Kingdom Hearts 4 Will Feature a World Originally Planned for KH3

It looks like Kingdom Hearts 4 is finally going to bring one of the ideas that Square Enix originally wanted to make for Kingdom Hearts 3. During the recent D23 Kingdom Hearts panel, director Tetsuya Nomura was asked about creating unique worlds that are not necessarily based directly on an existing Disney movie, such as Disney Town. And according to Nomura, this type of world gives the team a lot more freedom when designing the gameplay, mechanics, and story around it.

And apparently, they have been sitting on one particularly ambitious idea for quite a bit.

A World Originally Planned for Kingdom Hearts 3

Nomura explained that there was a concept the team had already been working on during Kingdom Hearts 3 that they ultimately could not realize.

“There was a concept that we had since Kingdom Hearts 3, and we’ve been working on the plan, but it was quite difficult to realize.”

But it seems like they did not abandon the idea completely. Nomura said that they continued working on it and eventually evolved the concept for Kingdom Hearts 4!

“So, it’s been evolved and will appear in Kingdom Hearts 4, so please look forward to seeing what kind of world it will be in.”

And then Nomura gave us exactly the kind of tease you would expect from him. He described the world as “pretty amazing”, at least from the development team’s perspective. So… now we have absolutely no idea what it is. Thanks, Nomura. But this is what makes it even more exciting! Now we know that we have something really unique to look forward to, and that is all the magic of Kingdom Hearts. You never know what world you will be stepping into, and what will await you there.

Original Worlds Give the Team More Freedom

Nomura also explained why creating these kinds of original worlds can be a very good option for the Kingdom Hearts team. When you are recreating a world that already exists in a Disney movie, there are naturally expectations around how that world should look and function. You have to make sure it feels authentic to the source material. With an original world, the developers have much more freedom. Nomura explained that creating something based purely around a particular concept can be fun because there is not the same expectation to replicate an existing world exactly. That freedom also opens up possibilities for new gameplay mechanics and different kinds of narratives.

In other words, the world itself can be designed around the gameplay idea, instead of having to adapt the gameplay around an already-established movie setting. And that gives the approach quite a few advantages.

“Imagining something new based on solely a certain type of concept is something that is very fun and enjoyable. And it’s also in some ways less daunting because there is no expectation of having to replicate something exactly how it is…”

So What Could This World Be?

Obviously, Nomura did not reveal what the world is. We do not even know what the original Kingdom Hearts 3 concept looked like before it was reworked for Kingdom Hearts 4. But it is interesting. This is not simply a world that was cut from Kingdom Hearts 3 and thrown into Kingdom Hearts 4 unchanged. Nomura says the concept has evolved, meaning the team has apparently spent years developing it into something that fits the new game.

And considering everything else we have seen from Kingdom Hearts 4, I am very curious about what that really means.

The game already appears to be taking the series in a very different direction with Quadratum, and it is still bringing in traditional Disney worlds such as Coco. Adding a completely original world built around a specific gameplay or narrative concept could make the game even more experimental. Some players also think that Final Fantasy worlds could be added this time as well. Although this would not really be an “original” world then either. But being able to visit a Final Fantasy world instead of a Disney-themed one would already be a pretty good evolution as well, especially after the lack of FF characters in KH3.

For now, though, that is more speculation than anything else.

Nomura has given us an original world, a concept that dates back to Kingdom Hearts 3, and the promise that it is “pretty amazing.” Knowing Kingdom Hearts, that is probably all the information we are going to get until the game releases.

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