Kingdom Hearts IV has been pretty elusive since its original announcement in 2022. Square Enix has given us two trailers for the next installment in its long-running Disney and Final Fantasy crossover, a few screenshots, a few details here and there, and that’s about it. Thankfully, Kingdom Hearts fans know how to make a meal out of crumbs. So what do we actually know about Kingdom Hearts IV that isn’t just rampant speculation from people who are trying to draw water from a stone? Let’s go through what Square Enix has actually said about the game.
The Kingdom Hearts story so far
Explaining Kingdom Hearts IV’s known story requires doing some untangling. Thus far, the game appears to be pretty removed from the series’ Disney roots and mostly concerned with the series’ original lore. What we’ve seen so far shows longtime protagonist Sora in a world called Quadratum, which is based on real-life Shibuya. Initially, this world was presented as the setting of an in-universe video game called Verum Rex that the toys in the Toy Story world tell Sora about, but now Kingdom Hearts reaches into its elaborate multiverse setup. Quadratum is believed to be fictional, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t “real.” Sora has been transported to this world after the events of Kingdom Hearts III and its Re:Mind DLC, and his friends Riku and Kairi finally discover his whereabouts in the rhythm game Melody of Memory. Riku heads to Quadratum in search of Sora while Kairi stays behind to inform the Disney crew of what they’ve learned.
That’s the basic setup of Kingdom Hearts IV, but anyone who knows anything about this series knows it’s not that straightforward. Over the course of the past 24 years, Kingdom Hearts has been spinning an elaborate tale that makes pretty much every game required reading, So if you’ve only been playing the numbered entries, you’re gonna be very, very lost.
Which characters are returning in Kingdom Hearts IV?
From the two trailers and various screenshots we’ve seen, it’s clear that a lot of Kingdom Hearts characters are set to appear in KH4, though their various roles are unclear at this point. Obviously Sora is returning as the main character, but he won’t be the only playable one, it seems. Square Enix released a screenshot that appears to confirm Mickey Mouse will be playable for at least some sequences. Donald and Goofy, Sora’s loyal crew, are also seen briefly in some footage from the trailers, though we have yet to see them actually fighting alongside our hero. Hades voice actor James Woods has implied that he’s done some recording work on the game, so the Hercules villain seems primed to return in some manner after appearing in every mainline game thus far.
Beyond the Disney trio and Hades, the rest of the Kingdom Hearts IV cast seems to be made up of original characters from across the series, though some of them will only be familiar to people who paid attention to the now unplayable mobile games. Luxord, the card-wielding Organization XIII member from the previous games, will appear in Quadratum, as will mobile game characters Strelitzia, Valdi, and Sigurd. The enigmatic villain Master of Masters and his apprentice Luxu are also set to appear. Interestingly, Xehanort, the original overarching villain of the series, will return, but in his younger form, rather than as the old man we defeated in Kingdom Hearts III. We haven’t heard anything about whether any Final Fantasy characters are going to show up yet. They were pretty much absent from Kingdom Hearts III until the Re:Mind DLC, so nothing’s guaranteed.
Riku, the deuteragonist of the series, hasn’t shown up in any of the promo material for KH4 yet, but he was headed to Quadratum at the end of Melody of Memory, so he is likely to show up.
Why does it look like that?
So, Kingdom Hearts IV looks much, much closer to a mainline Final Fantasy game than anything else in the series. Typically the series has opted for an anime-inspired art style that tried to blend Sora into Disney worlds without it looking too jarring. After Kingdom Hearts III, the series took on an almost plastic, toy-like visual style, but Kingdom Hearts IV looks pretty much photorealistic. According to Square Enix, this is specifically because Sora is in Quadratum. In previous Kingdom Hearts games, Sora and his friends have “transformed” to better fit the aesthetic of whatever Disney world they’re journeying through, so there’s a basis for this, even if it is the most drastic transformation the series has ever produced.
“From Sora’s perspective, Quadratum is an underworld, a fictional world that is different from reality,” director Tetsuya Nomura said in 2022. “But from the point of view of the inhabitants on the Quadratum side, the world of Quadratum is reality, and the world where Sora and the others were is the other side, the fictional world.”
What Disney worlds are in Kingdom Hearts IV?
At this point, we’ve pretty much only seen footage of Quadratum, so if Kingdom Hearts IV is taking us to Disney worlds, we haven’t seen any of them. Hades’ involvement implies that someone, whether it’s Sora or not, could end up in Olympus once more, but that’s not confirmed either. In the one screenshot of Mickey Square released, the King seems to be in Scala ad Caelum, the origin point of Kingdom Hearts’ many worlds. This makes sense considering Mickey was sent there by Yensid at the end of Melody of Memory, but again, if you came here wanting to find out if we would be visiting Moana or Nick and Judy from Zootopia, I’m afraid to say we don’t have any information about that yet.
That being said, there is one shot in the original trailer that fans think may be from a sequence set in a Star Wars world. I figured at some point Star Wars or Marvel would make their way to Kingdom Hearts because of brand synergy.
Will the canceled Missing-Link game tie into this at all?
It’s unclear if Missing-Link, the canceled mobile game that was meant to come out before Kingdom Hearts IV, will be integrated somehow into the game, but based on a leaked cinematic, characters that were meant to play a part in the game, like Sigurd, are believed to be part of the upcoming game. Given that Kingdom Hearts games are usually pretty important pieces of the series’ larger puzzle, I wouldn’t be surprised if Square was planning on introducing some major story elements in Missing-Link before it was canceled. We’ll see how or if the company handles integrating those characters and plot points into KH4.
How is combat different?
Based on what we’ve seen of Kingdom Hearts IV’s combat so far, it seems pretty much on par for the series. It’s fast-paced and has Sora hacking and slashing Heartless with his keyblade and then doing cool stunts and tricks like zipping around and grinding on buildings as he fights a massive boss. The QTE-driven special moves seem to be intact, as well. What we haven’t seen yet is Sora fighting alongside party members. Donald and Goofy are separated from their keyblade wielder, and it’s unclear if or when the band will get back together so we can see how Sora synergizes with a party this time around.
What systems is Kingdom Hearts IV coming to and when is the release date?
Kingdom Hearts IV is coming to Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, but we don’t have any release date or window information yet.
