Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer hype is upon us, and even though the game’s release is likely far away, there’s a lot we’d love to see from the D23 reveals this Saturday . It’s been long enough, Square Enix! Here are five things we must get.
1) A Release Year: We get that Square Enix may be especially skittish with release dates given the many unfortunate delays of Final Fantasy XV, but it would really help Kingdom Hearts fans if the developer could at least zero in on a year for the third installment. This game was first revealed in 2013, so despite development problems, we should have some more direction by now. A release year is the most we could possibly hope for at this point.
2) A Whole New World: While a release estimate seems a bit unlikely, one of the most reasonable reveals would be a new world for Sora and his pals to travel through. Previous D23 events in Japan and the United States gave us the first glimpses of San Fransokyo and the Mysterious Tower, so there’s plenty of precedent for more development along those lines.
Your guess is as good as ours with regard to what kind of world we might see, but given the recent hype surrounding the Aladdin live-action remake and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, it’s possible those two films could be the basis for announcements. Agrabah is a series mainstay already, but it’s going to look totally fresh if it’s ever reimagined on PS4 and Xbox One.
3) A New Gameplay Element: Since 2015, Kingdom Hearts 3 trailers have largely focused on Sora’s expanded combat maneuvers and keyblade transformations. Hardcore fans may have already gotten a taste of that in Kingdom Hearts 2.8, though, so it’s becoming slightly less impressive to watch time and time again.
Combat is definitely a huge part of Kingdom Hearts games, but given this project’s lengthy development cycle, there’s probably so much more to Kingdom Hearts 3. It’d be awesome to see some of the game’s finer RPG elements in action. Maybe we’ll learn about a different playable character beyond Sora or see how Sora can be customized. There’s a lot that can be done in this regard, so we’d love to see any new gameplay element that totally defies our expectations.
4) Returning Characters: Over the past 15 years Kingdom Hearts has built a fairly large roster of loveable characters, and considering Kingdom Hearts 3 is the last chapter in this particular saga, we’d have to guess that just about every memorable character from the past and present will be involved in determining Sora’s final fate. Every great conclusion brings its entire cast together, and that means there’s a ton more reveals that could potentially happen in this trailer.
Of particular interest are Nobodies like Roxas and Naminé. Roxas was referenced in the Orchestra trailer, so we know he has a greater significance to the KH3 story. Then there’s also the complex relationship brewing between Kairi and Lea. We haven’t seen Lea at all, but we know he’s training to be a keyblade master. A new world reveal might even bring some Disney allies back into the fold as well. We know most of the main cast will be there, so let’s start making it bigger.
5) Plot Hints: We touched on this in the previous portion of the list but, especially as we inch closer to release, any plot details we can get would be very much appreciated. Kingdom Hearts 2.8 forced us to ask the question “what’s in the box,” and the Orchestra trailer pushed that notion even further. If each trailer offers us one tiny clue to that answer you can color us intrigued.
Most recently we also have Sora chatting up Organization XIII about possibly awakening the darkness in his heart to free Roxas. Will Kingdom Hearts 3 feature a truly dark Sora, and what will he be like? Even the tiniest glimpse at that arc would make fans go nuts.
Kingdom Hearts 3 will be featured during the “Level Up” panel on July 15 at 4 p.m. EDT. Click here for all the necessary stream links.
What do you hope to see from the Kingdom Hearts 3 D23 trailer? Are we getting our hopes up for some lackluster reveals? Tell us in the comments section!
