The Kingdom Hearts franchise has come a long way since its conception, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Kingdom Hearts 3 saw the close of one story and opened another; it answered a lot of questions but created countless more.
With Kingdom Hearts 3 being such a commercial success, a follow-up title seems a certainty. Although don’t count on it being called Kingdom Hearts 4, these games don’t usually stick to chronological norms.
With DLC still scheduled to release for Kingdom Hearts 3, announcements for a follow-up title are sure to be a long way off. Nonetheless, we feel it isn’t too early to get in the 10 things we’d like Square Enix to include with the next game.
10 Final Fantasy Characters
Final Fantasy makes up half of the foundation the Kingdom Hearts series is built on. Every title has included some form of Final Fantasy elements. However, there was a noticeable lack of them in Kingdom Hearts 3.
The Final Fantasy characters have been well-established since the beginning of the series and have had frequent and meaningful interactions with Sora. To not have Leon, Cloud, Yuffie, or even Sephiroth return to Kingdom Hearts would disappoint fans of both franchises and be a huge loss for the series.
9 Character Customization
The ability to customize your appearance first featured in Kingdom Hearts 2.8 with the expectation that it would also appear in Kingdom Hearts 3, but it never did. Players could complete challenges to be rewarded with purely cosmetic accessories that could be equipped.
It’s entirely optional for players to use but gives those who want it the opportunity to make their character unique to them. Square Enix could take this a step further by adding passive benefits or abilities to the equipped accessories, but as it stands, no equipment with an ability has ever changed the appearance of a character in the Kingdom Hearts series.
8 Side Quests
The worlds you explore in Kingdom Hearts games are vast and detailed, yet they often feel as if they lack meaningful interaction outside of the main story. Adding optional content through side quests would add reasons to explore its incredible worlds outside of hunting down collectibles.
Although Kingdom Hearts has never been short of minigames, there have never been side quests. The closest we’ve ever come to a side quest has been in Kingdom Hearts 3, where players could optionally rescue villagers in the game’s tutorial. Each person you saved would then reward you with an item. Ideally, it would be more fleshed-out than this, but including optional quests in Kingdom Hearts 4 would add a lot more depth to its worlds.
7 More Playable Characters
Throughout the series, we’ve taken control of many unique characters outside of the main protagonist. Kingdom Hearts games usually drops you into the shoes of a new character when you least expect it and it’s always an exciting moment. To play as some of the fan-favorite characters again, or as new ones, should absolutely be a feature of Kingdom Hearts 4.
The amount of Keyblade-wielding characters has grown drastically since the series began, bringing with it the potential for new playable characters. A well-loved character that’s yet to be explored is Kairi; it would be a welcome change to take control of her and save Sora’s skin for once.
6 A New Villain
The entirety of the series so far has been following the Dark Seeker Saga, with Master Xehanort as the titular villain. Through every game, he has been in some way connected to the story, which eventually climaxed with his defeat in Kingdom Hearts 3. With such a long-spanning involvement, it’s time a new villain was introduced.
While this looks to be the way Kingdom Hearts 4 is heading following the secret episode from Kingdom Hearts 3, the series is well-known for inexplicably returning past villains. But Xehanort’s saga has come to a satisfying-enough conclusion; despite all his wrong-doings, let’s let him rest.
5 Star Wars
Disney has managed to acquire some of the biggest franchises in the world over recent years, and with each addition to their collection comes the potential for new worlds in Kingdom Hearts.
Perhaps one of the most famous franchises ever, Star Wars is now a Disney owned property and, depending on licensing, could well find its way into the Kingdom Hearts universe. The inclusion of a Star Wars world would undoubtedly draw an even wider audience to the franchise. If it’s tackled in a similar manner to the Pirates of the Caribbean world of Kingdom Hearts 3, it should fit right in. For Square Enix, it’s sure to be a no-brainer.
4 Bring Back The Coliseum
Despite featuring the Olympus Coliseum world, Kingdom Hearts 3 was inexplicably lacking a coliseum. Both previous main titles of the series enabled players to partake in the optional Coliseum events like the Hades or Paradox Cups.
These side activities added a lot of extra content to the game, giving players unique challenges and the opportunity to battle unique bosses as often as they liked. Although the Coliseum is a staple to the Hercules world and would require its inclusion in Kingdom Hearts 4, it has been one of the most featured Disney worlds in the series and is an always-welcome favorite.
3 A Better Photo Mode
Photo mode has become more and more common in AAA releases, and it’s been a welcome addition. Players are able to capture the detail of the incredible worlds they play in and developers get a load of free marketing from people sharing them – it’s a win-win.
Kingdom Hearts 3 included a pretty decent photo mode, but you couldn’t use it on the move; it was impossible to capture moments in the thick of the action without resorting to the old-fashioned screenshot. Adding the ability to access the photo mode on the fly would be a simple and welcome feature in Kingdom Hearts 4.
2 More Original Worlds
Although there are many incredible Disney movies that have been brought to life in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, the original worlds that Square Enix creates are on-par, if not greater. The developers are given so much more freedom when creating original worlds and they offer players a brand-new experience to discover.
Scala ad Caelum, Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden, and The World That Never Was are just a few of the worlds that Square Enix has created. They have acted as centerpieces to the overall Kingdom Hearts story, with many of the series’ iconic moments taking place across them, and it would be a shame if they never returned.
1 What’s In The Black Box?
Throughout the Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover cinematic film and Kingdom Hearts 3, a mysterious black box has been teased. Yet even after completing the game and unlocking all its extra content, little more is known about what the box may contain.
So far, the only hint we’ve been given came from Organization member, Luxord, who cryptically said it contained “hope”. It was implied that the black box was going to play a pivotal role in the story of Kingdom Hearts 3, but it only ever appeared in its secret episode for a few fleeting moments. Whatever it contains, we’re going to have to wait a long while to find out.