Last year saw the long-awaited release of Kingdom Hearts III, showing us the end of Sora’s story as the keyblade wielder. While Square Enix confirmed that more games in the series would release in the future, it didn’t seem like that’d happen anytime soon. However, a new trailer arrived promising not one, but 2.5 new Kingdom Hearts games. Check it out.
But wait, why did I say 2.5 new games will come out this year? Well, one, because Kingdom Hearts loves decimal points and fractions, between Kingdom Hearts 2.5 Remix and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, to name a couple. And two, because the series will see two new games arriving this year, as well as an expansion to an existing game. Hence, 2.5 new games.
First we have the half a game, which is an expansion to the mobile game Kingdom Hearts: Union X. Not much is known yet about the expansion except that it will feature Maleficent as a main villain. Originally from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent features as the primary antagonist of the original Kingdom Hearts, and has appeared in a few other games in the series since.
Next up we have Kingdom Hearts: Union Dark Road, another mobile game but a standalone title that it seems will serve as a sequel to Kingdom Hearts: Union X. Not too much is known about this one either, except that hardly matters since the release date is almost upon us. Kingdom Hearts: Union Dark Road will release for mobile devices next week on June 22.
Last but not least, we have Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory, which is the series’ take on a rhythm game. Technically this wouldn’t be the first time the series has had a rhythm game, since Kingdom Hearts II had rhythm gameplay for its Atlantis section, which was… interesting. But it’s worth mentioning that while the rhythm mini games in Kingdom Hearts II were not its main feature, Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is first and foremost a rhythm game, and its gameplay already looks much different than the Atlantis section. The game will feature Sora as a playable character, but it seems that Kairi may serve as the protagonist. While no release date has been confirmed, the game will release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch later this year.
So there you have it. A year from the release of Kingdom Hearts III shows us that Square Enix still has more in store for the famed Disney-crossover series. Add onto that a rumored Kingdom Hearts TV show for Disney+ and it sounds like Sora’s adventure isn’t finished after all.
