It's all go in the games industry lately, particularly if you like your Japanese games. You see, September is arguably one of the biggest months in the gaming world's calendar, as the Tokyo Game Show delivers great games aplenty. Hot on the heels on the Kingdom Hearts-related announcement a few weeks ago comes a first look at the latest entry in the Disney-infused role-playing game series, the slightly strangely named Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue - a compilation of three Kingdom Hearts titles to help set the scene for the upcoming finale, Kingdom Hearts III. Featuring a HD remake of a 3DS game, a brand new, never-before-seen playable episode and a bonus movie, it's certainly shaping up to be a must buy for series fans anyway.
His name is Sora, Sora, he's Sora the fourth musketeer!
Likely making up the bulk of the collection is a remake of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, originally a 3DS game from 2012. Chronologically set after the events of every Kingdom Hearts game/sequel/spin-off so far, its story follows recurring series protagonists Sora and his friend Riku as they take their Mark of Mastery exams, to prove themselves true Keyblade wielders. But, as is always the case, things are acting up all over the Disney-sphere, with each of the worlds submerged in a deep slumber and overrun with nefarious Dream Eater enemies. To top it all off, the pair have been split up and sent into different parallel versions of the same worlds - parallel existences that are somehow connected, and only by chopping and changing between Sora and Riku will you be able to open the way and save the world once more.
Kingdom Heats X [chi] Back Cover meanwhile is a movie (with a very weird name) - or rather collection of cutscenes - from the yet-to-be-released mobile game, Kingdom Hearts X [chi]. A prequel to the original Kingdom Hearts, it tells the tale of the Foretellers, five factions all seeking different things in a world of light where darkness looms in the hearts of many. Alluding to the legendary Keyblade War, which separated the world of Kingdom Hearts into the fragmented one it is now, and turned series antagonist Xehanort into the bad guy we all love to hate, the story will apparently tie into Kingdom Hearts III too, as it ties up all the lose ends from all the previous games and brings the saga to a close. All we know is it'll need a flipping big piece of string.
But perhaps the most exciting part of the whole collection is Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage, a brand new, never-before-seen 'episode' based on Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, a 2010 PSP game. How long this chapter is, we're not entirely sure, but it follows Birth By Sleep's female protagonist, Aqua, as she wonders the Realm of Darkness - a dangerous, dark world filled with the living manifestations of the darkness in people's hearts, the Heartless enemies - expanding on the events and story of what went on during her time in there.
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is due out sometime next year, exclusively for the Playstation 4, and paving the way story-wise for the Kingdom Hearts III finale, whenever that decides to make an appearance. In the meantime, why not check out the new trailer for the triple collection below:
