It’s been a few weeks since Kingdom Hearts 4 was officially announced by Square Enix, and fans are still reeling. After a nearly 15-year wait between Kingdom Hearts 2 and 3, seeing evidence of a new installment in the (hopefully) near future was a dream that many had surrendered. The announcement trailer for the game showed off a more grown-up Sora and a more modern location, but details about what’s to come are scarce. However, some fans think they spotted a major clue worth investigating.
A post made on the Kingdom Hearts subreddit shows some pretty convincing side-by-side screenshots of a location found in the trailer with the forest moon of Endor from Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.
Many fans have also pointed out what looks like the foot of an AT-ST during the sequence, though it can be difficult to see. Check out the upper right corner. Coincidence? The evidence seems to add up to more than wishful thinking so far.
So far, we know that Kingdom Hearts 4 will start a new story arc for the series. Sora, Donald, and Goofy will once again be battling the Heartless, this time in the very Tokyo-like city of the Quadratum and beyond. The Lost Masters will appear in the title, a group very similar to Organization XIII.
In a new interview with Famitsu, Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura stated that development on the fourth installment of the series is the main focus right now, and that no new information should be expected anytime soon. Immediately after saying this, however, he shared a few more details for fans to chew on in the coming months.
The trailer was made in Unreal Engine 4, but Kingdom Hearts 4 is being made using Unreal Engine 5, Nomura stated. Additional staff on the project includes Oka Masaru (Kingdom Hearts 3) and Akiko Ishibashi (Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII).
Kingdom Hearts 4 is currently in development. No release window has been announced.
