Kingdom Hearts IV was not to give official information this summer, however an interview with Testsuya Nomura by Game Informer reveals many details about this long-awaited sequel as well as some trivia about the franchise in general. We summarize the important information of this very instructive exchange.
A look back at the series and the milestones including Sora in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Testsuya Nomura is the creator and director of the Kingdom Hearts license games, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. With the announcement with great fanfare of Kingdom Hearts IVthe fans are in turmoil as they await the continuation of the adventures of Sora after the cliffanger occurred at the secret end of Kingdom Hearts III. His interviews with the Western press are rare, but this interview with Game Informer magazine reveals a lot of very interesting things.
Speaking of cliffanger precisely, Nomura reveals to us that that of Kingdom Hearts first of the name particularly marked him since the players did not necessarily expect a sequel, and by extension a story much richer than it was. it seems. He also cites that of Kingdom Hearts III when Luxu removes his hood at the very end.
He also returned to the announcement of Sora in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. To everyone’s surprise, Disney (and possible rights issues) was not the main bulwark of this idea at all:
“Most of the comments when Sora was announced for Smash Bros. Ultimate were, ‘I can’t believe Disney agreed to him being in this game.’ Disney was more like, “Go ahead! It’s a great opportunity”. I thought it would be difficult to pull off because it might conflict with established lore in Kingdom Hearts and Disney worlds, so it was an opportunity I had to think about very carefully. After seeing how happy everyone was to welcome Sora to Smash Bros., I feel like the end result was really awesome.”
What to expect for Kingdom Hearts IV? Disney worlds, Quadratum, Final Fantasy…
This interview also allowed us to have a more precise idea of Kingdom Hearts IV, especially with what there will not be. Some fans will no doubt be disappointed, but it has the merit of being more or less clear.
This fourth installment in the series will indeed focus on the disappearance of Sora. The latter will evolve into Quadratum that will serve as a central HUB for players between visits to Disney Worlds. From what we understand, it will be possible to explore it in order to have a semblance of normal life (in our reality). Could we have a little exploration Yakuza through this part of the game?
This goes without saying, but Nomura confirms that the worlds of Disney will always be present despite this more realistic approach. It looks like the Unreal Engine will allow Square Enix teams to create even more ambitious Disney worlds (we made our own prognosis if you are interested). In terms of characters present, we understand that there is little chance of seeing favorites such as Axel, Roxas, Xion or Aqua again. This focus around Sora would leave little room for these characters even if he doesn’t close the door on including them or expanding on their stories in the future.
Kingdom Hearts has a lot of original characters who still can’t shine in the main games, that’s why we probably won’t see any more characters from the Final Fantasy saga. Tetsuya also refutes this description of the franchise which would be a collaboration between Disney and Final Fantasy characters:
“I know some fans were worried about that and weren’t too happy and wanted to see more Final Fantasy characters. This is something we are seriously considering. But with the large number of original characters we now have, it’s hard to say what the exact balance will be and how it will be implemented in Kingdom Hearts IV. We can’t really give you a firm answer on that right now.”
We’re not likely to hear from the game anytime soon, but he reminds us that the closed beta of the mobile game, Kingdom Hearts Missing Link, will arrive this year. The title promises to be closer to the classic opuses in terms of gameplay and it will apparently be very linked to Kingdom Hearts IV. The latter still does not have a release period or any platform announced at the moment.