Square Enix Showcases Kingdom Hearts 4 Gameplay for Nintendo Switch 2 Launch and Announces Native Offline Collection Ports
Square Enix showcased Kingdom Hearts 4 first ever gameplay trailer in this month’s Nintendo Direct. This would be the first opportunity to actually get to see the title after its announcement nearly four years ago. The publisher confirmed that their upcoming action role playing game would be a day one launch title on the Nintendo Switch 2. Previously it was announced to be coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC through Steam and Epic Games Store.
The 90 second video features a new metropolitan setting called Quadratum which resembles the real world and has tall skyscrapers, wet and dark streets that look like they have been showered in rain all day long. The most shocking feature is how the main character Sora looks exactly like his original proportions during an encounter with crowds of people as the camera pans around him; unlike earlier installments, which have Sora rendered in a stylised fashion where he stands around proportional to other animated characters. A cloaked female member of Organization 13 begins the video by narrating about physical manifestations of darkness, and the camera follows Sora in an action packed encounter.
The action shows that Kingdom Hearts 4 is going to be a continuation from Kingdom Hearts III mechanics, featuring a new system where Sora is able to create environmental objects that can then be used as extensions to combos by being smashed and destroyed at close proximity. All Keyblades are going to have different unique active abilities and the react command system, originally seen on previous mainline games makes a return. The trailer ends with Sora using the keyblade chain in order to swing across to the huge monster called kaiju and a darkside heartless the size of a kaiju.
During the video we also see brief glimpses of a couple of characters; Donald and Goofy have had their character models revamped, and Strelitzia, who was only featured in a mobile game called Kingdom Hearts Union. The video also features what appear to be Noctis from Final Fantasy XV and Yozora from Kingdom Hearts III’s Re Mind DLC. A release window has not been given as of now by Square Enix but, industry analysts expect it to possibly be near the upcoming 25th anniversary of the franchise.
Along with the title, Nintendo and Square Enix also announced the collection of I III for Kingdom Hearts which will be released in October for the Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S. The games included are native offline ports of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 and 2.5 ReMix, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue and Kingdom Hearts III with the Re Mind downloadable content. This removes the need for cloud based downloads which was the case on the original Switch, and addresses performance concerns.
If you purchased the cloud based versions on the original Nintendo Switch, there will be an upgrade offer with your data being transferred to the new console and if you go to the Nintendo eShop right now you can play a demo of the third Kingdom Hearts game and can pre order the collection.
