Four long years have passed since Kingdom Hearts IV was announced, and the world surely feels very different now. We've seen a Persona 6 teaser, gotten a release window for The Wolf Among Us 2, and are on track for the last entry in the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy, yet the long-awaited next main installment in the crossover series created by Square Enix and Disney remained a mystery until its unexpected appearance at this Nintendo Direct.

Similar to the 2022 trailer, the new one primarily focuses on Sora's battle against a giant Darkside Heartless in Quadratum, the realistic-looking copy of Shibuya, and a handful of familiar and not-so-familiar characters also make brief appearances (Xehanort is back!).

Fans who skipped the mobile games will definitely have a lot of homework to do before jumping into this chapter. However, the trailer doesn't reveal a release date, though it does confirm that Kingdom Hearts IV will launch simultaneously across all major platforms, including PC and Nintendo Switch 2.

In the meantime, you can catch up on the series with the release of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts III with the Re Mind DLC:

Kingdom Hearts fans have spent the past few years waiting and hoping for even the smallest update on the series' return. Square Enix's Creative Studio 1 oversees both the mainline Final Fantasy franchise and the Kingdom Hearts series, and likely, all attention has been on Revelation. It's also worth noting that almost six years passed between the announcement and the release of Kingdom Hearts III, so it's probably still too early for fans to worry that the franchise is in trouble.

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