Many of our childhoods consisted of endless hours of gaming. Before the days of online gaming, it seems that games with deep, lengthy single-player campaigns were the go-to. And this was perfectly captured in "Kingdom Hearts." Reports by PSU and Polygon were used as information sources for this article.

A perfect storm

The first "Kingdom Hearts" game was a gamer's dream---the mixing of Disney and Final Fantasy characters fit right into an original story of love, darkness, and hope. And the direct sequel, "Kingdom Hearts 2," only expanded on that in grander fashion.

These are both games that hold up today in terms of both storytelling and gameplay.

This is why the fan base has been extremely patient with the direct sequel to "Kingdom Hearts 2," "Kingdom Hearts 3." Fans consider a spin-off game like “Kingdom Hearts: Coded” to be a decent entry in the series, but they also see it as Square Enix stalling for the real thing. For years, they have wondered when this almighty sequel would be bestowed upon a new generation console for everyone to play.

Then finally, "Kingdom Hearts 3" was formally announced at E3 2013. Go to YouTube and look up peoples' reactions to the trailer. It’s safe to say many were excited, and the well-received trailer ended with the words “In Development.” And obviously, this didn’t mean the game was coming anytime soon.

One would assume that 2015, possibly 2016 would be an ideal date for the release, but with more news about the game coming in the following months. But there was nothing.

Where was the follow-up?

There was almost no immediate follow-up for the grand announcement. In fact, Tetsuya Nomura, the main director of the "Kingdom Hearts" series, flat-out said shortly after the announcement that the game was announced “too early.” And, in hindsight, it certainly was; other Square Enix games such as "Final Fantasy 15" and the "Final Fantasy 7" remake were both most likely in development at the time, with the latter still in development as of today.

And Nomura is the main director of both games; remaking one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time will most likely take a significant part of his attention, let alone any other games the team is working on.

But after the first trailer came out, it was too late. The cat was out of the bag, and Square Enix had an eager fan base now waiting anxiously for the next trailer.

The next full trailer for "Kingdom Hearts 3" didn't come until E3 2015. At least this time, it was a legitimate gameplay trailer, but still, there was no immediate follow-up to this either. And at certain points in time, Square Enix's public focus would be on other games, and not "Kingdom Hearts." And how could this not alarm fans of "Kingdom Hearts?"

After the various "remixes" and spin-offs that the franchise kept giving us, the delayed release of "3" turned into a running gag among the fan base. It wasn’t until 2017 where a trailer came out that gave something that resembled a release date, and even that was just a vague "Coming in 2018."

Not completely alarmed

It's not a complete guarantee that the sequel is going to feel like a rushed game; the "Kingdom Hearts" series has consistently delivered, so why should this one be any different?

And this game definitely isn't the first long-awaited sequel to have its development go on for years. It’s just bizarre that there have been just four gameplay trailers over the course of five years, with the latest one still not giving a certain release date. Given the evidence, it's entirely possible that Nomura and Square Enix felt fan pressure to release the game as soon as they could. With the official release date still not known, could this be what they're doing? Who knows. Let’s hope they know what they’re doing.
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