Kingdom Hearts IV announced & 20th anniversary trailer revealed

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In an unexpected turn of events, a teaser reveal for Kingdom Hearts IV was shown off at a Japan-only 20th anniversary event for the Kingdom Hearts series. Following the conclusion of the Xehanort Dark Seeker saga with Kingdom Hearts III, this new numbered sequel will signal the start of a new chapter known as the 'Lost Master Arc'. Fan favourites Sora, Donald and Goofy will return, along with Strelitzia, a major character in Kingdom Hearts Union χ.

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This time, the art style dramatically shifts to something considerably darker and more serious as Sora finds himself wandering the cityscape of what appears to be Quadratum - the setting for the supposedly fictional in-universe video game Verum Rex. Or, as Strelitzia in the trailer tells him, this is an "afterworld" of sorts.

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The game is clearly in fairly early development and has no release window in sight, nor are platforms stated. The trailer footage is currently running on Unreal Engine 4, but development will make the full transition to Unreal Engine 5 in due course.

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In the 20th anniversary trailer below, you can find the reveal trailer for Kingdom Hearts 4, as well as a couple of reveals for iOS and Android:
  • The awaited conclusion to Kingdom Hearts Union χ Dark Road
  • Kingdom Hearts Missing Link (closed beta test in 2022 for limited regions)

Both mobile games' stories are also canon to the series and no doubt very relevant lore, so you'd better make an effort to play them!
 
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Linnaete
Linnaete

Linnaete

Legends say this foul, baneful creature will find your dwellings at the dead of night. Paying little to no regard to social graces or general good manners, this vicious, insatiable creature is said to trespass unimpeded into its victims' rooms, a remarkable accomplishment considering not even dogs are alert to such an intruder.

Once inside, the creature purportedly forces slumbering victims into drinking vials of a mysterious substance known only tentatively as 'Fantasia'. Once ingested, it takes only 3 hours for the effects to fully take hold. The unsuspecting victim will wake to find themselves a Lalafell...
Dionysos
This was quite a surprise! Especially considering the massive gap between KH2 and KH3.

I very much doubt I'll get around to playing the mobile games, despite their relevance to the lore. I actually found KH3's lore context videos very helpful in this department, so hopefully they'll do something similar for KH4 when this game is eventually released years down the line? Kingdom Hearts is one of the only franchises which really needs stuff like this, considering how convoluted its lore is and how it is spread over core games, handheld games, minor titles, remixes, and spin-offs.

So far they're continuing down the Verum Rex route (albeit without making a full-on Verum Rex game), and there aren't really any Disney elements to showcase at present.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1513570832085585920
https://twitter.com/x/status/1513614362522443776
 
Vivi-Gamer
Looks fantastic! And that's without even running on Unreal 5?! It's going to be epic!

I still haven't played Kingdom Hearts 3's DLC portion or the Melody game, I probably will next year in prep for this but I am sort of hoping S-E releases a Final Mix version of KH3 with the DLC on disc and PS5 enhanced - The DLC is tied with a concert video and really expensive...

Also, not thrilled about the mobile content, that already annoyed me with KH3 how it had a mobile game running on the side and even had story content released after KH3. What's annoying is they previously fixed KH's accessibility with the wonderful Ports on PS4. Now the series is scattered again and reaches the tipping point of the convolution the series is known for... Hopefully there will be a decent summary video on Yt but I'm not pleased regardless.
 
Mercurial
Dionysos said:
Kingdom Hearts is one of the only franchises which really needs stuff like this, considering how convoluted its lore is and how it is spread over core games, handheld games, minor titles, remixes, and spin-offs.
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An example of convoluted - the girl in the trailer (Strelitzia) actually died in KHUX, over 100 years before Sora was born. :wacky:

I'm glad Nomura is seemingly going down the Master of Masters route as an arc; I hope that means they bring the Foretellers into the story too - despite them being tied to a mobile title, I've always thought their potential storylines are far more interesting that the Xehanort-arc.

I'm also impressed that Nomura is determined to bring Final Fantasy Versus XIII to life... even in the form of the Kingdom Hearts IV.
 
Dionysos
Mercurial said:
An example of convoluted - the girl in the trailer (Strelitzia) actually died in KHUX, over 100 years before Sora was born. :wacky:

I'm glad Nomura is seemingly going down the Master of Masters route as an arc; I hope that means they bring the Foretellers into the story too - despite them being tied to a mobile title, I've always thought their potential storylines are far more interesting that the Xehanort-arc.

I'm also impressed that Nomura is determined to bring Final Fantasy Versus XIII to life... even in the form of the Kingdom Hearts IV.
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Strelitzia is over 100 years dead?! Okay, that's the sort of plot quirkiness that Kingdom Hearts is known for, I guess!

I've heard of the Master of Masters before, because Ray Chase (Noctis' VA) played him in the past. I wonder if he'd reprise his role? I don't know much about him other than that he exists.
 
hamilton
At last I started playing Kingdom Hearts1. I was surprised the image quality was good from that time. I`m so excited.
I would like to play Kingdom Hearts4 someday.
 
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