While it isn’t a surprise to many fans of the popular crossover series, Kingdom Hearts 4 doesn’t appear on the Square Enix schedule for this month’s Tokyo Game Show. While the company could have a few surprises up its sleeve for the event, it seems increasingly unlikely that the highly anticipated title will be shown in any way.
Kingdom Hearts 4 also didn’t make an appearance at this year’s D23 Expo in August, though fans saw a recent glimmer of hope when mascots at Disneyland were spotted in Kingdom Hearts costumes.
After a nearly 15-year wait between Kingdom Hearts 2 and 3, players are becoming increasingly worried about a similar wait between the third and fourth entries. The announcement trailer, shown in 2022, showed off a more grown-up Sora and a more modern location, but details about what’s to come are scarce.
A post made on the Kingdom Hearts subreddit shortly after the teaser trailer’s release showed 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. A Star Wars world seems like a no-brainer for the next title, as Disney continues to experiment with the IP.
The trailer for the mysterious title was rendered in Unreal Engine 4, but Kingdom Hearts 4 is being made using Unreal Engine 5, Nomura confirms. Additional staff on the project include Oka Masaru (Kingdom Hearts 3) and Akiko Ishibashi (Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII).
After first being shown in April 2022, Kingdom Hearts 4 remains in development. No release window has been announced.
