During the Kingdom Hearts 20th anniversary event, Square Enix officially announced Kingdom Hearts 4 with a bombastic new trailer. Kingdom Hearts IV, the Disney and Square Enix JRPG crossover series was officially announced at the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary event in Tokyo, Japan. The Kingdom Hearts 4 series has been revealed in the trailer. As for a release date for the series, Square Enix has yet to set a release date, but since Kingdom Hearts 4 is still in development, the game isn’t expected to hit the market until 2023.
Square Enix hasn’t even confirmed a release window or platform, but the game is likely to land on Xbox Series X | S and PlayStation 5 as well as last-gen consoles. Despite the confirmation, some enthusiasts believe that Square Enix will release the game on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S at launch and later move to other platforms. Kingdom Hearts 4 was announced without specifying any platforms, but Square Enix is expected to release the game on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC. If this more serious approach to the series leads you to believe that Square Enix is developing Kingdom Hearts without Disney’s input, don’t worry, as iconic Disney characters will still influence the story in some way.
The official trailer for the game features a modern cityscape. In the 7-minute video attached above, we see Sora in the new world “Quadratum,” a place that Square Enix describes as “a large and expansive city set in a beautiful and realistic world unlike anything ever seen,” earlier in the Kingdom Hearts series. While Kingdom Hearts still retains its cartoony art style, which is especially noticeable in the gameplay, it now looks much more realistic overall, which is a first for the series.
Square Enix not only announced the game but also showed the first-ever gameplay footage. The official trailer was shown at the event, and fans are sure to be thrilled to hear what Square Enix has in store for them. The announcement was made public at the series’ 20th-anniversary event held in Japan to commemorate the release of the first game and the game’s latest edition.
Don’t worry, it looks like Donald and Goofy are still going on their adventures, as they make a brief appearance at the end of the Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer, where they appear to be looking for someone, and then freaked out by someone. We’ll be covering more about Kingdom Hearts 4 as we get more information.