What is Next for Kingdom Hearts?
March 28th 2002 was the day in Japan that the first Kingdom Hearts game released. While over the course of the rest of the year it means we have a marker and that 2022 is the 20th anniversary for Kingdom Hearts. You could argue this comes at a good time, the Xehanort saga is done and Kingdom Hearts can start a new saga. However, I feel that 2022 could be the most pivotal year for the series. But first let's break down the current situation.
Union χ as a game is coming to an end and being shut down relatively soon to the time of writing this and the same with Dark Road set for an end in September 2021. This in what I hope is an end to crucial lore being in Mobile Games and while we await answers to the questions these games pose I feel it makes sense to look at where we stand with what we know.
Sora has ended up in the realm of Unreality (because it will be a cold day in hell before I use 'the realm of fiction') with 'Yozora' or someone who takes the form of Yozora being tasked to save him. In Melody of Memories we are left with Riku going to this realm thanks to an unknown star (most likely the women featured in the Verum Rex adds in Toy Box) acting as the gateway with Kairi going to train with Master Aqua to get strong enough to help.
To break it down, we have Sora (but we don't know what ending of Kingdom Hearts 3: ReMind is canon), Riku & Yozora all in this realm. Logic dictates this is our next adventure in the series. If we refer to this as Kingdom Hearts: Verum Rex going forward as a tentative title I do believe this to be the next title. If it wasn't for it being the 20th Anniversary next year I would say maybe not but I can see them wanting to do something big and this is as big as it gets.
However, while likely doesn't mean my bias can't get in the way. I love the Sea Salt Trio (which I guess is technically a 7 now). I think you see a split where people who played 358/2 days compared to watching the cutscene collection and how the trio are viewed. I think they have the most interesting story and the one that currently is being set up the most at this moment in time in relation to the search of subject X. I'd love to see this being the next focus but I don't feel it will be. If we look at how Kingdom Hearts works normally we get an exclusive game for most consoles (unless it's an Xbox) so it feels like it'd be something that would end up as a Switch exclusive game but with Melody of Memories being on both PS4 and Switch I wonder if there's a change in philosophy. I do feel this is something we will see later on. Many feel subject X is Skuld and with Union χ finishing soon I wonder if they'll be a break before we come back to that story just so it can fully be mapped out.
In the same vein regarding Union χ everything around Ven and the Foretellers needs that conclusion to be reached before continuing it. I refer to this as a separate story but this feels linked to Skuld and thus Axel and Saïx if the speculation is correct.
It's odd I started this wanting to have an idea of all the possibilities but seem stuck on what's next aside of it being Verum Rex. The best thing to do is break down each open question of the series and see where it could go next. I see that as follows
- The fate of Sora and the realm of unreality
- Kairi training under Master Aqua
- The search for subject X
- The return of the Foretellers and Luxu/Xigbar and the box
- The fate of the dandelions
The more looking at all of these they look interconnected. I worry we will get small progression for all of these per games instead of big gains in lore per games. I guess this is good not having to jump around 3 different games to work out what is happening at once I wonder if this will slow down the progression of the second phase of Kingdom Hearts. At the end of the day I am a quality over quantity guy so I wouldn't complain if we got good games over rushed games for more content.
At the end of the day I could be so far wide of the mark. For all we know we could get Sora in a World Ends With You like environment and meet up with Neku Sakuraba (or even the protagonist from the new game) and go from there. I think it's quite nice to have it so open as to where the series could go instead of just expecting certain things (see the expectation on Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl) after all we could just get release dates.
Regardless, Kingdom Hearts is a franchise close to my heart and with so many games not being able to get new entries to their series or studios being shut down it is nice to see this series continuing. I can't wait to see what the 20th anniversary of the series brings. If one thing is guaranteed, it will give fans a lot to talk about.
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