Over five minutes of the upcoming titles have been revealed.
During this year’s Jump Festa (an annual celebration of games, anime and manga held in Tokyo, Japan), a new trailer highlighting Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue and Kingdom Hearts 3 was shown.
Check it out below.
Showcased at length in the trailer was Kingdom Hearts 2.8, an upcoming compilation of three games connecting to the eagerly anticipated third numbered entry of the series.
These games are Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage –, an episodic title connecting directly to KH3; χ [chi] Back Cover, an HD movie focusing on the ancient lore of the series explored in the mobile game Unchained [chi]; and Dream Drop Distance HD, a remastering of the previously exclusive to 3DS title.
During the 0.2 Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage – portion of trailer, we got our first glimpse of Riku, Kairi, King Mickey, and Master Sid Yen’s high definition character models in action, and they look fantastic.
The game appears to cover Aqua’s journey through the Realm of Darkness following the aftermath of Birth by Sleep, and Sid Yen explaining to the main series protagonists the current whereabouts of her, Terra, and Ven (the other heroes of Birth by Sleep).
Aqua as she will appear in 0.2 Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage –
Not much was shown for χ [chi] Back Cover, but it looks like this “game” will (hopefully) clarify some of the more complicated aspects of the Kingdom Hearts lore.
By far, the most footage shown in the trailer was Dream Drop Distance HD. While no in-game HUD was featured, it can be assumed that the once 3DS game will change substantially so to work on the PS4.
Finally, new gameplay footage of Kingdom Hearts 3 was shown.
While this portion of the trailer featured the same worlds as the E3 trailer (Tangled and Twilight Town), a new enemy, and two new attacks were shown.
First, a new Nobody enemy was revealed (4:01 in the above trailer). This enemy wields a scythe, and drops red petals wherever it goes…
Hmm…it looks like Marluxia, the main antagonist from Chain of Memories, has been revived.
Next up is a brand new attack where Sora froze time, locked onto many Heartless, and then rapidly took them out (4:11). This attack is an interesting mix of the Shotlock Commands from Birth by Sleep, and Flowmotion from 3D, perhaps showing that KH3’s battle mechanics will be influenced by these spinoff titles.
Finally, the new Attraction Flow attack “Shooting Ride” (revealed at Japan’s D23 Event), based off the Disney Park attraction Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster was shown in-depth (4:47).
For this attack, Sora and company hop in a small vehicle armed with blasters, and a score based mini-game begins as you shoot up Heartless.
Overall, this trailer didn’t show a whole lot of new things, but it showed just enough to keep the KH hype train moving.
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is coming next year to PS4.
Kingdom Hearts 3 will release on PS4 and Xbox One.
