I enjoyed 358 / 2 Days for what it was, but not enough to continue on with Birth By Sleep, Re:coded, or Dream Drop Distance. The recent hype over an HD re-release of the first game signified that Square-Enix was done coming up with anything new for the series, giving myself and presumably many others clearance to check out for good. Besides, its development team was perpetually wrapped up with Final Fantasy XIII Versus – there was no way they would have the time or staff to simultaneously develop a proper follow-up to Kingdom Hearts II.
And then, at Sony’s E3 conference, this happened.
To be honest, the announcement of its existence was slightly more exciting than the footage that accompanied it. The teaser presented with a brief retrospective reminded us that there had been nine iterations of Kingdom Hearts over the last eleven years and then shone the keyblade alone on a familiar tropical island before Sora came and reclaimed it. The fact that it was Kingdom Hearts III – a familiar logo blasted with that iconic Roman numeral – was probably the biggest shock of all. No more games, no more side stories or ret-cons or what ifs – this was the real deal. Kingdom Hearts’ commitment to its insane narrative was pressing forward with all its might and we’re all now along for the ride.
The proceeding twenty or so seconds of gameplay didn’t do much for me. Sora was bouncing around a snake-like collection of Nobodies, eerily similar to that water snake monster thing in the Final Fantasy XV trailer, and shown finally engaging it in battle. It called that mind that technically wondrous scene in Kingdom Hearts II where Sora seemed to battle hundreds of Nobodies in real time. Nearly ten years and two hardware generations later I’m sure this was the inevitable follow-up and expected continuation, but it was still neat to finally see it all in motion. It’s a teaser and I’ll be legitimately shocked if it’s out the door anytime before 2015, but stranger things have happened. Hell, the game even existing is kind of a gift.
Can you imagine what else is in store?
