News ► Kingdom Hearts IV and Missing-Link officially announced!

[Happyfunshineman]

I love how wild KH4 looks.

 

[LoneFox]

I originally didn't plan to comment on this until tomorrow, but now I'm feeling that I might not sleep very much tonight if I don't write this right away...

The biggest surprise for me is the lack of side/non-numbered games before KH4. Both the ending of MoM and the secret ending of KH3 suggested that the next game would have Riku as the main protagonist. Did someone mess up the plans again?

IIRC the unofficial translation of the UX finale already suggested that Quadratum is a form of afterlife, but that was left out of the official one. And the characters we have seen there so far are exactly the ones that should be sort-of but not completely dead. Strelitzia being in there makes sense too, but at the same time it is a bit disappointing for me. I expected finding her to be a quest for Ven and Lauriam.

Another interesting thing is, Quadratum was supposed to be a world without light or darkness. But that clearly isn't the case anymore, as heartless have started appearing there. What could be the reason for this?

And then there is the big thing, another (mobile-only, WtF?!) game with BRAIN AS ONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS!! Now, this might be a reason for me to figure out how to run mobile stuff on top of Linux, so I can check it out on my primary computer. I did try that before, almost a year ago when UX was ending, but gave up after a couple of failed attepts. Getting UX and Mtg Arena to work wasn't worth the time, because I could run both on my old Windows system.

I'm thinking about how the timeline could work in this game. To my understanding, Brain started a family in Scala (to become grandfather/ancestor of Eraqus), and then "died" or disappeared (really, time travelled back to the past and became a virus by taking over Luxu's body). As we all know, Disney is allergic to romance and family life stuff, so I don't think they want to show much of that in the story. But they do want to show the beginning (his arrival there) and the end. And it's also probably a long timespan, as Brain would wait until his kids are old enough to take care of themselves before implementing his plan. So, probably the game takes place near the end of that timespan, and we get a lot of flashbacks from earlier events. And from that I want to make a little crackpot prediction: If they are doing that, then it would make sense for the player character in this game to be Brain's child.

 

[NemesisSP]

I originally didn't plan to comment on this until tomorrow, but now I'm feeling that I might not sleep very much tonight if I don't write this right away...

The biggest surprise for me is the lack of side/non-numbered games before KH4. Both the ending of MoM and the secret ending of KH3 suggested that the next game would have Riku as the main protagonist. Did someone mess up the plans again?

IIRC the unofficial translation of the UX finale already suggested that Quadratum is a form of afterlife, but that was left out of the official one. And the characters we have seen there so far are exactly the ones that should be sort-of but not completely dead. Strelitzia being in there makes sense too, but at the same time it is a bit disappointing for me. I expected finding her to be a quest for Ven and Lauriam.

Another interesting thing is, Quadratum was supposed to be a world without light or darkness. But that clearly isn't the case anymore, as heartless have started appearing there. What could be the reason for this?

And then there is the big thing, another (mobile-only, WtF?!) game with BRAIN AS ONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS!! Now, this might be a reason for me to figure out how to run mobile stuff on top of Linux, so I can check it out on my primary computer. I did try that before, almost a year ago when UX was ending, but gave up after a couple of failed attepts. Getting UX and Mtg Arena to work wasn't worth the time, because I could run both on my old Windows system.

I'm thinking about how the timeline could work in this game. To my understanding, Brain started a family in Scala (to become grandfather/ancestor of Eraqus), and then "died" or disappeared (really, time travelled back to the past and became a virus by taking over Luxu's body). As we all know, Disney is allergic to romance and family life stuff, so I don't think they want to show much of that in the story. But they do want to show the beginning (his arrival there) and the end. And it's also probably a long timespan, as Brain would wait until his kids are old enough to take care of themselves before implementing his plan. So, probably the game takes place near the end of that timespan, and we get a lot of flashbacks from earlier events. And from that I want to make a little crackpot prediction: If they are doing that, then it would make sense for the player character in this game to be Brain's child.

As I recall, the only side games intended to be made original was Birth by Sleep, but then Nintendo wanted a game for the DS and Square and Disney wanted a cell phone game.

The reason Dream Drop Distance was made was also because Nintendo wanted a game for the 3DS.

I think also that the mobile games are intended to be the side stories meant to fill in the lore and build up to the main game so that it'd be easier to work IV. It could also be that they just felt it was best to focus more on IV and not leave people guessing at what happened to Sora for any longer.

As for the other stuff, I'm not sure how it will all fit together, but I doubt we'll wrap everything up in one game anyway, so we'll just have to wait and see more of the details as they come along.

 

[Unusual1290]

The biggest surprise for me is the lack of side/non-numbered games before KH4. Both the ending of MoM and the secret ending of KH3 suggested that the next game would have Riku as the main protagonist. Did someone mess up the plans again?


Another interesting thing is, Quadratum was supposed to be a world without light or darkness. But that clearly isn't the case anymore, as heartless have started appearing there. What could be the reason for this?

Well just because KH4 was announced, doesn't mean there won't be any side games before it. We got 0.2 after KH3 was already announced.

The reason for Heartless appearing in Quadratum could most likely be because the MoM brought them there.

 

[AR829038]

I originally didn't plan to comment on this until tomorrow, but now I'm feeling that I might not sleep very much tonight if I don't write this right away...

The biggest surprise for me is the lack of side/non-numbered games before KH4. Both the ending of MoM and the secret ending of KH3 suggested that the next game would have Riku as the main protagonist. Did someone mess up the plans again?

IIRC the unofficial translation of the UX finale already suggested that Quadratum is a form of afterlife, but that was left out of the official one. And the characters we have seen there so far are exactly the ones that should be sort-of but not completely dead. Strelitzia being in there makes sense too, but at the same time it is a bit disappointing for me. I expected finding her to be a quest for Ven and Lauriam.

Another interesting thing is, Quadratum was supposed to be a world without light or darkness. But that clearly isn't the case anymore, as heartless have started appearing there. What could be the reason for this?

And then there is the big thing, another (mobile-only, WtF?!) game with BRAIN AS ONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS!! Now, this might be a reason for me to figure out how to run mobile stuff on top of Linux, so I can check it out on my primary computer. I did try that before, almost a year ago when UX was ending, but gave up after a couple of failed attepts. Getting UX and Mtg Arena to work wasn't worth the time, because I could run both on my old Windows system.

I'm thinking about how the timeline could work in this game. To my understanding, Brain started a family in Scala (to become grandfather/ancestor of Eraqus), and then "died" or disappeared (really, time travelled back to the past and became a virus by taking over Luxu's body). As we all know, Disney is allergic to romance and family life stuff, so I don't think they want to show much of that in the story. But they do want to show the beginning (his arrival there) and the end. And it's also probably a long timespan, as Brain would wait until his kids are old enough to take care of themselves before implementing his plan. So, probably the game takes place near the end of that timespan, and we get a lot of flashbacks from earlier events. And from that I want to make a little crackpot prediction: If they are doing that, then it would make sense for the player character in this game to be Brain's child.

So, here's the way I interpret it.
A whole year passed between the ending of KH3 and the Limit Cut episode/Melody of Memory. In the trailer, Strelitzia clearly says it's been "seven days" since he arrived in Quadratum. Assuming that the difference in the flow of time isn't huge, we might be getting Sora spend an entire year in Quadratum before Riku shows up. I don't know if this will take up just a long prologue section or if it'll be the whole game, but my guess is that Riku isn't gonna show up until Sora is well settled in this new reality, or until he perhaps hops over to a different one (i.e., Star Wars) and Riku arrives in Quadratum just too late to catch him.

There is no evidence of any blood relation between Brain and Eraqus yet. It's likely, but nothing has confirmed it. There is also nothing to suggest he has kids. All we know is that Brain was transported an unknown amount of time into the future by Luxu after he possessed his body, and now he's in a version of Scala ad Caelum that I assume is set in between the eras of Daybreak Town and the Xehanort saga. You also have it backwards—Luxu transported Brain into the future, Brain didn't go back to the past.

 

[SuperNova]

The Q&A did mention that Nomura debated whether to make KH4 or Verum Rex so we could have gotten/maybe will get a side game. I think it was a good call to focus on KH4 imo but that doesn't mean they won't announce a side game later down the line.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I’m betting Sora broke the barrier between reality and unreality, so his presence is bringing the Heartless through a rift of some sort.

 

[LoneFox]

Well just because KH4 was announced, doesn't mean there won't be any side games before it. We got 0.2 after KH3 was already announced.

I guess that is technically true.

What I really meant is: The main objective of that Riku game would have been getting Sora out of Quadratum. That clearly hasn't happened, and it looks like there hasn't been even an attempt for it yet, as the events in the trailer are happening soon after Sora arrived there.

The reason for Heartless appearing in Quadratum could most likely be because the MoM brought them there.

Why would he do that?

 

[Ballad of Caius]

If KINGDOM HEARTS IV really will be FINAL FANTASY Versus XIII, then it's safe to assume that, perhaps, Quadratum will be the bulk of the game. Or more so, Japan. Quadratum, to my understanding, is the world that's different to Sora's.

That said, I think we will get Disney properties in KHIV, just that it'll be the more realistic ones (Star Wars, Marvel), to fit more with Quadratum's realistic atmosphere. And I think they'll be interconnected to Japan, so there won't be Gummi Ship or Drop sequence. You walk/train to, say, the forest that seems to be Star Wars.

 

[NoWay]

I guess that is technically true.

What I really meant is: The main objective of that Riku game would have been getting Sora out of Quadratum. That clearly hasn't happened, and it looks like there hasn't been even an attempt for it yet, as the events in the trailer are happening soon after Sora arrived there.

Considering the different flows of time in the KH universe, this could be still possible in KH4 right? I mean, we could have a playable Riku section in the middle of the game, where he heads to Quadratum searching for Sora

 

[Zettaflare]

If KINGDOM HEARTS IV really will be FINAL FANTASY Versus XIII, then it's safe to assume that, perhaps, Quadratum will be the bulk of the game. Or more so, Japan. Quadratum, to my understanding, is the world that's different to Sora's.

That said, I think we will get Disney properties in KHIV, just that it'll be the more realistic ones (Star Wars, Marvel), to fit more with Quadratum's realistic atmosphere. And I think they'll be interconnected to Japan, so there won't be Gummi Ship or Drop sequence. You walk/train to, say, the forest that seems to be Star Wars.

Taking a train to different worlds would be cool. It would be like the train to Yen Sid's tower in KH2

 

[Face My Fears]

I'm not speaking of story-related baggage, that's bound to be there since the whole UX-Dark Road-Missing Link stuff has lots of hooks to the old games still, as well as many of the Q&A-questions still pointing towards there still being mysteries from the old games fans of the franchise are interested in.

If you think we're starting from scratch you're mistaken, the story-related baggage from the Dark Seeker-saga is still there as a groundwork for the new stuff.



That's exactly what I meant, there are certain formulas expected of a "numbered title" that get stale over time and also stand in the way of proper and useful pacing.

We're starting from scratch because there's no lingering threads to be dealt with: everyone is rescued and Xehanort is gone. All the things being built up to KH3 have been resolved. The KHUX stuff and all the new concepts introduced in KH3 are things yet to be explored, that were barely touched in the Dark Seeker Saga. There may be repercussions and consequences from the events of the Dark Seeker Saga that affect the Lost Masters Arc, but they're pretty much starting from scratch - no loose threads from the Xehanort storyline.

I don't get how people's perception and expectations of a "numbered" title should make them rename the games to never use numbers. If anything that will reduce sales since if it has a subtitle, people will think it's a pointless side game. Either they just stick to numbered titles all the time and live with the "expectations" while capturing everyone's attention or give the games all subtitles and have the mainstream not care about them/make fun of them for being a side game. It's way easier to just slap a number on them and move on. And ultimately, why should they cater to people's idiotic expectations? What we've seen from KH4 is already showing that Nomura is not afraid of going in a different direction. He maybe even felt that when working on KH3 being tied into the same old formula. Also, there's only 3 numbered titles that this can even based off of and the only one that really succeeded in proper and useful pacing was KH1 - so maybe they should go back to that formula.

 

[Unusual1290]

I guess that is technically true.

What I really meant is: The main objective of that Riku game would have been getting Sora out of Quadratum. That clearly hasn't happened, and it looks like there hasn't been even an attempt for it yet, as the events in the trailer are happening soon after Sora arrived there.


Why would he do that?

Probably because Sora is there and clearly he's a threat to MoM

 

[Ballad of Caius]

Taking a train to different worlds would be cool. It would be like the train to Yen Sid's tower in KH2

Yes. Making Quadratum/Japan a hub-world. The bulk of the story takes place there, alongside neighboring "worlds" (possibly renamed to something else).

Also, someone mentioned this:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1513209339447681024

"Worlds are currently being developed".

I am expecting this game to be released during 2024, 2025

 

[Sdog]

Wow. All of this is just so overwhelming and exciting. Didn't expect IV to be the next one but I'm all about it. The tone, visuals, and the music feel so similar but have evolved into something so new and fresh. I think Nomura and Shimomura are about to show us what their final form really looks like.

Definitely feel like we have a decent wait ahead of us again but not nearly as long as KH3 took. Let's go y'all.

 

[KingdomKurdistan]

So what if there are no "worlds" on the Sora side of the story.

What would be cool is Sora visiting an arcade or toy store in Quadradum (there's a huge department store in Shibuya for a start). Instead of gummi ships between worlds, taxi rides between buildings. Instead of literal worlds separating Disney properties, he visits Disney Castle via a literal video game. Or watches Steamboat Willie on the Quadradum version of Netflix.

Imagine while lost and lonely he stumbles across an ad for "Kingdom Hearts" and goes to an arcade to play events he actually experienced first-hand. What if the whole Quadradum reality is full of references to the KH canon in a way that suggests usual KH canon is fiction based on Quadradum reality just like VR was fiction based on KH reality.

 

[NoWay]

If they are currently developing the worlds, I REALLY doubt KH4 is the only console game they are developing right now. I mean there’s still the possibility of UX coming to consoles according to the Nvidia leak.

 

[ZeVaine]

I'm a little concerned about the comment Nomura made, saying he basically had to choose KH4 over Verum Rex...

The reason I'm concerned, is because KH3/Remind made it pretty freaking clear Yozora, the nameless star, and Luxord are important figures/aspects in the whole Quadratum/Unreality riddle. However... the trailer kind of just kind of forgets about all of that, in order to instead focus on dead-ish Strelitzia (who can't be the nameless star, as she's not from Quadratum as far as we know), Sora, and the fact that Darkness is now here where it shouldn't be. Definitely felt a bit rushed and simplistic; though it seems Nomura has been king procrastinator, and very busy lately - so I guess I'm not too surprised. Its good to know we have at least another full game confirmed coming though, that isn't endlessly delayed mobile madness.

Kudos to anyone who figures out who the narrator's voice is too- if it hasn't already been found out...

 

[JJ1020]

This boy's hair gets less and less spiky with each passing title. By KH5, it's just gonna be a bowl cut.

That, or his hair is starting to thin early...

 

[Alpha Baymax]

I originally didn't plan to comment on this until tomorrow, but now I'm feeling that I might not sleep very much tonight if I don't write this right away...

The biggest surprise for me is the lack of side/non-numbered games before KH4. Both the ending of MoM and the secret ending of KH3 suggested that the next game would have Riku as the main protagonist. Did someone mess up the plans again?

The more I think about it, the more I realise that Kingdom Hearts IV has already got a lot of foundation set up for it. Kingdom Hearts Dark Road was originally Kingdom Hearts Union X Dark Road which was originally Kingdom Hearts Unchained X which is the iOS/Android port of Kingdom Hearts X which was released all the way back in 2013.

Yes. Making Quadratum/Japan a hub-world. The bulk of the story takes place there, alongside neighboring "worlds" (possibly renamed to something else).

Also, someone mentioned this:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1513209339447681024

"Worlds are currently being developed".

I am expecting this game to be released during 2024, 2025

Kingdom Hearts II was released in December 2005 in Japan so it wouldn't surprise me if Kingdom Hearts IV has an internal release date for 2025.