Usually when people hear the term “spin-off,” they think of some kind of supplementary material that you don’t necessarily need to experience to get the full experience of the primary course. That doesn’t apply to Kingdom Hearts, however, as just about every game in the series, whether it’s a numbered entry following Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s Disney-world-hopping adventures or not, is basically required reading. Kingdom Hearts IV seems to be carrying on that tradition, as the latest trailer teases the presence of several characters who originated in a game that a lot of fans probably haven’t played. The problem is, that game no longer exists.
Several characters show up in the Kingdom Hearts IV trailer, and while some faces, like Sora and Luxord, will be familiar to just about everyone who’s played the numbered games (even if the game’s photorealistic artstyle makes them look a little unfamiliar), there are also several characters that only people who are aware of the mobile spin-offs Kingdom Hearts Union X Dark Road will recognize. The prequel game is set long before Sora’s adventures and tells the stories of the Keyblade War that set the whole series in motion, as well as series antagonist Xehanort’s origin story. The dual package, a combination of Kingdom Hearts Union X and Kingdom Hearts Dark Road, was delisted from digital storefronts in 2024, and as of right now, Square Enix hasn’t released any way to catch up on their stories, despite them apparently being pretty important to whatever comes next.
In the lead-up to Kingdom Hearts III, Square Enix included cutscenes from some of the harder-to-access games in the series as a watchable movie in remaster compilations bringing the series to modern platforms, so it’s entirely possible the company plans on making this story more accessible as well before Kingdom Hearts IV finally launches. However, fans have uploaded all the cutscenes to places like YouTube if you don’t want to wait for some kind of official release.
It is the most Kingdom Hearts shit to make a game that people cannot access anymore a major part of a sequel. I actually admire that Kingdom Hearts is so insistent that every piece of its story matters to some degree, but I doubt live-service game shutdowns or digital store delistings were much a concern when the series started on the PlayStation 2 back in 2002.
Kingdom Hearts IV still doesn’t have a release date, but it will be coming to PC, PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S whenever it launches.