Finally, a release date was announced during the D23 event at Anaheim Convention Center in California by Tetsuya Nomura and his team, Square Enix. The hype intensifies as the new and latest trailer was released during the event. "Kingdom Hearts Iii" makes its way to the game lineup for the PlayStation 4 console next year. The new video presents the gameplay and new worlds that can be traversed by Sora, the protagonist.
Furthermore, the news also detailed a second playable character in the series, the director also said. While the team from IGN and Game Informer sat with Nomura during the D23 event, the director mentioned that there is indeed a second playable character in the game.
"Unfortunately," Nomura added, "we are not able to disclose who it is yet, but there will be a another playable character." This is not common because another character in the game will present a different perspective and that is key information that unlocks the mystery behind KH3's story. Here is the D23 trailer below featuring "Toy Story," "Tangled," and "Big Hero 6" worlds.
New features added include the bigger party member slots. This means that Sora will be able to team up with more than five party members. However, in exchange for this new feature, Nomura had to remove the Dimension Link, which was present in "Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep" on the PlayStation Portable console.
The reasons for the game's delay
The reasons for the delay were the following, according to the Square Enix director:
- They have to change from the current rendering system or external engine to Unreal Engine 4 (UE4), which provides a lot of features and smooth rendering. UE4 is mostly used on popular and latest games that are released on the PS4, Xbox One, and the PC.
- Certain timing and resource challenges within Square Enix had an effect, GameSpot reports.
Other worlds as downloadable contents
In addition to the information mentioned above, Nomura does not worry about other worlds not included in the franchise.
Instead, he plans to add those worlds as downloadable content (DLC). Of course, the director won't be hiding any worlds from fans, will he? He already thought ahead of putting what he missed into a DLC, which is a nice thing to hear.
Keyblade and interactive environment
One of the notable features of Kingdom Hearts III is the interactive environment.
Players can propel themselves to unreachable areas by using the environment skillfully. An example given by Nomura himself was the floating rubble in Hercules' world. By stepping on the floating rubble, players can jump and run up the cliff to reach new areas. On the other hand, keyblade transformations are still subject to change so he did not yet disclose specific information about it. More information and confirmation of new worlds will be revealed soon.
For now, Nomura wishes to focus on one platform, the PS4, before moving to other platforms such as the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. The game releases in 2018. although, there are no specific dates yet.
