cars, motorcycles, streets, pedestrians, traffic lights, billboards and skyscrapers: a reasonable and realistic world similar to ours. But anyone who has completed the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy should know that Nomura is fascinated by the idea that the real and the great intersect in his games.

The humor we’ve seen has no chronological location; This means that we don’t know if this is the beginning of the game or a later sequence. Surely the clash between Sora and the Giant cruel The attack on the Quadratum has unlocked more than just a memory, they say: from the astonishing clash between Cloud and Sephiroth at the end of Advent Children and Final Fantasy 7 Remake, to one of Final Fantasy XV’s first clues, through as a sign that Nomura has a true passion for choreography, And his characters run over buildings as if they were ninjas in the anime.

The short confrontation, during which we get a hint of the interface but is too dry to be considered final, also tells us something about the game, which should be more dynamic and lively than it has been in the past. Apparently, Sora will be able to use a chain keyboard As a kind of grappling hook that will allow you to cling to edges and enemies and grab to reach faraway places in the blink of an eye. So all that needs to be explained is the special attack you see that turns the key blade into a gigantic exercise that does a lot for Gurren Lagann.

Where do we go from here?

The end of the joke is baffling: The Masters and Luxo pass by watching the Battle of Sora from afar like any cliché worth their salt, but look Donald Way Jovi – Fighting with the good old Hades, and based on the blue flames that turn red in the dark – means we probably haven’t left our 30 favorites behind, and at some point they will inevitably return to normal gameplay. The problem is understanding which direction this story will take along with the very realistic and stylish new look that the trailer hints at.

If we go back to traveling from one world to another, the focus will likely shift to more modern franchises, like the CGI feature films. Disney and Pixar Which seems more stylistically appropriate to the new art direction. The sporty look of the teaser — which Square Enix explained is based on Unreal Engine 4, even though the development team has already moved to Unreal Engine 5 — will run seamlessly in worlds like Raya and its latest, Dragon, and newer realms. Charm, Red or Luca from Pixar, not to mention Coco, who fit perfectly with these traits: Can you imagine a world outside of the movie?

However, many fans give comments that we can’t overstate: Kingdom Hearts has always been a source of deep inspiration star Wars Just think of the split between Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, Jedi and Sith, Keyblades practically serving as a lightning bolt, and now that the famous space opera belongs to Disney, it might be time to teleport to the galaxy. Far, far away in the fantasy world of Kingdom Hearts.

In the preview, at some point, he looked at the forest, which is actually a little out of place, and that was enough for the web’s imagination: someone saw the trees of the Redwood Forest, where the scenes were filmed. the interior Star Wars VI – Return of the Jedi, and inside one we notice something that seemed to us just a stone out of focus, but some are convinced that it provided the AT-ST, an imperial means of transportation and combat. Not only that: According to some, the revolution of the Kingdom Hearts IV logo appearing on screen at the end of the trailer will bring back a John Williams song.

In these hypotheses and illusions, joke or not, the truth is that the Star Wars universe of Kingdom Hearts 4, today, does not seem a remote possibility. And we tell you more: In our opinion, it would not only seem completely out of place, but it would also be a reasonable introduction that reflects the status quo to which we are still having a hard time getting used to. Twenty years ago, we never would have imagined that Disney would get their hands on Star Wars, let alone that Wonderful. And now all the requirements are in place for Kingdom Hearts, a game of a genre that we once considered a niche and is now mainstream, to cross into the fantasy of George Lucas, and why not, into the fantasy of Marvel superheroes.

After all, we’ve already visited the world of Big Hero 6 – heavily inspired by the Marvel series to begin with – and watched Sora interact with live characters from Pirates of the Caribbean, hence the idea of ​​meeting up on a flight over New York with Iron Man and others Avengers It does not seem strange to us at all.

mobile trends

The anniversary of Kingdom Hearts was not only an opportunity to present the fourth episode of the series, but also the final chapter of Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road, which was delayed by several months, and the mobile game dubbed Kingdom Hearts Missing Link. For Dark Road, the title – announced at the time of Kingdom Hearts III as Project Xehanort – will finish telling us about Xehanort’s years as an apprentice and his final path to… The Dark Side of the Force, so to speak, in the latest movie-packed update and narration.

On the other hand, Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link will also be a completely new game from an aesthetic point of view, abandoning the cartoonish and stylized art direction for a more realistic style similar to Kingdom Hearts IV. . beta test iOS and Android It will take place later in the year, and we now know that the game will be centered around a single city. ladder to heaven, that we will face ruthless hordes and the like in real-time combat, and that there will likely be a new combat system focused on collectibles that can be figurines instead of cards. Indeed, in the humor, we see it appear every time our character casts a spell, but every dynamic of the game remains a mystery and we will have to wait a few months to find out more.