Kingdom Hearts 4 Extended Trailer Brings Riku to Quadratum

Now this is the kind of Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer everyone was waiting for.

After the first D23 presentation that gave us our first look at the Coco world and finally confirmed that Kingdom Hearts 4 is launching in late 2027, Square Enix has now released an extended version of the trailer. And even if there is plenty of footage we have already seen, the extra bits and pieces give us a much better idea of what is actually going on in Quadratum.

More importantly, Riku finally appears! And… was that Kairi’s voice?

More of the Land of the Dead

The extended trailer gives us a much longer look at Sora’s adventure in the Land of the Dead. We get to see more of the colorful environments, more combat, and more of Sora’s new look and guitar Keyblade. And even better, it seems like we will be able to play Donald and Goofy alone, as they search for Sora! They are also joining the world of Coco, but from the looks of it, it seems like they are on their own separate adventure. It definitely feels like Square Enix wants to make Coco one of the main worlds in Kingdom Hearts 4, instead of simply using it for a short sequence.

And considering how important music and memories are to Coco, it feels like a pretty natural fit for Kingdom Hearts. But the more interesting stuff might be happening back in Quadratum.

Sora Is Still Stuck in Quadratum

The trailer gives us considerably more footage of Sora’s life in the strange modern city. And there is one little detail that immediately caught my attention: Sora and Strelitzia are using mobile phones. That might sound completely normal, but it is another reminder of just how different Quadratum is from the worlds we have traditionally visited in Kingdom Hearts. There is also a particularly interesting line from Sora.

At one point, he says:

“They’re asking for Dandelion Dispatch.”

If you have followed the more complicated side of Kingdom Hearts lore, that name should immediately stand out.

Strelitzia was one of the Dandelions and played a huge role in the events surrounding the Union Leaders in the Kingdom Hearts χ story. So hearing Sora casually mention something connected to the Dandelions raises some pretty big questions about what exactly is happening in Quadratum and how much of the events from the mobile games will matter in Kingdom Hearts 4. It also means that the more they show of KH4, the more it becomes obvious that if you did not play the mobile games, you need to find a way to catch up.

And this is where the extended trailer gets especially interesting.

We also see a few other characters throughout the footage, including what appear to be some completely new faces. Square Enix is not giving us much context for them yet, but it certainly looks like Quadratum is going to have its own cast, and not just involve Disney characters.

Riku Finally Shows Up!

And then, right at the end, we finally get something many Kingdom Hearts fans have been waiting to see.

Riku is in Quadratum!

The trailer ends with Riku popping up in the city, saving Sora and the others from an immediate threat. But how did he get there?

We already know that Mickey, Donald and Goofy have been trying to find Sora, with Donald and Goofy heading into the Underworld in the previous trailer. If Riku has now managed to reach Quadratum, it certainly looks like Sora’s friends may have found a way to enter the strange reality he has been trapped in. And honestly, seeing Riku finally show up in Quadratum makes the whole thing feel much more interesting. We are definitely happy to see him there!

And for those who are particularly attentive, towards the end, when Riku appears, around 3:28/3:39 in the extended trailer, you can also hear Kairi’s voice. She does not appear on screen, but it is pretty clear that Riku is not arriving alone. We pretty much hear both of them scream before we see Riku on screen. So it looks like the search for Sora is involving even more of the original cast than we initially thought.

And Is That Final Fantasy XV?

There is one other detail that immediately caught my attention. During the extended trailer, around 3:22 in the video, we see a group of knights. And their armor looks very, very familiar. Especially to people who played and loved Final Fantasy XV. The design is similar to the armor worn by the Crownsguard in Final Fantasy XV. Now, Square Enix has not confirmed that these are Final Fantasy XV characters, so I am definitely not going to call this an actual crossover just yet. But the resemblance is hard to ignore.

And if these really are connected to Final Fantasy XV, it would be a pretty interesting way to bring the franchise back into Kingdom Hearts after Kingdom Hearts 3 largely left Final Fantasy characters on the sidelines. This was one of the biggest flaws of KH3. You had almost no FF character appearances this time. So if they fixed that for KH4, and even included franchises like FFXV, it is a really nice step forward. And given Quadratum is more “realistic”, it would make sense to see characters such as Noctis, Lightning, or the Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith versions of Final Fantasy 7 Remake!

For now, though, this is firmly in the “Square Enix, please tell us what we are looking at” category.

The extended trailer does not answer everything, but that is probably a good thing. We now have Coco, Strelitzia, the Dandelion Dispatch, new characters, Kairi’s voice, and finally Riku arriving in Quadratum. And if those knights really are connected to Final Fantasy XV, there could be even more surprises waiting for us.

After years of very little information, Kingdom Hearts 4 is finally starting to look like a real game again. And honestly, we are here for it.

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