New Kingdom Hearts III Footage Shown

Kingdom Hearts III footage was shown at a recent event held by Square Enix in Los Angeles. The event was to promote the recent release Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix which came out today in retail stores and on the PlayStation Store digitally. Multiple big name guests were in attendance from Executive Producer Shinji Hashimoto to Composer Yoko Shimomura and the man himself Tetsuya Nomura, series director, design and story. As usual the event opened with some trailers of Kingdom Hearts 2.5 and a montage of fans sharing stories of the series. Shinji Hashimoto and Emiko Yamamoto talked about how they  met on an elevator since Disney and Square shared a building. From there they began the idea that would become Kingdom Hearts and Nomura stepped up to become the lead behind it. Livan, a pianist picked by Shimomura, performed a few musical pieces from the series including “Hand in Hand” and “Missing You.”

The biggest surprise was the appearance of Tetsuya Nomura, who actually wasn’t listed and didn’t show up until about halfway through the event. He talked at length about the series and his love for certain scenes. Then they premierednew  Kingdom Hearts III footage focusing on gameplay. Sora was shown, still in his Kingdom Hearts II costume, and using the Oathkeeper keyblade. However, it transformed into a giant gun and could fire large star-shaped projectiles. The next scene is a setting reminiscent of Twilight Tone but with a white color palette. Some chess pieces are shown and Sora appears, picks up one of the pieces, and the trailer ends. The last message is one that promises more Kingdom Hearts III news in 2015. Concept art for heartless were also shown beforehand, with enemies inspired by the soldier and blue rhapsody heartless appearing.

The game is in development for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and is being led by Tetsuya Nomura, who dropped his work on Final Fantasy XV in order to focus on Kingdom Hearts. It was also announced earlier this year that Kingdom Hearts III would be running on Unreal Engine 4 instead of Square Enix’s Luminous engine.