It’s not clear when Kingdom Hearts 4 will be coming out, but fans of the franchise are hyped about it regardless. There’s a lot up in the air about this new chapter in the Kingdom Hearts story: Sora is in the mysterious realm of Quadratum, the whereabouts of key characters like Riku are unknown, and it’s still not clear whether the game will feature Star Wars and Marvel, as some have speculated.
Knowing Kingdom Hearts, these questions will likely just be replaced with others once KH4 eventually drops, but there are non-narrative elements to speculate about as well. Kingdom Hearts 3 expanded the well-tread gameplay framework of the overarching franchise, but didn’t ultimately do much to change it; the game introduces a lot of new interactive components, like minigames and side activities, but the building blocks of things like combat remain mostly untouched. This is an area that Square Enix could spend a bit of time polishing, perhaps even taking some larger risks with legacy mechanics and features. There are myriad directions Kingdom Hearts 4 could go in this respect, but the recent Final Fantasy 7 remakes might serve as surprisingly good blueprints.
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Final Fantasy 7’s Multiple Playable Characters Would Be a Great Fit for Kingdom Hearts 4
Final Fantasy 7’s Party-Based Gameplay
Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth are renowned for nailing the action-RPG combat formula. To boil down (and possibly oversimplify) what makes these games’ combat so satisfying, it can be said that they strike the perfect balance between real-time, reaction-based button skill and strategic forethought. Success in fights will depend just as much on the player’s quick thinking as on their understanding of enemy vulnerabilities, buffs, and the effectiveness of specific builds.
The strategic side of this combat equation is made accessible thanks to these games’ multiple playable characters. For example, if a player builds their Cloud to be magic-focused, they still have recourse against a magic-buffed enemy because they can switch to another party member specializing in physical damage. This makes the player’s combat toolbox more varied and versatile, but perhaps even more importantly, it keeps combat fun and refreshing, as players can constantly experiment with different movesets and party compositions for varied encounters. They never have to stick to just Cloud.
How Kingdom Hearts 4 Could Elevate Final Fantasy 7’s Approach to Combat
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth swiftly and elegantly improves upon the combat foundations of its predecessor by adding two additional party members: Yuffie and Cait Sith. This widens the player’s aforementioned combat toolbox and allows for even greater gameplay diversity. If Kingdom Hearts 4 were to adopt this multi-character combat philosophy, it could be uniquely suited for this same sort of expansion.
The Kingdom Hearts series will often pair Sora’s base party with characters from other in-game worlds. For instance, when players travel to the Pirates of the Caribbean world in Kingdom Hearts 3, Jack Sparrow will become a temporary party member. So, if Kingdom Hearts 4 were to make non-Sora party members playable, it could be even more unpredictable and varied than Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Each new in-game world would feel like a more dramatically distinct gameplay experience, as they would represent not only new narrative developments and environments, but major new interactive opportunities. Players wouldn’t just be teaming up with Jack Sparrow, they would be playing as Jack Sparrow.
Naturally, this would be hard to implement, but just about everything in game development is. It’s also worth noting that this would be a particularly apt next step for the Kingdom Hearts franchise, which is arguably even more about teamwork and friendship than something like Final Fantasy 7: the game could foster a stronger connection between the player and the characters through this design choice.
Kingdom Hearts 4 is an action RPG developed by Square Enix and represents the fifteenth installment in the franchise. Players once again are put in the shoes of Sora who is suddenly trapped in a more realistic world called Quadratum, with companions like Donald and Goofy attempting to rescue him. Kingdom Hearts 4 is a direct sequel to Kingdom Hearts 3 and Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.
- Franchise
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Kingdom Hearts
- Platform(s)
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PS5
, Xbox Series X|S - Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 5
- ESRB
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e