The Worlds
So far throughout all the Kingdom Hearts III trailers to date, four separate worlds have been shown off or announced: two returning, two new. The veteran worlds are Twilight Town and Olympus Coliseum, although from the looks of the E3 2015 trailer it’s shaping up to be straight-up Olympus. The world is much more open than we’ve ever seen it before, and Nomura has stated that all worlds will be as ambitious.
Not only will the player have greater areas to explore within each world, they will also allegedly be able to explore them without cutting to separate screens. “In previous games, you’d run to the end of an area and it would go dark before transitioning to the next stage — now it’s become seamless, as you can see in the trailer when Sora jumps off the mountain you’ve just battled up.” We haven’t seen enough of Twilight Town to know how different it will look, but we’ve at least seen enough to know it will be present in the game.
The two new worlds come courtesy of Disney’s computer animation department, in the forms of Kingdom of Corona and San Fransokyo from the films Tangled and Big Hero 6 respectively. Kingdom of Corona is the main feature of the aforementioned E3 2015 trailer seen below. While you get a stellar look at Rapunzel’s tower and the surrounding wilderness, the film’s heroine (or any other characters from it, for that matter) has yet to make a public appearance.
Big Hero 6‘s inclusion is going to be a wholly unique experience, as Sora’s time in San Fransokyo will take place after the events of the film. The Heartless manage to take control of the original Baymax left behind in the portal during the film’s climax, presumably resulting in the fight presented in the concept art shown above. That art will have to tide fans over for now, as no in-game footage from the world has been revealed at this time.
Nomura has also mentioned that nearly all the worlds featured in Kingdom Hearts III will be brand new to the series. With the confirmation that a fresh trailer will drop at the D23 Expo in Japan on Nov. 3, it is likely we will see a fifth world revealed then.
The Combat
Kingdom Hearts III’s battle system takes cues from several previous iterations of the franchise, combining the real-time combat from the first two games with the Flowmotion of Kingdom Hearts 3D to make Sora more active and mobile than ever before. One prevalent evolution of Flowmotion is the new Attraction Flow, where Sora calls upon the power of assorted Disney theme park rides and attractions to aid him.
Confirmed rides so far are the Pirate Ship, Big Magic Mountain, and Mad Hatter’s Tea Cup Ride. Similar to summons like Genie and Mushu in past titles, the Attraction Flow rides will be fully controllable by the player. For example, you control the path the Big Magic Mountain train will follow, and you direct the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups to whichever specific enemies you want to target.
Another new addition is keyblade transformations. During the E3 2015 trailer we see Sora wielding a couple different keyblades, and both transform into different special weapons. In fact each and every keyblade you obtain throughout Kingdom Hearts III will have a unique transformation. The first we see in the trailer changes into dual pistols followed by a cannon gun, while the second grew to a massive size then took the form of Pegasus from the film Hercules, pulling the keyblade-chariot that Sora then rode in. It all sounds quite complicated when written out, so check out these gifs.
The Enemies
The prime antagonist pulling the strings throughout the Kingdom Hearts series is Master Xehanort, also known as The Dark Seeker. We have seen several of his forms over the various games, and Nomura plans to finally finish The Dark Seeker Saga in Kingdom Hearts III, which encapsulates every Kingdom Hearts game released thus far. You can check the Kingdom Hearts Wikia for detailed information about Xehanort, but suffice to say many versions of himself should prove as foils to Sora and company for this finale.
Big bad boss man aside, Kingdom Hearts III looks to bring back the original monsters introduced in the first game: Heartless. We’ve seen Nobodies, Unversed, Dream Eaters, and Bugs take the place of Heartless in various other titles, but so far the only basic enemies to be shown in trailers are Heartless. Some are well known, such as Shadows, Soldiers, and Large Bodies, while others are completely new, like those shown in Olympus and the Kingdom of Corona.
Other assorted boss fights have been teased, such as the battle against the Rock Titan from Hercules and Baymax vs. Baymax in San Fransokyo. The Kingdom Hearts series is known for presenting boss battles against well-known antagonists from Disney films such as The Little Mermaid‘s Ursula and Peter Pan‘s Captain Hook, so it’s likely we’ll be facing off against the Stabbington Brothers or Mother Gothel from Tangled as well.
The Rest Of It
Aside from the gameplay and story elements, there are a few odds and ends we have learned through interviews, announcements, teases, and leaks. First and foremost, Nomura has revealed that while the public is not yet privy, the release date for Kingdom Hearts III has in fact been decided on internally. There is speculation (not confirmation) that the date, or at least a release window, will be revealed at an upcoming event.
The event in question is the D23 Expo in Tokyo this November. Disney recently outlined the “Kingdom Hearts Premium Theater Event” they will be hosting at D23 on Nov. 3. There will be special guests in attendance as well as new footage for Kingdom Hearts III. There is also speculation that Square Enix’s closed “secret” presentation at Tokyo Game Show may hold more surprises for Kingdom Hearts, but that is purely conjecture at this point.
Finally, a recent slip-up courtesy of a former Square Enix employee’s LinkedIn page has led many to believe that Pixar worlds or characters and a multiplayer mode of some sort will be present in Kingdom Hearts III.
You can check out all of the trailers and announcements released so far below, and keep watch here at Twinfinite for more on Kingdom Hearts III in the coming months.
- E3 2013 Kingdom Hearts III Announcement
- D23 2013 Early Gameplay
- E3 2015 Tangled for Kingdom Hearts III Announcement
- E3 2015 Gameplay
- D23 US 2015 Big Hero 6 for Kingdom Hearts III Announcement
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