Two New Kingdom Hearts Games Arriving This Year

Kingdom Hearts, the popular role-playing game that allows players to interact with beloved characters from the roster of Disney and Pixar, returns in two separate games this year.

A Japanese language trailer was released, complete with gameplay and a full orchestra playing some of the iconic music that fans have come to love from the series, Polygon reports.

There will be an expansion to the mobile game “Kingdom Hearts: Union X” which prominently features the animated version of Maleficent (not the anti-hero in the films starring Angelina Jolie). This expansion looks to feature heavy card-playing action.

“Kingdom Hearts: Union Dark Road” is a brand new title that appears to take place right after the previously mentioned game and is in the same animation style. “Kingdom Hearts: Union Dark Road” will be released on June 22 on Android, Apple, and Amazon devices.

In “Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory,” the characters are bigger, looking like their counterparts in the first few games of the “Kingdom Hearts” series. Although this appears to be a joyful rhythm game, there’s a hidden dark side as evidenced by the presence of the dark hoods that Roxas wore as Sora’s Nobody.

Sora and his familiar Keyblade are seen teaming up with characters such as Donald Duck, Goofy, Aladdin, and even Hercules. The settings cut across familiar Disney films such as “Toy Story,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Tangled,” and “Frozen.

According to Polygon, Kairi looks to be a central character though if the cut scenes in the trailer are any indication. She also seems to have her own version of a Keyblade as a weapon. “Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory” will be available on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch sometime in 2020.

Since the first “Kingdom Hearts” was developed by Square and released on the PlayStation 2 in 2002, the series has proven to be popular and endearing because of a number of elements.

These include the Disney and Pixar characters and scenarios, the playable characters that are reminiscent of Square’s own “Final Fantasy” catalog, the orchestral music performed by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the actual gameplay.