Square Enix held a preview event Thursday night for their upcoming game Kingdom Hearts III, at which tons of new details regarding the highly anticipated game were shared. To make things a little more digestible, we’ve broken down some of the most important bits of information from the event.
Park Attraction Summons
Specific details are a little unclear at the moment, but what we do know is that certain attractions from Disney Parks will be available as summons in battles. For example, in a battle with a titan boss, Sora is seen summoning Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to aid in defeating the foe. We also know that attractions such as Mad Tea Party and Splash Mountain will also have similar summons, though it is not clear which additional attractions will be integrated into this fascinating combat mechanic.
Character Summons
Speaking of summons, players will also be able to summon some pretty notable Disney characters in battle, such as Wreck-It Ralph and Ariel. These summons will grant players special attack abilities. For example, Wreck-It Ralph is able to create objects and then smash them around enemies to cause heavy damage.
Wall Running Mechanic
A new traversal mechanic being introduced in Kingdom Hearts III is auto-wall running, which is pretty much what it sounds like. Players will be able to run up certain walls and control a character’s movement as they automatically ascend up a vertical surface, while avoiding oncoming debris and attacks. This mechanic seemed to be featured pretty heavily in the preview event, leading us to believe it might play a big role in traversing the various worlds of Kingdom Hearts III.
Keyblade Transformations
While this is not technically a new feature, as it was first implemented in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, this is a new feature for the main entry Kingdom Hearts games, and will be new to most who pick up this game. Sora is able to make his Keyblade transform into various Disney and Pixar-inspired weapons to help chain together new and effective attacks against enemies. Not only does this freshen up combat and make scenarios much more dynamic, it also makes battles a lot more cinematic. An example of this feature would be Sora’s Keyblade transforming into the “Hyper Hammer,” a Toy Story-themed weapon.
Square Enix Worked With Disney Artists
There’s no denying that Kingdom Hearts III is nailing the aesthetic and design of the characters and worlds in which the game borrows from. This is not only due to the talent at Square Enix, but a collaboration with Disney and Pixar staff to really nail the animation and art behind every character and the worlds that they inhabit. Just one look at Kingdom Hearts III easily shows the love and detail that has gone into making it look as true and authentic as possible.
Release Date
As for the release date (the one piece of information fans are clamoring for) there is some good news, as well as some bad news. The good news is that the game is still on track for a 2018 release, however we still do not know when in 2018 that release will be. Fear not because during the preview event Kingdom Hearts III game director Tetsuya Nomura announced, “We are very close to really finalizing the date right now, so we do plan to reveal it early next month.” So with that nugget of hope, we should know the release date for Kingdom Hearts III in early June.
That’s it for some of the most prevalent news to come out of the Kingdom Hearts III preview event. For more on Kingdom Hearts III check out the trailer released at the 2018 D23 Expo in Japan.