Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: KH3, Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts III, Square Enix, tetsuya nomura

Everything We Know About Kingdom Hearts III So Far

Published Thu, 15 Feb 2018 17:45:10 -0600

Last updated Sat, 26 May 2018 12:05:02 -0500

At D23 Japan we learned quite a bit about Kingdom Hearts III thanks to the two new trailers and the panel, which means we can now start counting what exactly we know about the game now that it looks like we'll finally see launch it sometime soon. We'll continue updating this list as we get more details now that we're headed into full games convention swing.

Hopefully, we'll get a release date one of these days, but for now, this is everything we know about the long-awaited Kingdom Hearts III:

One of the game worlds will be based on the events of Monsters Inc featuring fan-favorite characters Mike, Sully, and Boo. We got a glimpse of this in the D23 Expo Japan trailer over the weekend.
Another of the game worlds will be based on the events of Toy Story, so get ready to have either Woody or Buzz, or both, join your party. We got a look at this one at the D23 Expo in California last summer.
Each of the game worlds could be split off into their own game, as they're larger than they ever have been in a Kingdom Hearts game before.
Giantland will make an appearance somewhere, but we don't know where just yet.
Rare Heartless enemies, requiring special strategies, will appear in the game to give you an extra challenge.
Hercules will return in KH3, as part of the game takes place in Olympus which means we are also likely to see a return of the Arena. We got a glimpse of this during the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra tour last summer.
Utada Hikaru wrote the game's theme song, as is the norm. The song got its own trailer at D23 Expo Japan this weekend, and if any song deserves a solo trailer, its a KH theme song.
There are at least nine worlds in the game, with those worlds being divided into three stages: early, middle, and late.
The early worlds are 90% complete, while the middle worlds are about 66% finished.
The game includes a surprise that director Tetsuya Nomura has wanted to add since his days on Final Fantasy but we don't know what that is just yet.
Each keyblade will get its own transformation ability in KH3, so it seems like Sora has actually learned a thing or two since the last time we saw him.
You will be able to run up things and jump off them as part of attacks, which is a new mechanic added for the sequel.
You will be able to summon in KH3 like you do in many of the Final Fantasy games, but we haven't seen a whole lot of this just yet.
The gummi ship has gone open world, so you can freely explore space between all that world hopping.
More than 80 people worked on the background modeling for the game, which is the largest team in SE history to do so.
There will be links between KH3 and King HEARTS Union χ[Cross], so don't go deleting that app until after you've beaten the game. Maybe.
While the current release window for the game is sometime in 2018 (possibly early 2019 to hit fiscal year 2018), more pessimistic outlooks have the game releasing sometime before 2020. A release date announcement should be inbound at E3.
The Gummi Ship will return.
King HEARTS Union χ[Cross]'s Classic Kingdom mode will be ported into KH3.
300 King HEARTS Union χ[Cross] players will be selected to have their player names appear in a secret location within KINGDOM HEARTS III.