This sequel’s full picture isn’t clear as of yet, but we’ve done our best to unlock all the secrets we can and share everything we know about Kingdom Hearts 4.
Fans of the Kingdom Hearts titles are used to waiting extremely long times between mainline releases.
After Kingdom Hearts 2 on the PlayStation 2, the series veered into spinoff territory, with no proper sequel for the entire PS3 generation. Finally, in 2019, we got the long-awaited conclusion to what we would learn was the Dark Seeker Saga. However, in typical Kingdom Hearts fashion, the end of the saga was by no means the end of the story for Sora, Riku, Kairi, and all their Disney and Final Fantasy friends. A secret ending, boss, and DLC all pointed toward a new era on the horizon. The only question was how long it would take until we saw what it would be.
For Kingdom Hearts’ 20th anniversary event, fans were treated to something most didn’t expect to see so soon: a full reveal of Kingdom Hearts 4. A lot is still hidden in darkness, but this is all the information we could shine a light on.Release date speculation
The big downer for the reveal of Kingdom Hearts 4 is that no release date was given. There’s not even a window of what year Square Enix thinks this title might be ready. However, we can speculate a bit. In our hearts, we don’t see this game coming out before 2025. On one hand, we do see what looks to be real (though clearly early) gameplay in the trailer. On the other hand, there are reports that the game is currently using Unreal Engine 4, but is planning on switching to Unreal Engine 5. While that transfer is supposedly not too difficult, it will probably take some time and create some setbacks in the process. Either way, it wouldn’t be the first time we got a trailer way, way in advance of a Kingdom Hearts game actually coming out.
While it is technically just a rumor, reliable leaker Midori posted on X that the planned release window for Kingdom Hearts 4 is 2026. They also state that more information will be shared later, but that goes without saying.Platforms
There are no platforms announced for Kingdom Hearts 4 yet. The Kingdom Hearts series has traditionally been PlayStation only, but Kingdom Hearts 3 launched on both Xbox One and PS4 and came to Switch and PC later. Past games in the series have also recently been ported to Xbox and PC, and it seems like the point of bringing the entire series to these new platforms was to build up those audiences for a new Kingdom Hearts 4. We won’t know for sure until later, but we think this could easily come to all platforms — maybe even the Switch 2 — simultaneously or close to it.Trailer
The announcement trailer from the 20th anniversary event in Japan is, so far, all we have in terms of footage. Even so, there’s quite a bit of interesting stuff packed in this short teaser at the end of a series of trailers.
Once we get to the Kingdom Hearts 4 section, we open with the direct message of this being The Lost Master Arc. We see some breathtaking shots of the same modern-day city, heavily inspired by Tokyo, which we saw briefly in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts 3, which we learn is named Quadratum. A voiceover, which is hard to place as familiar due to it being in Japanese, talks in typical cryptic Kingdom Hearts style. Apparently talking to Sora, the voice advises him to leave that world if he’s too full of despair.
