Earlier this week, Square Enix announced the cancellation of their upcoming mobile GPS-based Roleplaying Action-Adventure game Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link. The news came as a disappointment for many excited fans, but that disappointment was quickly abated as Square Enix dropped some new details and information on one of their most hyped and eagerly anticipated projects to date.
Kingdom Hearts 4 is still in development, and it’s actually looking great!
Other than a somewhat cryptic tease from Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura back at the start of the year, this is the first truly official update on the game’s progress since the 2022 cinematic trailer.
Back in January, Nomura explained:
“Crossroads act as an important point of divergence. To trace it right back, the motif was inspired by the well known crossroad myth from American folklore. The story goes like this: A young man makes a deal with the devil at a crossroads, trading his soul for the ability to play the guitar.
“The first time a crossroads appears in Kingdom Hearts is in Chain of Memories, which is about losing something to gain something. And in fact, all subsequent appearances of crossroads have the same significance.
“The greatest example is Birth by Sleep, a story where all three protagonists pay a heavy price to obtain something. But wait… When the Lost Masters gather at the crossroads in Kingdom Hearts 3, what is gained and what is lost? That’s a story for another time.”
This tease may have seemed minor, but it was the first information fans of the series had been provided since the trailer released three years ago, and it reignited excitement around the project, as well as reinvigorated fans’ beliefs that the game was actually still in development and not being scrapped as some reports were indicating.
Nomura has also indicated that Kingdom Hearts 4, after 18 games in the franchise and 22 years since the original release, will finally begin to shift the narrative towards its conclusion.
The new update however, comes in the form of a two-part X post from just a few days ago:
“We’re currently working hard on Kingdom Hearts 4 and will continue pouring ourselves into the game’s development. We’re dedicated to making this an experience that lives up to your expectations!”
This first part of the post came with a collage of new screenshots from the in-development game, that showed off a few characters, some modernized combat, a massive Heartless enemy encounter, some of the graphical upgrades, and a platforming section that seemed to indicate that the player would be able to control other characters than Sora, such as Mickey Mouse.
“We’ve seen how excited you are, and we are truly grateful from the bottom of our hearts,” the second post added. “We are equally excited and can’t wait to share more about Kingdom Hearts IV when the time is right. Until then, we appreciate your patience. Thank you for your continued support.”
With this being the first official update on the newest entry into the highly anticipated Disney/Final Fantasy crossover series since that cryptic tease from Nomura, fans are taking to the internet, and the hype is spreading like wildfire. With a newly rejuvenated whirlwind of fan theories, eager hopes, and outright demands, it will be interesting to see if Square Enix can release a game that lives up to the fans’ expectations.
As far as that canceled Missing-Link mobile game, Square Enix conveyed “heartfelt apologies to everyone who have been looking forward to it” but stated that it was canceled because they determined that it would be too difficult “to offer a service that players would find satisfactory over a long period of time”.
They seemed to pick the perfect time to release new information on Kingdom Hearts 4, that’s for sure. It definitely reads as an attempt to soften the blow of the cancelation by giving fans something to be even more eager for. Even while researching this, I had already started to forget about the mobile game and had moved on to the upcoming sequel.
Kingdom Hearts is a franchise that has spanned many mediums, consoles, generations, and genres, but has always managed to maintain its identity and tone for better or for worse. I grew up playing the older games and their later remasters but haven’t undertaken all 18 separate releases in the series.
I have experienced the mainline story and a handful of the spin-off tie-ins that were relevant to the lore and have revisited them in years since. Suffice it to say, I’m a longtime fan and I’m looking forward to the next entry, but I’m hoping that after 22 years they will finally start to provide fans some closure and let the story reach its organic end.
Are you upset about the cancellation of Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link? Are you excited for the new updates on Kingdom Hearts 4? Are you ready for the series to come to its natural conclusion? I’m truly curious to know what people think about this news.
