Kingdom Hearts 4 Announced
Kingdom Hearts 4, the next mainstream Kingdom Hearts game, is now in development, Square Enix confirmed Sunday during the franchise’s 20th anniversary livestream. A new teaser for Kingdom Hearts 4 confirms the return of Sora, Donald, and Goofy for a brand-new journey and the Lost Master Arc, which Square Enix describes as “an epic new plot.”
The Quadratum is introduced in Kingdom Hearts 4’s first video, and while it looks a lot like Tokyo, Square Enix describes it as a “expansive city set in a magnificent, realistic universe unlike anything ever seen before in the Kingdom Hearts series.” Strelitzia, a new character, is also introduced in the trailer for Kingdom Hearts fans.
Kingdom Hearts 4’s release date and platform have yet to be announced by Square Enix.
The gallery below contains the first screenshots from the new Kingdom Hearts game.
Kingdom Hearts Missing Link, a different game in development for Android and iOS devices, was also unveiled by Square Enix. Adventures set in the setting of Scala ad Caelum from Kingdom Hearts 3 and battles against the Heartless are featured in the mobile game. Square Enix claims Kingdom Hearts Missing Link will have a new, original plot, although it will almost certainly connect into Kingdom Hearts 4. The release date for Kingdom Hearts Missing Link is unknown, however a closed beta test for the game is planned for 2022.
Kingdom Hearts 3 was launched for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2019, with a Windows PC release in 2021 and a Nintendo Switch release earlier this year. The franchise’s third main game attempts to weave together years of complicated tales from many spinoffs and side stories, starring protagonists Sora, Riku, and Kairi, as well as the dozens of Disney characters they’ve battled against and alongside over the past two decades.
In Square Enix’s announcement for Kingdom Hearts 4, series brand manager Ichiro Hazama said,
“We’d like to thank the fans for all of their support over the years, and we can’t wait for them to experience all that’s to come for Sora.”
“We’ve been honored to work with Tetsuya Nomura and his team for two decades to introduce these original stories of discovery, courage, and friendship,” added Nana Gadd, director at Walt Disney Games. “This glimpse into Sora’s next adventure is just the beginning — we can’t wait to show more when the time is right.”
Kingdom Hearts 4 Official Release Dates
Square Enix did not provide a release date in their official press release, so we can only conjecture. This is “development footage,” according to the video, but we don’t know how far along it is in development. While the gameplay displayed above appears to be refined, it’s conceivable that this is only a small portion of what has been worked on so far.
We don’t know how much of the actual game is playable in this form, but it’s probably less than 30 seconds of actual gameplay. It’s plausible that Square was rushing to get things ready for the unveiling.
I’m ready to guess that Kingdom Hearts 4 is still in the early stages of development and will be released in a few years.
Kingdom Hearts 3 was confirmed for the first time in June of 2013. We also got a brief glimpse at gameplay in that trailer.
Kingdom Hearts 3 was years away, as it turned out. Over the next couple of years, we’d receive more trailers, but Kingdom Hearts 3 didn’t come out until January 2019.
I’m really hoping Kingdom Hearts 4 doesn’t take six years to come out. If I were to predict — or hope — Kingdom Hearts 4 will take at least another two or three years to complete. I’m estimating a release date of 2024 or 2025. I’d prefer it to be sooner, but I believe we can presume Square prefers to take their time with this series.
