Square Enix have announced a brand new Kingdom Hearts game today, which will be launching in North America on April 17- but don’t get too excited, because this isn’t anything even close to resembling a full blown mainline release, or even a remaster collection. Rather, Kingdom Hearts Unchained X is a smartphone game that will be made available on iOS and Android devices.

Unchained X is the earliest game in the Kingdom Hearts series’ admittedly tangled mythology and chronology. It takes place before any other game in the series, and tells the story of the Foretellers and the original Keyblade Wielders. Unchained X‘s gameplay involves collecting medals and completing live events, in cooperative and competitive setups and modes with other players.

Unchained X, along with the upcoming remaster of the former Nintendo 3DS exclusive Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, should hopefully be the final bridge games before the long awaited Kingdom Hearts 3 finally launches for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4…some time.

Kingdom Hearts fans, take note- Kingdom Hearts 2.8, the PS4 exclusive remaster of the 3DS exclusive Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, and Kingdom Hearts 3, the long awaited, decade in the coming third numbered entry in the series, will bot be getting brand new trailers tomorrow, Square Enix have confirmed.

Kingdom Hearts 2.8 will especially include brand new, never before seen footage, which will hopefully shed more light on the series’ increasingly convoluted lore. Meanwhile, for Kingdom Hearts 3, hopefully we get to see some more of the awesome Disney themed worlds that we will get to visit in the new game- maybe something from Star Wars or Marvel, both recent Disney acquisitions?

Whatever the trailers show, fans will no doubt be thrilled- assuming they’re not as disappointing as some of the recent Final Fantasy XV ones have been. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage and information on the games, and we’ll make sure you know about the trailers first.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

In January of 2011, alongside the release of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix a secret ending was discovered, titled Birth by Sleep: Volume 2. The content, which was looked like it bridged the gap between Birth by Sleep and the original Kingdom Hearts, was believed to be a potential future game in the series. In October 2014, on the content seen in the secret ending, series director Tetsuya Nomura stated, “It shows the existence of Aqua’s story in the Realm of Darkness. It means that she didn’t just wander about in the Darkness for ten years, but that she passed through many experiences. However, it is a “Fragmentary Passage”, as the name suggests–that story was severed and wasn’t told. I hope I can tell it when given the opportunity.”

In the credits of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix, clips of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance were shown as well as the inclusion of a secret ending related to the game, hinting at a possible additional collection that takes place in the game world of Kingdom Hearts. In September 2015, Square Enix announced Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, for release in 2016. Also in the month, Nomura stated the collection, which is being developed alongside Kingdom Hearts III, was created to allow players to experience new elements being developed for Kingdom Hearts III “sooner than later”, and it was decided to release the collection on the PlayStation 4.

Sony held a pre-TGS press conference on September 15, 2015 in which it and Square Enix officially announced Kingdom Hearts 2.8.The company announced the new game will be a package of several shorter games. The title is going to be a combination of some remastered titles that have already been introduced as well as a couple of new titles. At the same time the game was announced, Square Enix also revealed a brand new trailer.

Nomura explained why the game, which actually carries the full title, Kingdom Hearts 2.8 The Final Chapter Prologue has been given such an interesting title. The game’s director explained that games in the Kingdom Hearts series that do not star main character Sora were labeled as “zero” games. So anything in the Kingdom Hearts series without Sora was Kingdom Hearts 0.x.

Kingdom Hearts X and Kingdom Hearts Unchained X thus represent “zero” titles. There were also two Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep games. So that would be two Kingdom Hearts games labeled in the “zero” category. So what does that make them? 0.2. Finally, according to Nomura this latest game in the series is garnering the title of a decimal successor to Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5. Using the director’s logic that would make this game Kingdom Hearts HD 2.6 if it was standing alone then 0.2 from earlier because of the Birth By Sleep games are added into Kingdom Hearts HD 2.6, turning the title into Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8.

According to the game’s Nomura, it looks like it’s going to take a little longer until people can play Kingdom Hearts 3, so he wanted fans to get a taste of its world sooner than later together with the prologue that is Kingdom Hearts 3D, and a title that uses some of that game’s tech. The company made it clear that even the games that have been remastered and remade have some new content and some new looks to them.

Story

The stories that are incorporated into Kingdom Hearts 2.8 depend on which part of the game you are actually playing. The remake of Kingdom Hearts 3D features Series protagonists Sora and Riku taking on the Mark of Mastery exam in preparation for coming threats. The other remakes include the same stories as the original just with better graphics than when they were originally produced.

There hasn’t been a ton of information released about the story of Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage, though we do know that the game links to the story of Kingdom Hearts 3 and takes place after the storyline of the original Birth By Sleep.

Gameplay

The gameplay for Kingdom Hearts 2.8 takes the perspective of a third person. The play style of the games will be virtually the same of the original games, though the game’s director has said they had to do a bit of a redesign on the way the game was presented because Kingdom Hearts 3D was originally using the Nintendo 3DS’ two screens.

Characters

There are a number of characters that have appeared in the Kingdom Hearts universe that will be featured in Kingdom Hearts 2.8. While we don’t know every character that will make an appearance, most of the characters on this list appeared in the original games or are slated to appear in the new chapter.

Main characters

• Sora
•  Riku
• Kairi
• King Mickey
• Donald Duck
• Goofy
• Roxas
• Naminé
• Terra
• Ventus
• Aqua

Antagonists

• Xehanort
• Ansem
• Xemnas
•  Maleficent
• Pete
• Organization XIII
• Vanitas
• Braig
• Isa

Various other characters

• Jiminy Cricket
• Ansem the Wise
• Yen Sid
• Xion
• Master Eraqus
• Lea
• Princesses of Heart

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game