Square Enix Officially Announces Kingdom Hearts IV

Not if it’s via cloud. No.

I'd love to know how many downloads the trilogy had and if going cloud was as profitable as SE was hoping.

It's painful to see this beloved franchise being kept alive by people who have no idea what to do with it.

Nice Giga Drill Break

oh nice another game that we wont be able to play in our Switch.

What’s the point announcing this here if we don’t know whether it will be released IV the Switch?

This franchise has been taking itself more seriously with every release, but still they insist on keeping Goofy around. Just doesn't work.

@Silly_G Because that's what they do for new entries in franchises that were previously on Switch. Even if it would only be a cloud version, this might be relevant in the future.

I for one will be extremely excited for this nearer the release. I love the whole franchise since I played the first one on my 12th birthday on PS2. Incredible series (3 is still good too despite lack of story).

That gameplay looks absolutely wild!

@Fizza I get your point and it definitely looks out of place; but there is every chance this is just one world of many.

@Mr_Fox : Yes, I nose. My previous comment was merely an excuse to make a lame pun.

Yeah... no way this is coming to Switch in any sort of playable form.

@Fizza To put it in a spoiler-free manner, let's just say III's ending got... VERY weird.

Another game from the GeForce leak revealed...

Yeah sorry no. I'm all cringed out with this franchise now.

That new world looks like a good spot to find some ingredients!

Q : Would you like to see this game one day make its way to a Nintendo platform?

Me : HELL NO !
Kingdom Hearts franchise is already BS for having never ending convoluted storyline.
What BS for this time ?
Organization XIII again ?

Edit: I think I will remove my KH 3DS after I still keep it since 2013 and not being played for 9 years.

Can't wait to play it in 2052!

We all know it’s going to be a good wile before we get this game right? The wait will be long, will it be worth it? Only time will tell.

Even still, I can’t wait for this game! The story, is indeed one of my guilty pleasures. Just throwing this out there, but I would have liked them to have ended it at three, but that’s opinion.

Edit: I wrote this when I was very sleep, I have no idea what I was even writing here LMAO.

@jarvismp By the time this releases, I'm expecting the Switch to be old news anyway. Kingdom Hearts 3 was announced in 2013 and released in 2019, so...

I haven’t seen anybody mention that that gameplay is almost definitely not gameplay. That’s for sure just more cutscene with a HUD slapped over the top. I know graphics are pretty great these days but everything about it felt far too meticulously fluid for me to even entertain that that was gameplay footage

Of course I would! As long as it's not a glorified streaming app.😜 Then again, by the time KH4 comes out, we might be well into the nextgen successor's lifetime, so unless they fire everyone with a modicum of optimization knowledge, there will be no reason not to port that game properly. And all the others at long last, for promotion purposes.

@MajorasLapdog It was definitely just a proof of concept cutscene as opposed to actual gameplay. The reveal trailer for KHIII ended with a similar "gameplay" reveal that was obviously fake. That's just kind of what Kingdom Hearts does now I guess.

Unless it's cloud this is not coming to Switch I'm going to get it on PS5

I still have yet to get around to playing Kingdom Hearts 3 honestly. Kind of the benefit of not remotely caring about the narrative of these games I guess, no urgency to get to them.

@ReaperMelia yeah I guess I was perhaps stating the obvious, maybe why I haven’t seen anybody else mention it. Not too familiar with the series so wasn’t aware they’d done it before. Just seems weirdly disingenuous and pointless to add when it’s so blatant but hey ho!

No way 4 comes to the switch….maybe a cloud version but natively doubt it could run on the current Nintendo hardware. The mobile game actually looks really good though and that would be a nice fit on the switch!

Oh boy, the uncanny realistic art style that’s affected Final Fantasy has now made its way into Kingdom Hearts🙄!

This new setting makes it seem like there won't be traditional Disney worlds, but maybe they could use it to adapt the awful liveaction remakes.

Suddenly I just want to see how heartless or similar enemies could work in a world based on Encanto.

We still don't have a Robin Hood world! This is where a smaller scale spinoff game would shine through on 3DS hardware or such.

@MajorasLapdog There are some more "cinematic" animations during gameplay even in KH3. For example, the Keyblade transformations and Summons/Attractions. However, that is not what 90% of the gameplay looks like.

I think this trailer is very scripted indeed, but I expect the final product to be pretty similar. With some more polished UI and graphics, and less scripted gameplay sequences.

@AlienX It does. But I think they don’t normally show off there Disney portions when they announce them. I could be wrong tho.

@MajorasLapdog I think the idea here was more to show off new gameplay mechanics they have planned like that grappling hook-looking thing. They definitely should put a "Not real gameplay" disclaimer on it, though.

Hell no, if it’s cloud streaming, I don’t want it on a Nintendo platform.

But if it’s on the cartridge itself or a reasonable file download, yes!

@ReaperMelia Yeah, that grappling hook looks very similar in function to Airstep from Kingdom Hearts 3. Not sure why they needed to replace that and make it into a hook, but I guess it looks cool.

@ReaperMelia I feel that but I also wonder if a HUD need be applied to show off a new mechanic? I think if they had just shown the trailer as was without it, audiences would for sure still notice Sora slinging a hook shot about and say ‘oh, I guess we get a hook shot in this one’

This is neat, but all I want from Kingdom Hearts is a remake of 358/2 Days, I know it'll never happen, game already got ignored in the remasters, but I can dream.

The wait for KH3 was exhausting, so I'm mostly over the series now.

I thought they were done when they beat KH to death with KH3. Why do they want to desecrate the body?

I see why there's a lot of mistrust in the trailer, but this is common for the series. The whole skyscraper fight with Riku and Roxas looked the same compared to this and that ended up just being a boss in a DS game, so maybe we should just take a step back here.

It'll still probably take 4 years to coms out anyway.

@KoopaTheGamer It does look cool, so it has that going for it. I also kind of get the impression Flowmotion might be improved compared to III here, which I'd like since I didn't like how heavily it was nerfed in III. I know it was broken in 3D, but I kinda liked that about it. I don't need to be able to bound across the map in one jump, but it'd be nice to see it improved at least a little again.

@MajorasLapdog That's definitely a fair thing to think! I'm not disagreeing that it's misleading, it's kind of just something they like to do with these games for whatever reason. Maybe they were trying to avoid the inevitable jokes about having to wait another 6 years if there was no gameplay or something like that.

Always so annoyed becuase I can’t stand Donald and goofy or Mickey. I would buy all the games if they kept Disney out of it.

@NF6429 They remade the card game on the game boy, but not the one on the ds…..Makes sense to me.

This obviously isn't going to be on the Switch in any form. It will be lucky to make it to the PS5 before the PS6 is released.

@Cinderace To be fair, it sounds like the series just isn’t your thing, as it’s main selling point is that it’s final fantasy and Disney, Looking at you kh3, you know what you did.

The real world setting combined with the weird outfits make them just look silly.

@Cinderace Well, in that case you might enjoy FF7 Remake or even FF XV. Both games have some similarities in gameplay and narrative to Kingdom Hearts games. Although still very different games.

@Giancarlothomaz By the time this releases we'll already be on the Switch 3, lol

@eaglebob345 They have always said the series would continue after KH3, just with a new saga. In fact, this setting was originally shown in a "secret" (IIRC) trailer at the end of KH3.

I don't understand the fad of making cartoony things realistic but it sure does suck.

Another cloud garbage likely.

If the people behind Kingdom Hearts have proved anything, it's that they absolutely do not listen to the fans input.

Frankly, Kingdom Hearts 3 was a massive disappointment compared to their other games, and I'm not particularily excited for this next one.

Furthermore, the people behind these games are clearly pandering to the more immature "flashy and stylish" side of Anime/Japanese Videogames, in place of an interesting storyline or characters.

No deep or meaningful themes, completely incoherent plot with literally dozens of throwaway characters... it's insulting to intelligent people and pitiful that neckbeards buy into it.

The game devs should take notes from the Kirby franchise... even a game as seemingly childish as Kirby manages to have interesting underlying themes. Somehow Square Enix can't even manage to do that.

I sometimes forget what happens in Kingdom Hearts games literally ten seconds after a cutscene... that's how trite the story is to me.

Fairly certain sales are going to get shot down in flames when this comes out though... other people seem pretty fed-up with it.

@Snatcher Main reason Chain of Memories is in the remasters is because the remake already released in 2007 on the ps2, so required less work than remaking the ds games. What makes me sad is that they were going to do 358/2 Days too, but didn't have enough development time.

No way this is coming to the Nintendo switch unless it's via the cloud, and I'd wager the current cloud version of the kingdom hearts games have sold very very poorly so chances of number 4 having a cloud version are slim

Guess we'll be playing this in 2025. By the time this game is released Switch 2 will be out.

I wonder if they'll manage to make the story even more pointlessly convoluted.

Coming to the Switch? I doubt Square-Enix is smart enough to set limitations to their developers in order for a port to be possible.

Cool, but it's not coming out anytime soon. When it comes to announcing games that release years down the line, Square Enix takes the cake. I mean we are still waiting for concrete news on FF7 part 2, FF16, and so many projects that were announced years ago

Maybe it'll grow on me, but I'm really not feeling the art direction. Not everything has to be ultra-realistic. It worked for FFVII, but this feels like it goes against the whole point of the series as a love letter to animation. Sora just looks...off in some of those stills, and things like his dramatic running cycle look super awkward in this style.

Seriously Square, if this is cloud only, you can stick it where the Mario Sundoesn'tshine!

@RubyCarbuncle I mean... that's all Kingdom Hearts IS. Disney stuff + dude with giant keys fighting darkness.

@Sangria No. Just, no. 🤦‍♂️

cool. let's see. I'm a little behind on the rest of the series. I own every game but so far I've only played...

Kingdom Hearts 1.

...and that's it. T_T #backlog

@Phostachio Horrifying (and insufferablely annoying) times we live in. 🤦‍♂️ Just want to look up gaming info here, and yet still can't escape the crazies.

@Sangria is a troll account. Made 2 comments from June 2021.

Very excited for this. KH3 established that there a multiple if not hundreds of key blade carriers, so I think it’s likely that Sora’s story may end& someone else will carry it forward.

Sounds like a 2024 release at the earliest. Definitely not going to be a Switch game.

@Fight_Teza_Fight

Whoops, can’t believe I didn’t check that!

If it ever releases on Switch or its successor it'll be another cloud version. That is, if they don't reveal it's coming only on Playstation. Don't get your hopes up.

It' gonna be another PS exclusive for a year, inferior version on Xbox and PC, and a cloud version (if at all) on Switch

Why are they trying to make it look weirdly photorealistic? Just looks off

KH is dead already. Enix choose to kill it by way of Cloud cheapass developers more concern with making pathetic game rather then do the job and put as Physical for Switch. Easy Pass.....

As a proof of concept this seems really cool! Haven't played BBS or 3 yet, but I really hope that ended Xehanort and we get a new baddy!

Can't wait for the mailed-in Cloud Swith version!

@Harmonie Ah, that makes sense. I never finished KH3 because the Frozen world was so bad, among other things.

Nintendo....Switch 2...Now!

I guess this series is about to get even more "Chronologically Confusing".

As someone who hasn't played any game in the series but is interested in doing so, I'm a little worried about how much content I can handle or if I can even have the time for it.

Looks awful. That's looks like a generic Unreal tech demo of a city from several years ago. Where are the Disney environments? (That definitely can't run on the switch)

The only thing that interests me about Kingdom Hearts is if they will ever make a world based on The Simpsons. Very unlikely, but I just want to see Homer strangle an Organization XIII member as he always does to Bart. Oh yeah, and the giant chicken from Family Guy has to become a secret boss that is even stronger than Sephiroth. If Disney wants to own everything, they should use the brands.

@westman98 2024 even sounds optimistic.

Unless there is another cloud version incoming (whether its for Switch or the next Nintendo console because its unlikely the latter will be powerful enough to run this), we shouldn't be expecting this on a Nintendo system.
Putting all that aside, KH fans will be lucky if S-E releases this game before the PS5 & X|S successors are out lol.

On-topic, glad for the fans who have been waiting for this. I lost interest in the series a long time ago, the story being one of the key reasons, definitely one of the most convoluted stories I ever seen in gaming, or anything really.😵‍💫

@Fight_Teza_Fight: I could be wrong but didn't someone at the KH team (I think it might have been Nomura) once say that Sora will always remain the main protagonist or something like that? I doubt his story will end anytime soon.

I was really expecting Sora to start yelling "yeah!" "come on!" and such when he started jumping.

I wonder if Yoko Shimomura is gonna continue for this game. I heard, that they already had to persuade her quite a bit to make her return the last time

@ReaperMelia oh for sure, apologies if I came across any way confrontational, I was sort of just thinking out loud about it haha. I swear there have been instances before where ‘gameplay’ was shown in promotional material that turned out to be scripted but didn’t declare it and ultimately proved controversial? Something like Aliens: Colonial Marines or No Mans Sky or something.

Anyway, thanks for being cool! Just thought it was interesting 😊

@Fizza I hate people who admit to not playing a game but make comments like you have

@WoomyNNYes
Assuming this is gonna be on Unreal 5 I can pretty much guarantee that generic cities are the next thing Epic will curse gaming with, I know gaming is already filled with generic cities but that Matrix demo ushered in the next generation of generic cities.

@glaemay No offense, but the second game in the series was a weird, top-down card battler with randomly generated rooms. The series has gone in bizarre directions for years

Yeah, the only game from Square Enix I am excited for is Dragon Quest XII.

Sorry, but I am just not into Kingdom Hearts or modern Final Fantasy.

Never on a switch!

@Fight_Teza_Fight @Phostachio rarely commenting doesn't make someone a troll. Just a lurker mostly. And neither of his comments seem like a troll either. First one is him saying YS VIII is really good basically, and like it or not, a lot of people genuinely believe that stuff about Disney.

Goofy sounds.... goofy.

Calm down people, I can confirm that this game will NOT be available on the switch via cloud like the other games. This is because when this game releases in 2029 nintendo will release the WiiU2 only this time the console is the tv and your tv is your controller! Trust me my uncle works at nintendo.

Cloud version only!

Oh my God, I really don't care anymore. KH3 ruined the franchise for me.

Yeah no way does this come to Switch, and if it does it will absolutely be a cloud version. So that'll be a hard pass for me.

The PS4 & Xbox one are starting to be left behind now & the switch is significantly less powerful than those consoles

My opinion is that I'm not really hyped about this. It's most likely a long way out, but also the graphics are weird. I understand making Sora, Riku and the other original to KH characters fit in with the modern FF style, but the actual environments scream that trying to hard to look realistic but not doing a very good job at it.

KH3 was a very beautiful game visually. I was always impressed with the Toy Story world from the second it was announced. They really should stick with that Pixar look and not try to go all photo-realistic here, it doesn't work with KH, nor does this style really work at all with the way they've done it IMO.

Not to say I'm hating on the game, though. I've been playing the series since 2004 and will likely always want to play a new entry (unless they do something too drastic with it, or turn it into Star Wars and Marvel collaborations. Ugh). I just am not feeling too excited from this initial trailer. I do, however, look forward to more info in the future.

Sora's face in the thumbnail looks like a Snapchat filter.

@glaemay Kept alive by its creator?

This is the kind of toxic hate peddling that pushed George Lucas away from Star Wars, and look how the next owners handled it for so many years (thankfully the Disney+ content is rectifying Star Wars)

Nomura hate is one of the oldest gaming zeitgeists that just won't die. Just because you think it's safe to hate on him doesn't make it truth.

@KoopaTheGamer Well hopefully we will still have a Switch of some kind!

@Fizza As someone that's played every single KH game, the "story" led to this moment in the last game, KH3. It seemed like you were going to the world of the Final Fantasy characters that were "stuck" in the Disney world. You kinda have to know the game in order to know what it happening. I would assume Disney characters in turn appear in THIS world instead of us coming to their world, which would be a nice flip IMO. I love the series but was tired of going to Disney worlds and essentially playing a snippet of each movie. Instead, I want a focused story where I get to use Disney characters that give me new tricks in battle.

@Silly_G We don't know if this game will release at all considering how long 3 took.

People in the comments bagging on the game and then admitting that they've never played the series. Well, you can't bag on something if you know nothing about it.

I've played every game in the series and absolutely love the gameplay and characters, but cannot stand the awfully hard to follow story. I'm hoping that this game will focus the story into one moment instead of focusing on traveling around to Disney movie worlds and making us place a sped-up version of the movie. Spending a lot of time in Tokyo then going to another place could be interesting. Disney could come to the "real world." Let's not forget that Star Wars is under Disney now, so it could get wild. Keyblade Lightsaber? Yes please.

Why are you talking about a game you know very well it will never come to a Nintendo console unless is in a middle-finger-cloud version by game developers that HATE Nintendo?

Have some respect people, come on.

Also, the realistic graphics are awful and doesn't fit the series.

Not the biggest fan of Sora's new look but I'm super hyped for this! Can't wait to play it in 20 years!

Sora is too pretty…

@Silly_G because its not confirmed to not be on switch. Jesus, why do people find this a problem.

Never understood how people can get upset about an announcement of a game that may or may not be on switch.

@IronMan30
😂 Yeah, 2026 is more likely than 2024. We could hear some news about PlayStation 6 and the next Xbox by the time KH4 is released.

@Sangria We definitely need to moderate on subjects about sexuality on kids media

All I ask for is for the entire game to not be contained in Verum Rex. Everyone LOVES the different Disney worlds and refrences they contain, and I really want to be able to revisit the Toy Box World, as that's where verum rex debuted.

can't wait for Kingdom Hearts IV Cloud version on Nintendo Switch 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

Say what you want about It, I'm still EXTREMELY hyped.

@MajorasLapdog You're good! You weren't coming off as confrontational, I was just worried I'd come off as defensive when I agree that it's not really a good move. Yeah, it usually winds up being controversial, so I'm not sure how Kingdom Hearts gets a pass on it honestly.

Is no one else gonna acknowledge the other 2 games? They announced three KH games, not just KH4. And obviously it is not gonna be on Switch, it will probably be for PS6

So… coming in a few years for PlayStation, then 10 years later for Nintendo, right?

screw square enix they could of put the original 2 on a cartridge but instead they got lazy and put them on cloud nobody should give them money for doing that.

@Ulysses as a fan of Nomura's work there are some things you can legitimately criticize him on.

1) His stories tend to be very hard to follow.
2) He really is a style over substance creator.
3) He cannot write female characters to save his life. And before people bring up FFVII Remake, a lot of the characterization was done by Hironobu Sakaguchi and Kazushige Nojima on the original game. It's kinda hard to screw the characters up when so much of the legwork is already done and he was not the lead writer on that project. As for female characters entirely made by Nomura... Kiri is a plank of wood and Aqua is fine, but her characterization is very thin.
4) There is always that one Nomura level that is beyond insane and breaks the boundaries of believability and goes bonkers. If that be KH1, KH2 or FFVIIRemake. They all have that one-level/boss fight where you "yep this is a Nomura game and he just lost the plot."
5) He is good at creating emotional moments in games, but the story threads that get you there are extremely questionable.

Now things you can say about Nomura is his designs are gorgeous. He has an eye for cinematography and he hits high emotionality. The games he directs tend to be very fun to play (if a bit clunky at times). He just really needs to be reigned in and bring in a competent writer to script doctor his work.

@Chibi_Manny They're mobile games though...when they want us to care they can put them on a console or PC

Its a REBOOT or variant story. KH is too confusing now.

Square is just using the IV to continue it, kinda like Final Fantasy. This is their Zelda and SE will agree with fans that past games connect, for sales.

First lesson learned being a nintendo only gamer: Don't assume that original handheld releases and smash representation is going to translate into you getting to play the new entry

@Fizza idk man, people are saying the forest is star wars because you can see the foot of an at walker

This is most likely not nintendo news

@NF6429 Sorry I saw this so late. They were actually going to re do it? Man, I would have been fine if it came at a later date if that is the case.

@Chibi_Manny The other two games are mobile games.

@Solaine If she doesn't return, then I have no almost no hype for this game. KH3 gameplay wasn't great, the story was bad, and all it had going for it was the music. But even KH3 wasn't fully composed by her and you can REALLY tell.

I downloaded the KH3 soundtrack and deleted every song she didn't create because they were super generic. The story is impossible to follow and the gameplay in this trailer reminds me of KH3....so Yoko is the only way I can give a single crap about this game. That or actually bringing back Final Fantasy characters.

I'd be surprised if this came to the Switch.

Since 4 looks like it is taking place in the real world, Square should get meta and have Sora fight the hearless in Disneyland. That could be interesting and really make the story weird...er.

I don’t care much for the art style, but the graphical quality is very good.

Nomura has been on a roll recently between Re:Mind, FF7R and Stranger of Paradise.

All in on KH4

It looks like it's gonna be only on latest gen systems.

I hope it comes out on the Switch. It would be really cool, after having played the others on it.

It will be fun to see the American cartoon-style characters juxtaposed against the realistic japanese settings.

I hope it does release for Switch or if not maybe the next Nintendo console just not for cloud.