Sharpen your keyblade and make sure you have Donald as an emergency contact; we’re heading on a journey to find out everything we can about Kingdom Hearts 4, collating all the rumours from across the internet and pairing them with our expert speculation on what to expect from the next game. It’s been over 2 years at the time of writing since the Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer dropped, leaving fans eager to find out more about the next entry in the series and wondering whether they’re going to see another Metroid Prime 4 or Mighty No. 9 moment.
After seeing the trailer, it’s safe to say that the game is set to look different to previous entries, but that same core gameplay featuring Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the gang is undoubtedly going to be the same. Let’s cut the small talk and get into watching the trailer, then we can start to unpack what the game might look like.
Everything We Know About Kingdom Hearts 4 So Far
If you’re a Kingdom Hearts fan like me, then you’ve probably watched the trailer hundreds of times by now, looking out for any minuscule details that you might have missed before to try and determine when it might be released. Was that a small date mark on Donald’s beak? Did Sora’s hair form a QR code that can be scanned to give us more information?
Ok, those were a little bit wild, but the trailer certainly had some exciting bits in it that have lived rent-free in my brain ever since. Let’s talk about the two guys in hooded robes who look a little like the auditors from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
Kingdom Hearts aficionados will undoubtedly know all about the Master of Masters, the Keyblade Master who trained up the five Foretellers and gave them the Book of Prophecies (I love being a nerd!). I’m going to go out on a whim and guess that the hooded figure with their hands behind their back is the Master of Masters, but who could the second cloaked person be? Could it be a new apprentice, a new Foreteller in the Master’s employ?
And where is the world that Sora is in? Once again, Kingdom Hearts experts should know it as it’s a place we’ve already experienced before. It’s called Quadratum, and players first experienced it in the Toy Box level of Kingdom Hearts 3, the world based on Toy Story. Quadratum was also part of the DLC and featured as part of a secret ending in Kingdom Hearts 3.
Now, for the part you’ve been waiting for – what are Goofy and Donald up to in the new game, and why do they look so scared?
There’s a blue flame that appears in the trailer, and from my love of Disney films as a child, there’s only one character I know who has a blue flame – Hades from the Hercules cartoons. Here’s a fun fact; I once went out on Halloween as Hades with a cloak made out of bin bags and no one had a clue who I was. Anyway… back to the trailer.
So what does Hades have to do with a gigantic demon who is trying to attack Sora, and what business do any of them have in Quadratum? Unfortunately, the only person who has any idea is Tetsuya Nomura.
During the 15-year celebrations of Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, Tetsuya Nomura gave us an idea, a little crumb in fact, that he was working on the theme and storyline for KH4, telling us about when the Lost Masters gather at the crossroads in Kingdom Hearts 3 and that the outcome was a ‘story for another time’. He’s definitely got something up his sleeve, and I’m hoping we might actually get an updated reveal trailer this year with more information about the storyline and world he is creating.
The Main Kingdom Hearts 4 Rumours
One of the main rumours about the new Kingdon Hearts game is that Sora is finally about to head into the Star Wars universe, with the trailer showing what looks like the Forest Moon of Endor as a playable level. I’ve added in an AT-ST Scout Walker and an X-wing with Sora and Jiminy Cricket (he’s just as wise as Yoda and the same shade of green) to complete the general vibe for you.
There has been a lot of speculation as to whether Marvel and Star Wars would arrive in Kingdom Hearts now that Disney has acquired them, and if the rumours are correct, we could see Donald and Goofy being saved by Luke Skywalker or Han Solo, not to mention Captain America or Deadpool! Here’s a thought too – what if Kylo Ren is the other hooded figure next to the Master of Masters? That would be something, wouldn’t it?
We’ve already had Pirates of the Caribbean joining the series, so it’s not implausible that we could be able to play through Tattooine of Hoth. Tetsuya Nomura has already said that the characters are still ‘uncertain’, so until the character list has been finalised we can’t really begin to nail down the worlds that we’ll be visiting.
The rumours around Donald and Goofy are that they are searching for Sora, but does the inclusion of Hades mean that they’re in the Underworld, or is Hades just following them around trying to make their life hell… literally? Are they about to pull off an Orpheus and save Eurydice (or Sora in this case) from Hade’s clutches?
What Can We Expect From The Gameplay?
The gameplay looks utterly incredible, with Sora using his iconic Keyblade to chain-attack his way up a shadow demon all the way to its terrifying horned head. The trailer shows a lot of battle-oriented gameplay that reminds me of Shadows of the Colossus, and the scenes of Sora sliding down through fallen pieces of a skyscraper building look incredible – I’m already thinking that this game is going to be a visual feast once it releases!
From the trailer and knowing the fact that this is a Square Enix game, we can expect it to be massive. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this could be a fully-open world game as opposed to the semi-open world nature of Kingdom Hearts 3 which was made possible thanks to the Gummi Ship. That could be why it’s taking so long to develop the game, or it could just be that the mechanics of making someone run through pieces of falling buildings are incredibly complex. Either way, I think the game is going to promote player exploration on a level that the series hasn’t shown before, and I’m 100% here for it!
What Could The Release Date Be?
In all honesty, I think we could be waiting till late 2026 for KH4 to be released. We know that the game is in development and I’m expecting another trailer this year, but after the rollercoaster I’ve had with Metroid Prime 4, I’m keeping calm about this one.
Actors were still recording their lines long after the trailer dropped two years ago, but it has been 5 years since the DLC for Kingdom Hearts 3 released. Surely 6 years is enough time to keep the fans waiting, and a release around Fall/Winter 2026 would be very much appreciated by us all.
The best-case scenario is that we get a trailer with a release date this year as opposed to an update trailer, and I would absolutely love it if we got an announcement that the game was dropping in 2025, but I’m sticking with my 2026 prediction as, taking everything that’s happened so far into account, it feels more measured and more probable in my mind.
