What’s Going on With ‘Kingdom Hearts 4?’
Kingdom Hearts celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2022, and developer Square Enix gave fans the best anniversary present they could’ve ever asked for: the announcement of—and trailer for—Kingdom Hearts 4.
Kingdom Hearts 3 came out in January 2019, so it was about damn time. But since that fateful day in April 2022, two full years ago, we haven’t heard much about the game.
Kingdom Hearts, for the uninitiated, is an absolutely wild series that crosses the buck-wild JRPG aesthetics of Square Enix with, of all possible IP-holders, Disney. The world of Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 even have multiple cameos from Final Fantasy characters. Kingdom Hearts’ unique world is incredibly rich, but then you’ll go to a world inspired by Disney’s Hercules and see Cloud Strife sullenly beholden to his deal with Hades. And then you can battle Cloud with the help of your trusty mage, Donald Duck. That’s just the first game. Kingdom Hearts is the best.
But over five years after the release of Kingdom Hearts 3, we’re still woefully Sora-less. It’s a hell of a lot better than the 14-year gap between Kingdom Hearts 2 and 3, but nobody wants to relive that again. So with the assurance that the gap between mainline games this time will likely be significantly less than 14 years, when will Kingdom Hearts 4 realistically come out?
When will our boys be back?
I’m afraid I have some bad news: There has been no official announcement about the release date of Kingdom Hearts 4. Square Enix hasn’t even announced what year they’re aiming for. In fact, there have been no further trailers or announcements from Square Enix since the April 2022 reveal. So no, no official release date has been announced for Kingdom Hearts 4.
But, there’s plenty of room for hope. Most fans and critics are speculating that Kingdom Hearts 4 will come out sometime in 2025. After all, now that Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is out and claiming everyone’s time and heart, Square Enix hasn’t announced which big game is slated to come next in their release calendar. I think it’s a safe assumption to believe that the next big game will be Kingdom Hearts 4.
If Square Enix chooses to give fans an update on the Kingdom Hearts situation, it will likely be during the Summer Games Fest or a PlayStation State of Play sometime this summer. Let’s cross our fingers that we’ll hear more from Sora and his two uncles very, very soon.
(Image credit: Square Enix)
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