Kingdom Hearts IV New and Exciting Screenshots Released!

It’s been a rocky road for the Kingdom Hearts community following the cancellation of Missing Link, with Square Enix’s message to focus on quality, not quantity. However, it looks like our benevolent game devs have decided to try to lift our spirits back up by releasing some Kingdom Hearts IV screenshots.

The screenshots are accompanied by a message reassuring fans that the team is still hard at work on Kingdom Hearts IV. They state that they are are: ‘dedicated to making this an experience that lives up to your expectations, ‘ which may be a nod to the fact that the reviews for Kingdom Hearts III were mixed and those with criticisms and critiques were heard. The release of these shots has fans speculating about whether a trailer could be next. After all, several prestigious gaming events are coming up, and Squeenix is sure to enter with a bang if they decide to drop a full new trailer for such a beloved franchise.

Kingdom Hearts IV in Shibuya?

The teaser for Kingdom Hearts IV came at the end of April 2022 and had fans rabid with its premise. Following the events of Kingdom Hearts III, and through the technical misuse of the Power of Waking to save Kairi, Sora, our protagonist and standard spiky-haired Squeenix boy, finds himself in Tokyo-Shibuya, as depicted in the rather marvellous game The World Ends with You. There has been no allusion to the Reaper’s Game which makes up the hook for The World Ends with You so it’s down to fan speculation as to whether Sora is being forced to participate as he runs around doing what he does best, defeating giant ass heartless.

The new Kingdom Hearts IV screenshots show Sora wielding his regularly scheduled Keyblade, which is a pleasant surprise as it was alluded to back in 2022 that the new Kingdom Hearts IV might try to move away from the previous games, as this marks the start of a brand new and totally different arc for the story. The screenshots also show Mickey poised on a chandelier, getting ready for action, and a close-up of a girl who is currently nameless but brings to mind visions of Namine drawing in her notebook and mouthing the words of Hikaru Utada’s Passion.

What The People Want

Whatever madness Square Enix decides to partake in, they do have a reputation for taking player opinion into account with their offerings, as with Final Fantasy XV being much more of a sandbox experience following feedback about Final Fantasy XIII being far too linear and railroading. It’s great that the company listens to the opinions of their audience, and in the recent message accompanying the new Kingdom Hearts IV screenshots, they do say: ‘We’ve seen how excited you are, and we are truly grateful from the bottom of our hearts’.

It just may be that Square Enix really did decide to cancel Missing Link so that they could pour every effort into making Kingdom Hearts IV the best game they could possibly make it following this philosophy of listening to their audience. Though fans are disappointed about Missing Link, there are a lot of people within the Kingdom Hearts community that would prefer to give developers the time and space they need to work on less projects and have them be more along the lines of what they envision when they think of a game that can elevate a franchise to a new level.

This time and care could be particularly beneficial to the Kingdom Hearts series. The story has gotten so complicated and the lore so convoluted, that it might be a good thing to zero in on one big project, one big story, to minimise discrepancies and pull the focus in just like the original Kingdom Hearts buckled down and narrowed itself in to focus on the follies and flaws of the original Destiny Islands Trio.

To Line The Pieces Up

Square Enix is definitely in the midst of an overhaul, and one that is probably much needed. With Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 topping game charts with half the production value and a fraction of the team players, Square has their work cut out for them to bring the thunder on the RPG market.

Though we’ve unfortunately lost Kingdom Hearts: Missing Link, a trailer drop of something huge like Kingdom Hearts IV, following the release of these teasing screenshots, at a major event, could be just the thing that Square Enix needs to sway RPG gamers’ attention back to the classics.