After about a decade and a half of build up to the third core game in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, I finally decided about a year ago to work my way through all the games in this franchise, or at least as much of them as I could stomach. In doing this, I found a few nice surprises (Birth By Sleep might low-key be the best game in this entire franchise?), but overall, I was disappointed by how my memory of Kingdom Hearts didn't live up to the reality of this franchise. Working my way through the mythology of Kingdom Hearts might've been one of the biggest nostalgic disappointments I've ever had in 30 years of playing video games. What I had loved as a teenager wasn't good. My excitement for Disney and Final Fantasy worlds to meet overwhelmed how bad the story, controls and overall construction of this game actually was. Kingdom Hearts 3, therefore, ended up being not just a conclusion of decades of Kingdom Hearts, but a reminder that this franchise was always a mishmash of ideas that never melded into a strong game.

What I've come to realize about Kingdom Hearts is that this entire series ends up feeling like a great idea that no one was aware would have to be played by someone one day. The worlds always felt restrictive or confusing at points, the combat was little more than hitting the X button over and over, and the story is one of the most convoluted narratives I've ever heard.

Throughout Kingdom Hearts, there were gameplay choices that seemed completely idiotic and counterproductive coming from a company attempting to make a fun game. For example, the first game had you upgrade your jump near the end of the game. Throughout the game, there had been hard-to-climb areas, and the game never made it clear if you were supposed to be able to reach these or not. This led to crazy amounts of frustration from me throughout the game, until the infuriating moment when I realized that I wasn't able to jump for the insane reason that the game hadn't allowed me to.

I think that is emblematic as to how Kingdom Hearts works. The most confusing, idiotic choice is the one that is taken. Like how after people complained about how much they hated the Gummi Ship in the first game, Square only doubles down on this section over and over again. Or how by the point of Kingdom Hearts 3, every different variation of this game matters to the core story. Didn't play the PSP, DS and website-only spinoffs of the core games? Sorry! That matters! But don't worry, when Kingdom Hearts 3 gets to a point where all these stories combine into one narrative, Jiminy Cricket will remind you that you can do tons of supplementary reading in the game's menu. Just what people love to do in video games!

Kingdom Hearts 3 truly feels like a game that was finished a decade ago, which Square just kept updating until it finally came out. I mean, Jesus Christ, the first Summon you earn is for Chicken Little?! This game is full of empty space, without much to explore, and so many of the extra aspects to the game are simply collecting missions. Want to run around Arendelle collecting zucchini or some shit? Kingdom Hearts 3 has you covered.

But let me positive somewhat, as playing all the Kingdom Hearts games does make me appreciate a lot of what Kingdom Hearts 3 does well. This game looks and plays far better than any other game in this series, and levels like San Fransokyo and the Kingdom of Corona look just like the films. That mid-2010s era of Disney films is where this film thrives, as the Pixar films don't quite look as good as the newer Disney films. Also considering that the returning worlds of the Caribbean, Mount Olympus and the 100 Acre Wood should feel tired, instead Kingdom Hearts 3 fixes the little problems of each of these and makes them some of the best places to explore in this game.

Fighting is also vastly improved, despite still relying on button-mashing. Upgrading your characters, purchasing new gear and changing your fighting tactics are all far more intuitive here than they have been before. Kingdom Hearts 3 finally uncovers that making the game easy to play makes the game far more fun in the long run.

This is also the first Kingdom Hearts that made me want to explore. Yes, the collecting of ingredients can often be grating, but collecting mini-games for the Gummiphone took me back to the Game and Watch/Tiger handheld days, and searching for hidden Mickeys always came off as clever. I also appreciated how Kingdom Hearts 3 tries to figure in the parks to this world. Attacks based on Disney rides and the hidden Mickeys all reminded me of what I love about the parks.

But it's also important to note that Kingdom Hearts 3 is where this entire experiment all falls apart. With the exception of Moogle shops, the world of Final Fantasy is completely absent from this game. Even worse, Kingdom Hearts 3 makes the Disney worlds that you visit come off as completely irrelevant. They're simply something to do here, until Kingdom Hearts story gets underway.

What remains is Kingdom Hearts' story, which is as convoluted and insane as ever. Even having played over 100 hours of this world over the last year, so much of this series eludes and baffles me. To be fair though, I do think in the end, Kingdom Hearts 3 finds a way to make all its disparate stories and characters pay off in a way that this series needed to do. Kingdom Hearts 3 collects all the various characters together, and in the final hours of the game, separates them again in order to give them their own individual conclusions and it actually works. This is likely because so many of these stories don't matter anyways, and mostly revolve around someone getting reunited with another character, so this type of resolution is easy to pull together. But considering how downright braindead this story has been all this time, I was at least impressed that KH3 found a way to wrap up all its threads in a decent, albeit functional way.

Kingdom Hearts 3 is an improvement on pretty much everything that came before it, but still, that's not saying much, considering the previous games felt like they were several steps behind from what a game should do. This was an intriguing experiment that completely fell apart from the end. I still will never understand why this series decided to craft an entirely new world of characters instead of, oh I don't know, having Mickey be in the Sora role? It's just a franchise full of incomprehensible decisions and stupid choices. This is a game that introduced bodies without souls, bodies without hearts, people inside hearts, time-traveling villains, and too many supplementary characters to count. It's all a mess and one that I will never figure out.

AND YET! If Kingdom Hearts 4 came out tomorrow, I'd likely pick it up immediately. Throughout Kingdom Hearts 3 I kept thinking how stupid the game was, but I still wanted to keep going. Thus is the gift and curse of KH. This is a contrived, dated game that doesn't make a lick of sense, but it still stays just enjoyable enough and curious enough for me to want to keep diving into this world, even after being confused for a year of games. Goddamn you, Kingdom Hearts, you're bad, but I just can't quit you.

so...

positives:

1. Combat is fun
2. Long-time fans have fairly satisfying conclusions to loose ends
3. Looks beautiful

Negatives:

1. The Disney worlds are more redundant than usual. There is literally no clear motivation explaining why we are in any of them.

2. The characters confuse themselves over the plot, which is supposed to be like fourth wall breaking I guess but it's just really irritating

3. Unlike previous entries this game cannot stand on its own. It feels like a DLC for the franchise rather than a real 'entry' if that makes sense.

4. Lack of in-game Lore, no Ansem Reports to collect

5. Lacks a bunch of mainstay worlds (Radiant Garden, Traverse Town?) - Twilight Town is too small to act as a hub and is barely used.

6. Too short and too much padding (30 hours with only about 5-8 hours relevant to the plot)

7. Final Fantasy characters only appear in the DLC.

8. Painstakingly rehashed disney world plots that go on for too long (Frozen, Tangled)

It's hard because I love all of the Kingdom Hearts games (even Re:CoM) but this game just felt so half-baked. I think if you're a fan of the series, you owe it to yourself to play this game but if you aren't then I really can't recommend it at all.

After years of backstory, collections, and fan theories, does this game live up to the hype it's been given? The short answer is: YES.

My review is based on the PS4 version of the game played on a PS4 Pro.

The easiest way for me to tackle a review of Kingdom Hearts III would be to group it into 4 main areas of focus: Gameplay, Graphical Performance, Technical Performance, and Story.

Starting with the gameplay itself, it plays just like the recent iterations of the game (specifically from the Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD Collection). Blade-slashing and spell-casting is still gonna be your bread and butter. They've increased Sora's running speed so you can traverse the world better, plus flowmotion is also still possible, however it's not as constant as in past games so it doesn't interfere with the actual combat. Wall-running is a new big feature they've put in to add a bit more exploration capabilities as well. One feature that I've really liked is you now have the ability to switch between 3 keyblades on the fly without having to get into the menu. There's also plenty of minigames and collectibles that would surely increase your playtime and keep you busy.

Now graphically this game has managed to outdone itself. Each individual world I've played through genuinely feels like I'm re-watching the movie it's from over again. They've definitely captured the magical essence of worlds such as Frozen and Tangled, but I think the two that stood out the most to me were the Monster's Inc. and Pirates of the Carribean worlds. *Note that I was playing on a 4K television as well The thing that blew me away was they even captured Jack Sparrows famous facial twitching pretty much perfectly, and if I were to put the game and the movie side-by-side then I would not be able to tell the difference. The game is really beautiful.

Before getting into the performance part, once again note that I was playing on a PS4 Pro. The game does have some semi-long load times. There are also times where you can visually tell that the game is chugging along to keep the frame-rates. Now this was all during cut-scenes from what I've noticed for the frame-rate, when you actually control Sora i didn't notice anything at all. In fact during the actual gameplay part I had no problems at all, which i think that's what matters the most here.

Story in Kingdom Hearts has always been like a mass web of figuring out what happened where and when and why and who. I won't talk about the actual story itself because I don't want to spoil anything. What I can say is that they do a good job of providing multiple ways to catch newcomers up on the story with in-game cut-scenes, dialog, plus they released the entire series in a separate collection you can buy. What I can say is that the story did close up a lot of loose ends that I myself have been eagerly awaiting to find out the results for. It also has plenty of cliff-hangers if you can spot them out that leave the door open for the possibility of future sequels using the current engine.

Overall in my personal experience, I love the game. I'm going back now to find all the secrets I missed, and I still haven't lost my excitement. It's definitely worth picking up for fans of the series, and for newcomers, you don't really have to buy the previous games (but the collection of all the other ones is $40 so it's worth it in my opinion).

Here's hoping to see some more Kingdom Hearts in the future. May your hearts be your guiding key!

6th Game Completed in 2024

I'll start by saying... The final 6 or so hours of this game are downright outstanding. Honestly, some of the best stuff Square-Enix has put out. I was very pleasantly surprised. When I played about half this game at launch, 5 years ago, I was really quite unsatisfied with this game and wound up abandoning it. But I've since done a total 180.

You can't really discuss Kingdom Hearts 3 without talking about series baggage. Starting with Kingdom Hearts 2 and continuing through a good half-dozen spinoffs, these games went completely off the rails with mindless babbling about half-baked sci-fi concepts and character introductions. It's been heavily memed on, but I can safely say that 3 does a lot of work to right the ship. Nearly every loose end is tied up, and the series has been given a bit of a reset button to get back to what made the original so compelling. Characters frequently make commentary on this, and I found it exceptionally amusing. One character essentially says, "I'm here because fans like me," and I had a good giggle. And you really can't top Woody from Toy Story giving lip to some anime villain OC:

And this writing really does a lot to elevate the experience overall. The series has introduced all kinds of nonsense about replicas and data worlds and bodies separated from hearts and yadda yadda... So having the characters remark on the absurdity of it while the writers carefully craft a story to clean all that stuff up was kind of masterful. The voice acting, too, is excellent, with a lot of actors reprising their roles from Disney media. Many of the original characters have strong voice work as well, even if the dialogue they have to work with is sometimes awkward.

Gameplay is quite strong overall too. The game's a bit on the easy side on standard difficulty, but that doesn't stop it from being fun. What DOES suck though are some of the options you have in combat... They have introduced a number of new mechanics that completely break the flow of combat with obnoxious cinematics and completely different gameplay. If I could disable Attraction attacks and summons completely, I absolutely would. But the core keyblade gameplay with formchanges, managament of magic from the mini-menu.... That stuff rules.

EDIT: Wanted to mention to, because it would seem I forgot... The Disney levels in this one were rather uneven. It feels like they were built at wildly different points in development, with some levels feeling VERY PS2 in their design, and others feeling shockingly next-Gen. The Big Hero 6 and Pirates of the Caribbean levels in particular stand out as a bit of a crystal ball for where the series may go with KH4 and beyond... Both of these go for a more limited-scale open world design, where many of the other levels maintain a linear "corridor" style like in the first few games on PS2. The Monsters Inc. and Hercules levels in particular feel like they come from a much earlier phase of development, where the Frozen level just kinda sucks and I honestly want to punt that little snowman dude in his stupid little face.

Playing on a PS5, I was really surprised by how great this game looks and runs. It legitimately still looks cutting-edge visually, and they seem to use a lot of really smart technical tricks to achieve this (like reducing framerate of enemy animations in the distance when things get hectic). It seemed to be a stable 60fps in gameplay, and a lower fps (maybe 30?) in the pre-rendered cutscenes.

Overall, this is an exceptionally well-made game that successfully ties up a series that has been up and down over its 20 year lifespan, and it's also one with very strong production values and some extremely satisfying character moments - even if a player unfamiliar with the series lore will be exceptionally confused at times. Hell, I've played most of the games and I'm still having to consult the Wiki on who some of the characters in the ending are.

The ending and epilogue do set the stage for a much more interesting direction for the series, and I'm excited to see where it goes. I'll be trying to complete the DLC immediately after this, and I've heard it's quite strong.

Kingdom Hearts 3 (love-hate relationship)

The Kingdom Hearts game series is a big part of my childhood and since the other day I finally played through kingdom hearts 3 after almost 2 years :,)

I love Kingdom Hearts 3 but I can completely understand the hate, I'm not going to list everything I liked and what I didn't like, but I will list the most important things now, in any case there were many ups and downs.

Things I loved

Gameplay (The gameplay is the typical Kingdom Hearts gameplay as you know it, but with lots of new cool new mechanics)

Level Design (Really good level design, especially from the Disney worlds)

Characters (I love most of the characters, especially Roxas and Xigbar)

Soundtracks ( E P I C Soundtracks)

Things I hated

Story and Cutscenes (The story is too complicated to understand even if you've played the previous games, and the cutscenes are too long. I felt more like I was watching Disney movies than playing them.)

Difficulty (The game was way too easy even for me and I played on the normal difficulty level)

My conclusion

The game, especially the end, seemed very rushed, a lot happened, but also much too quickly. Much of the story was also far too random and illogical and in the end they justify it with: It happened through the power of the heart or the light.

Anyway, I still love this game but there were still a lot of things that bothered me a little but this game still deserves the 5 stars for me. Especially after crying my heart out from nostalgia.

I have a lot of complicated feelings about Kingdom Hearts 3. First of all I absolutely adore that this game does not give a single fuck about alienating weirdos who tried to play this game first in the series. KH3 is proud of every second of it's history (other than Deep Jungle lol), even stuff like re:coded. The gameplay is incredibly smooth and fun and the combat is super satisfying if a little too easy on Proud (the way I've played it so far). Movement feels good and the series has done a really good job at making you feel very agile.

Ultimately I liked the story quite a bit and the conclusion to this saga feels appropriately epic however big stake moments where characters are in "danger" do feel a little neutered considering this series has shown over and over that no one is ever really in danger and people come back to life like they're marvel characters (see KH4).

I think the lack of final fantasy characters and disney bosses is a bit let down though. I probably like this game so much because I never watched any trailers all these years. There's a lot of pluses and minuses but ultimately this game just brought me too much joy for it's score to be less than a 5, even if maybe it deserves a .5-1 knock for some of those let downs. Oh well, no one's perfect.

5 / 5 Stars

As someone who hasn't played video games in years, I recently decided to dive back into the gaming world. Kingdom Hearts, a beloved franchise from my early teenage years, was at the top of my list. I was thrilled to finally try out the third main entry in the series.

Graphic/Design ★★★★★
First and foremost, the graphics and design of Kingdom Hearts III are truly stunning. It is undoubtedly the most beautiful game in the franchise. The worlds are visually expansive, with a greater sense of openness and intricate details. The addition of NPCs has made the worlds feel more alive than ever before. Personally, I found the "Kingdom of Corona" and "The Caribbean" to be my favourite designs/worlds. Additionally, the new gummi ship world, "Ocean Between," impressed me with its openness and aesthetic, although I would have preferred one giant world instead of three smaller ones.

Story ★★★★✭
Moving on to the story, it is important to note that it follows the usual Tetsuya Nomura style, which some may consider nonsensical. In certain worlds, the game closely follows the storylines of their respective movies, but important elements are sometimes left out. Unlike its predecessor, Kingdom Hearts III assumes that players are already familiar with the events of previous games, which can be confusing for newcomers. Personally, I enjoyed the story's themes of time, dreams, and data-travel, but it may not be as accessible to those new to the game. As always, the ending of the story left me feeling like an emotional wreck.

Gameplay ★★★★✭
In terms of gameplay, Kingdom Hearts III is the easiest entry in the franchise, particularly on Standard Mode. Surprisingly, it became the first Kingdom Hearts game that I completed 100% in terms of in-game achievements and trophies. I particularly enjoyed the variety of mini-games, such as cooking, finding lucky emblems, and the frozen slider. The exploration aspect of the game has never been as enjoyable as it is now, thanks to the open areas and stunning visuals.

Sound & Music ★★★★★
When it comes to sound and music, Yoko Shimomura once again delivers a fantastic experience. The version of "Dearly Beloved" in this game is my personal favourite so far. The soundtrack also features great remixes of iconic tracks from past entries in the franchise.

Overall Fun ★★★★★
Overall, despite its faults, Kingdom Hearts III provided me with the most fun I've had in the series. As much as I love Kingdom Hearts I and II, this game surpassed my expectations and left a lasting impression.

Final Score 4.8/5

I absolutely loved this game, and for one reason only: it is so much freaking fun.

I like different series for different reasons. When it comes to Kingdom Hearts, I don't care about the plot. I don't care about stuff making sense. I care about beating up a bunch of bad guys with my Disney pals. For me, that's what makes these games fun, and in that regard, Kingdom Hearts III did not disappoint.

I've been a fan of the series since the pre-KH2 days, but I still have no idea how half the lore works. I think it's dumb that so many characters look exactly the same, that χ-blade is pronounced the same as keyblade, and that almost every bad guy wears the same cloak. I dislike how everyone keeps coming back to life because it takes the emotion out of character deaths--I know they'll probably just come back later. But darn it, I just don't care about that stuff. I just like swinging my darn keyblade at swarms of monsters.

While I didn't feel the same nostalgia for these worlds as I did in the first two games (having not scene most of these newer Disney movies), most of the worlds were still a ton of fun. Olympus was like a non-stop action-packed movie and kicked me in the face with fun right off the bat; Toy Box had some of the best music in the series and was a ton of fun to explore; The Caribbean was basically The Wind Waker, offering a whole sea full of islands to explore; and San Fransokyo was a sandbox full of treasures to find. I have my complaints about them, and I didn't feel as invested in each world's story arc as I did in previous games, but again--they were just too darn fun for me to care about that.

I absolutely loved the combat in this game. It was fast-paced, and I felt like I had plenty of options for fighting styles. I could even turn off the features that didn't suit me. I didn't care for Attractions or Links, so I just turned those off and had fun with Quick Commands and Magic. Some people complain that combat is just pressing the attack button over and over again, and sure, you can still get away with that--It's how I played Kingdom Hearts when I was 10--but there's a lot else you can do. I played on the Pro difficulty, and while it still wasn't that hard, I did have to be a little strategic in how I fought battles.

There's tons of optional content that players can explore to their hearts content, or not, depending on how much they feel like doing it. For the first time, I actually tried to get everything I could out of the Gummi missions. I never used any of the meals from the Bistro, but making all the recipes gave me a little collector's goal, and finding ingredients is always fun. I didn't care for the Classic Kingdom games, but they're there to enjoy for those who are into them. I just felt like there was a ton of content to enjoy here.

I've seen some of the criticism, and I get it. I think it all comes down to what you personally enjoy about video games. Kingdom Hearts is not Final Fantasy, and it's not Zelda, and it's not Ratchet & Clank. It's its own unique little video game experience, and it's got just enough influence from other successful franchises that I think there's something for everyone who gives it a chance.

I couldn't be happier to have finally played this game after 17 years of waiting since Kingdom Hearts 2 came out.

Remember when MGS4 came out? It was beloved. It got several perfect scores. People felt whole at how it wrapped up the franchise. Now MGS4 is viewed as an overambitious mistake that derailed the franchise in both its mechanics and narrative.*

I don't think this will happen to Kingdom Hearts 3. I think people will remember it the way they first played it.

Kingdom Hearts 3 got the welcome it deserved. We applauded a series willing to eschew its more obtuse narrative points and booed a game that left the important threads on the cutting room floor (To be forgotten or picked up in DLC. Either way, not cool Square Enix.) We cheered the flash and jeered the quick-time fights. We stanned Mickey. We canceled Xehanort.

I'm being a little silly, but Kingdom Hearts 3 feels surface level. All of its beauty and flaws are immediately apparent to even the least observant and least knowledgeable players. It is big and dumb and in your face and it is lots of fun for that reason. It also maybe cut the fan/theorist's knees out in its shrug treatment to the lore. Depending on where you stand with the series as a whole, maybe that is a good thing.

Point being, you probably knew quickly what you thought of the game, and that feeling isn't likely to change. I, for one, thought it was great. It isn't all that challenging (even on Proud mode), its dialogue is stagnant and stupid, and the plot wraps up clumsily. But I loved taking Sora, Donald, and Goofy out for one last rodeo. The combat is more stylish and varied than ever, and even if the plot is dumber than a bag of rocks, it is bonkers fun seeing Roxas and Ventus play frisbee or whatever.

Heck, when they release another one, I'll probably have a blast playing that one too.

*For the record, I like MGS4. All the plot issues are over my head.

I really liked the game, although it made me miss Kingdom Hearts 2 in many ways I still can't deny that I had so much fun with playing it. Played through it twice, almost got all achievements and even started a L1 Proud Playthrough recently.

I've seen disappointment by people in the KH community with some of the game mechanics or the combat. When they bring up real problems within the game, I still cannot find myself disliking it, even when I agree with many of these opinions.

The direction and pacing of the cutscenes goes from painful to really, this bad? The story of the game it's just exposition and then everything gets solved at the eleventh hour (except it doesn't). The game also feels easy. Like they didn't figure out how to balance having 20 enemies at the same time in battles so they just made them deal less damage and players can just tank hits, even in the hardest difficulties.

Even with all these gripes I find myself enjoying the game and coming back to it. Maybe it's because I haven't been playing much of anything recently. Or because, at the end of the day, it is still Kingdom Hearts, it feels, sounds and looks like Kingdom Hearts.

My hopes for the series' story, since it looks like it isn't going anywhere soon, is that they start a new storyline. I'm fine with seeing some of the old characters, I like many of them, but just don't give us more "backstory" and lets move forward into a new journey. Many loose ends have been tied, so let's go!

Positive Points:

• The "wow factor" is ALL over the place in this game. Every other section has a spectacle waiting for you to see.
• The combat, while starting slow and clunky, begins to flow over time into a combat system that rivals but falls just short of it's predecessor, Kingdom Hearts 2.
• The new gummi ship gameplay put me off at first as something that felt overdone, but once I delved into it, WOW it's a blast. I get the same feeling from it that I got when I first played Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. Give me an expanded version of this, Square Enix!
• The Lucky Emblems are such a cool idea for collectibles that I wish more games would implement. When I thought it would just be hidden Mickey's, I was okay with it; but when I had to play with perspective to get some of them? That's when I was sold on the idea. They're so fun to collect, every time I heard Donald or Goofy say "Look, a lucky emblem," I would freeze and search the whole area top to bottom.
• I want to hug whoever pitched the idea of upgrading keyblades. Jesus, yes, now I can use keyblades I like without being under-powered. I'll throw in a high five to whoever pitched switching keyblades mid-fight, too.

Negative Points:

• I get why, but man there’s a lot of cutscenes. A lot. A LOT. I nearly went and popped some popcorn for the first 3 hours of the game.
• The attraction flow rides feel underwhelming and... in the way most of the time. They take so much time for something that does so little, save for the roller coaster in the two times you get to use it.
• If I wanted to watch Tangled/Frozen, I'd GO WATCH TANGLED/FROZEN. I thought we were past having the story in a Disney world just be that of the movie. why couldn't all the Disney stories be like Monstropolis or Big Hero 6?
• The pacing of the story seems WAY off, as it seems nothing is happening while you're going through the Disney worlds, then any semblance of KH plot is shoved into the final two and a half hour long segment.
• WHY does Square Enix insist on making me go to Hundred Acre Wood every game? Stop it. If I wanted to play a mini game I'd play on my phone instead of a game I've waited years for.

Plot Thoughts:

/SPOILERS AHEAD: HERE'S YOUR WARNING\

• Why is Maleficent so convinced she's still an antagonist people care about?
• Seeing Aqua get rescued WARMED MY HEART.
• Axel holding a keyblade???? YES PLEASE.
• Kairi holding a keyblade?????? YES PLEASE BUT PLEASE GIVE ME MORE KAIRI CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, SHE'S DONE NOTHING.
• The first time I was thrown into playing as Riku, I squealed like a little girl. No shame.
• The same thing happened when I played as Aqua, even if it was just the one fight.
• Roxas looking at Ven like "bitch who the FUCK"
• That ending???? I legit thought Sora had died. Jesus.
• THAT SECRET ENDING?????? WHAT?!? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Conclusion

I feel empty now that I've beaten it. It's weird writing a review for Kingdom Hearts 3, a title I've been anticipating ever since I played through Kingdom Hearts 2 at my friends place, since I didn't have a PS2. Ever since seeing the first reveal trailer in 2013. Ever since I bought the HD collections on release and binged through them all to catch up. I genuinely did not believe this game would come out until I was holding the game case, beautiful cover art and all, in my hands. The amount of fan service in this game is an absolute achievement. While certain parts definitely irked me, the other 98% of this game, I had a huge smile on my face. By the end, I felt I had taken an actual journey, and I had great companions with me. Except Donald. Fuck you, Donald. 4.5/5

Kingdom Hearts 3 holds a special place in my heart being one of the only games I’ve ever pre-ordered in my life, I was that excited for it. So much so I tried in vain to marathon all the previous games before playing it (only got as far as 2 IIRC) The discourse around this game is pretty passionate, and recently I’m being recommended a lot of post-mortem videos of it, which I haven’t watched, but all seem to have the tone that it was a disappointment and didn’t live up to the hype.

I can’t speak for everyone else – but I find it hard to agree with this sentiment – although I will say that video game fans have a knack for getting swept up in hype to the point of unreasonable expectations and always end up disappointed and it fuels this toxic cycle. Do publishers exaggerate/mislead in adverts? Almost always, yes, absolutely. But equally do fans get themselves worked up and expect things they’ve invented in their own head which are impossible to attain? Also yes. Do Publishers take advantage of this? Yeah, they do. The publishers are not innocent here, but I do think gamers would do well to be a bit more self-aware when they let themselves get over excited about things that video games haven’t promised and absolutely won’t deliver on.

Kingdom Hearts 3 is a fucking good game, and in my mind combines a lot of what 1 and 2 did well individually but lacked from each other. 3 returns to form with intricate level design which encourages the player to explore and traverse to find things, and not just go from a to b to find the next combat objective – but it also retains the more involved and flashy combat system of 2. To me this is a perfect balance. Kingdom Hearts 1 has levels that rival something in the vein of Mario 64 with their secrets, utility, and artistic integration – but who’s combat may be somewhat clunky when viewed from a modern lens – where 2 ironed out combat at a sacrifice of worlds that just feel like palette swap arenas and corridors to fight hordes of enemies in.

Which of these playstyles you prefer will be entirely based on what you yourself want from a game – but personally I appreciate 3’s merging of the two, making what I think is arguably a perfect kingdom hearts formula from a purely design perspective. It’s taken 20 odd years, but I think Kingdom Hearts finally nailed what made a Kingdom Hearts game appealing.

That’s not to say the execution was perfect. Some of the worlds are blander than the others, Arendelle loses all spectacle being nothing but snowy mountains and one labyrinth to explore. San Fransokyo feels far too focused on verticality that the world ironically feels very one dimensional. And Monstropolis is a bit too linear for my liking and doesn’t take full advantage of the setting.

But those are mostly nitpicks – Olympus is the best we’ve ever seen it, Toy Box lets you explore a multi story toy mall unique to the game, with outlets ranging from doll stores, video games, and a huge indoor play area, Kingdom of Corona captures the majesty of the Tangled setting, and the Caribbean is vast enough to be a whole game on its own. From a purely fan service perspective – going from exploring the 2-3 rooms in Wonderland to these densely populated and faithful recreation of more recent Disney properties is a dream come true.

Combat is refined and expanded compared to 2 – taking some elements from Birth By Sleep and Dream Drop Distance – and simplifying the command menu down a bit, without losing the spectacle that 2’s system allowed.

Reaction Commands are gone for the most part – which I’m fine with. They were a great addition to a limited engine to add depth and cinematics to a combat system that was criticised for being button mash-y – but with the new engine and all the tools are your disposal, they’re not really missed. Each weapon you obtain throughout the game has its own power-up/transformation to alter how they’re used, kind of similar to drive forms, but there’s more of them, and they run on a system similar to Birth By Sleep rather than have their own consumable bar – meaning you’re rewarded with these power ups if you can keep up your own combos/combat flow.

The weapons also have their own innate abilities, and their stats can be boosted and refined – solving a problem that’s plagued every single game before now that used to render the previous keyblades moot after the next one has been found. 3 has actually made it worthwhile reviewing your weapons and levelling them up as while the newer ones will start off more powerful – you might prefer the formchanges of the older ones, and you can modify them to make them on par with your newer weapons, rather than just simply equip the one with the biggest strength boost every time.

This game also brought in attractions in place of reaction commands. I’m not 100% sure how these work in game, they seem to be at least somewhat context sensitive, in that some boss fights/locations will spawn specific attractions. I can take or leave these – I didn’t get them at all at first, until I realized they were meant to be references to Disneyland rides – so that’s a cute edition I guess. Definitely my least favourite part of the combat however, and unless they’re supremely beneficial I’ll tend to ignore them during most situations.

Moving onto Story – I’ll admit this could be seen as a step down – and Pacing is definitely worse than the previous titles. This game is attempting to tie up a lot of loose ends – but it was also the first game to release on multiple platforms – meaning that it was likely to reach an audience of people who hadn’t played previous entries. The game does try to cover the key characters and lore quickly – and gives you resources in game to refresh the plots of the previous games – but these I think would be a lot for new players, and I’d actually recommend going in completely blank if you haven’t played any of them before and just going with the story as it’s presented. Kingdom Hearts 3 is more confusing if you only vaguely understand what happened in the previous games than If you don’t understand anything. I won’t go into spoiler territory in case anyone still hasn’t played it and wants to – but suffice to say some of the resolutions to plot points building for the best part of a generation feel a bit contrived and forced. Nothing that ruined the experience for me, but still a bit anticlimactic after everything.

The game also progresses in a much more linear fashion than previous entries. While previous games usually went back and forth between levels when telling its story to make the whole universe feel cohesive and important – 3 gives you very little reason to re-visit a world after the story is completed unless you want to go for all the collectables. Because of this – the game feels a lot shorter than others, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but may be a bit of a downgrade if you’re used to the previous titles which had much more interesting story progression.

I will say that I do appreciate 3’s way of ensuring all Disney worlds are linked to the overall plot, even if shoehorned in, which is something 2 didn’t manage very well with some exceptions. But on the other hand I will say the Disney content outside of inspirations for world settings did feel a bit on the light side – there are very few encounters with Disney villians, with the bosses mostly being themed heartless/unversed/nobodies etc instead of any actual characters from the property. It does at times feel like 3 is ashamed of its Disney and especially final fantasy roots – barely including any of the latter, and some of the Disney content feeling tacked on as a formality more than anything else. Which is a shame. I get why they wanted to focus on all the original characters in this epic conclusion to what could I suppose be called the first phase of the Kingdom Hearts saga – but this game is at its heart a crossover, and does lose something if that crossover is just there as a fact of its existence, and not something used to drive the experience.

One thing 3 inarguably does better than its predecessors is the world traversal. Kingdom Hearts 1 had the gummi ship – which consisted of linear space shooting courses between worlds, which were slow, repetitive, but inoffensive for the most part. 2 mixed these up with more flashy speedway courses in the vein of 3D scripted sonic the hedgehog levels. These are more engaging, but also feel kind of arbitrary. Kingdom Hearts 3 finally allows you to free-explore the space to discover worlds, items, easter eggs etc. This is objectively the best way of doing this – and gives the player a lot of freedom in how much they want to engage with it. They can if they want just set a target for the next world and ignore all combat – save for a couple of mandatory bosses most enemy ships can be ignored – but the space is rich with stuff to explore and engage with and honestly I might have even spent more time searching gummi space and grinding away at the challenges than I did on the main game some days, it’s so fucking good.

The original release of the game was lacking in post-game content, which is something that 2 Final Mix was the king of, so I was a little disappointed with the one “superboss” which was just a generic heartless who was a bit tougher than others – after 2FM gave us Data Battles and Lingering Will – some of the best designed and most challenging encounters in the genre.

3 did make up for this with its DLC however – adding a re-experience of the ending few hours which allow you to play as multiple characters and remix the bosses slightly, including getting to play as Kairi, long overdue – and providing a much expanded Scala Ad Caelum to explore complete with puzzles and secrets. After that you could attempt a new set of Data battles (remixed bosses designed to challenge your mastery of the core combat) and a superboss teasing the next instalment of the series – as has been tradition. If I were to have a minor gripe with this, it’s that these aren’t integrated into the main game like they were in 2FM – meaning that you can’t come and go to grind elsewhere if you need to – which can be a real issue when you’re running low on items and money. I don’t really know why they did it this way, but as long as you ensure you’re fully stocked up and you’ve done everything else in the game first you shouldn’t have a problem.

Then Yozora – the final challenge pulls out all the stops. So much so it took me 2 years of on and off attempts to final best him. Yozora is a fair fight, and actually quite forgiving in some ways – but less so in others. Like with Lingering Will from KH2 or Sephiroth from KH 1 – you really need to pay attention and learn the fight in order to win. Anyone who thinks Kingdom Hearts is just a button mash to win game needs to try these bosses. I said with Anti-Aqua in 0.2 the fight feels more like a dance than a fight with how precise your timings and execution needs to be to pull it off, reacting to your opponents moves and learning the choreography of a successful fight – Yozora is kind of the same, although a lot more manic. The game even trolls you by giving this boss a move that can steal your items – including your kupo coin (an item that can instantly revive you, essentially giving you an extra life when equipped). This means that you have to beat him twice, and you no longer have the safeguard. Given how much KH elitists bitched about its inclusion in the game in the first place, it’s cathartic see them turning this lifeline on its head. You then have to balance out whether it’s worth potentially giving him use of that power for some extra defence for yourself, or whether you should just discard it, meaning neither of you can use it. It’s a really 4 dimensional fight, and because it’s so precise, the satisfaction of pulling it off is comparable to nothing.

What more is there to say? The music is top tier as always, the art has translated well to the new engine, particularly with its focus on Disney and pixars CGI properties and not the traditionally animated ones (save for Hercules and Whinnie the Pooh…oh yeah, they butchered whinnie the pooh’s world in this game, absolutely awful.) and aesthetically all around it’s a delight to play, watch, or experience however you want to.

It's not a perfect game at all, it has some questionable implementations, and there are things that other games in the series did better – but all in all it’s a fantastic game that any fan of the series should play at least once – and a reasonable starting place for newcomers to the series but who like action rpgs. Just be prepared to take the plot at face value and don't worry too much about the intricacies. I promise you it does make sense - but it's honestly not worth following if you weren't there from the beginning now. If you can look past seeming plot holes and accept there's a reason for things to be that way, you'll have a much better time.