Due to the development time of Kingdom Hearts 3 - the last game was released some ten years ago - it is easy to think that the team in charge of the project is twiddling their thumbs. As it turns out, though, director Tai Yasue - who helmed the Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and 2.5 Remixes - thinks it's all for the good of the game.
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"We have been working on 3 and 2.5 at the same time," Yasue told Kotaku UK in a recent interview "so a lot of people are crossing over and doing both. There are also a lot of new people working on both. In a way, we've learned what was good about our previous Kingdom Hearts [games] by making 2.5."
Sadly, he does not reveal any more about the release date. So it remains 'sometime next' year. He previously mentioned that, due to Disney's acquisition of both Marvel and LucasFilm, that we should not discount the possibility of both superheroes and Jedi showing up. Given the long lead time, wouldn't that be a pleasant surprise?
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But adding those two mammoth franchises in could potentially upset the already fine balance he and the Square Enix team have to walk between respecting the venerable Disney franchises and creating their own stories around them.
"There's a lot to get used to working with the Disney content," he says. "You have to have a lot of dedication and respect for their visual IPs for example, and when you play Kingdom Hearts 2 you see that: when you summon a character or use a spell there's a lot of love and care that goes into the presentation. When you see Stich coming out of the screen, for example, it's very true to the original movie. That dedication is something you learn through the process or remaking 2."
"It's very challenging, but we work on it daily," he added, "We continuously talk with Disney and see what they think is acceptable... but we constantly want to surprise our players, too, so we need flexibility. It is challenging and makes you think."
Think faster! But in all seriousness, let's hope the game just gets made and is up to par with the other (albeit very convoluted) titles in the series. Kingdom Hearts, you've been gone too long. It's time to come home.
