Kingdom Hearts III

Kingdom Hearts III is the eleventh title in the  series. It was officially announced at E3 2013, and will be the first Kingdom Hearts game available on multiple platforms at launch, releasing on both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Kingdom Hearts III will serve as the final chapter of the Dark Seeker Saga, and will focus primarily on the events leading up to the final showdown between Sora and Master Xehanort.

Kingdom Hearts III was originally scheduled to be released in 2018, but at the 2018 E3 presentation, Square Enix announced it had been postponed until January 25, 2019 for Japan and January 29, 2019 for the rest of the world.

There is a playable prologue to Kingdom Hearts III called Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage- as part of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue.

The game has two theme songs. The opening theme song is "Face My Fears" which is a collaboration between Utada Hikaru and Skrillex. The ending theme song is "Don't Think Twice" (titled "Chikai" in the Japanese version) performed by Utada Hikaru.

Development
The game was announced to be in development alongside a trailer during the (E3) in June 2013. A trailer was later released at the first D23 Exposition in Japan in October 2013, revealing initial gameplay.

For E3 2014, Square Enix released a thirty-second trailer as part of a trailer to Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX. In the Square Enix Present segment, co-director Tai Yasue revealed the sequence seen in the E3 2014 teaser would be relevant from the beginning of the game and the text seen and heard was going to "be a real integral part of the story". On September 17th, 2014, Square Enix announced Tetsuya Nomura would be stepping down as director for Final Fantasy XV so he can focus his efforts on other upcoming titles, namely Kingdom Hearts III.

During the Square Enix E3 Conference on June 16, 2015, the Kingdom Hearts series's executive producer, Shinji Hashimoto, revealed the first gameplay trailer which shows Sora in a new outfit. Sora is seen wielding new Keyblades, fighting new Heartless, and also exploring Kingdom of Corona, a world based on . In the Square Enix Presents segment, Nomura revealed Kingdom of Corona was one of the first to be considered for the game. In a PlayStation Access interview, Nomura confirmed Final Fantasy characters will return.

During Disney's D23 Expo 2015, Shinji Hashimoto announced a world based on ; San Fransokyo.

In a Famitsu interview, Nomura confirmed the game would contain a secret movie.

In their financial Results Briefing Session, Square Enix President and Representative Director Yosuke Matsuda and Chief Financial Officer Kazuharu Watanabe stated the expected release can be sometime between 2018 and 2020.

During Disney D23 Expo 2017, Nomura showed a trailer depicting Toy Box, a  world, and announced the game would be released in 2018. Nomura stated the game's delay is not due to development issues, but rather technical decisions made by Square Enix such as moving the game to Unreal Engine 4. Nomura confirmed the Toy Story world features an original storyline set sometime after , and hinted there would be another playable character besides Sora.

In April 2018, a collaboration campaign between Kingdom Hearts III and Kingdom Hearts Union χ, titled "Kingdom Hearts Make Your Mark" was announced where the 300 players could have their name appear in Kingdom Hearts III.

During Disney's D23 Expo Japan 2018 Conference, a private Kingdom Hearts event was held where two trailers were revealed. In one, Monstropolis, a  world was confirmed, while the other announced would perform the theme song, titled "Don't Think Twice" ("Oath" in Japanese). The event also revealed the game was being developed by the largest developing team in the history of the series, including 100 people from the Square Enix's Tokyo offices. The return of the Gummi Ship was confirmed, and it was revealed the gameplay for it, now playable as open-world instead of the preset paths from the first two games, had been split into "Battle" and "Searching" phases. The game was revealed to have been developed in three parts, with the first part being about 90% done, and the second between 60% and 70% done. Nomura noted the final world would feature "something incredible" he wanted to do for a while.

During the Los Angeles performance of the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra -World Tour- in 2018, the game's release date was announced as January 25, 2019 in Japan and January 29, 2019 worldwide. Two trailers were released, the first one confirming Arendelle, a world based on , along with confirming a number of returning characters, the second video, a Square Enix E3 Showcase 2018 trailer, which is similar to the first but with extra footage confirming a few more returning characters. Another video was released shortly afterwards to show a The Caribbean, based on . Nomura confirmed there were no plans for a Final Mix version and that if there was additional content, it would be through patches and DLC.

During Tokyo Game Show 2018, Nomura talked more about the Secret Ending and how staff were considering a different unlock method from before, such as having the Secret Ending be exclusive DLC to avoid spoilers. They also considered adding online features.

On November 20 2018, the development for the game was confirmed to be completed.

In December 2018, several videos of the game were leaked online after an individual stole copies from the manufacturer a month prior to release. Nomura released a statement on the Kingdom Hearts official Twitter account, notifying fans Square Enix was aware of the leaks and are working to rectify the situation, as well as urging fans not to share leaked media before the game's release.

Star Wars and Marvel titles were some of the most requested themes to appear in the game, but due to legal issues, this is extremely unlikely.

Combat features

 * The Command Menu from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II will return.


 * The gauges for Donald and Goofy now appear next to Sora's in the bottom right corner instead of above. The MP gauge from KHII returns. The "Focus" gauge which originated from Birth by Sleep returns and is also meant for Shotlocks.


 * Drive Forms return. These include;
 * "Guardian Form," a form that transforms Sora's Keyblade into a shield,
 * "Power Form,"
 * "Second Form," a form that grants Sora's clothing similar to that of his outfit from Kingdom Hearts II.


 * Reaction Commands will be replaced by Situation Commands.


 * Attraction Flow is a new feature, which lets the party execute skills based on theme park attractions. This includes "Big Magic Mountain", "Pirate Ship", "Blaster Blaze", "Splash Run", "Magic Carousel", and "Mad Tea Cups".

Publicized Keychains include: "Shooting Star", "Ever After", "Smile Gear", "Infinity Badge", "Rudder of Fate", "Crystal Snow", "Nano Gear", "Starlight", (Kingdom Hearts Union χ event exclusive), and "Dawn Till Dusk" (7/11 / Amazon preorder exclusive), Phantom Green (Xbox One pre-order exclusive), Midnight Blue (PlayStation 4 pre-order exclusive)
 * Sora's Keyblade can transform into various items through a process known as Formchange, such as a double bow gun or a chariot to attack enemies. It is currently planned for each Keyblade to have two transformations, with the second activating if Sora connects enough combos, similar to Command Styles or Situation Commands. Trailers indicate that these transformations will sometimes change Sora's outfit, as well.


 * Sora can now switch between three Keychains on the fly by pressing the Right Directional Button while the the cursor in on the Attack Command. Also after activating a Keyblade transformation, said transformation will be saved when switching out.
 * Furthermore, Keychains can now level up to become stronger.


 * Blizzard and Aero magic will return. Similar to 0.2, magic will affect the surrounding environment—for example, Blizzard will create a sheet of ice to slide on and Aero will move and shape the grass. Sora will be also able to cast fourth tier spells (previously localized as -za, -ja, or -agun).


 * Disney characters will join Sora's team as temporary party members or summons. Trailers indicate that some worlds will have more than one local party member, and that they will be able to fight alongside Sora without replacing Donald or Goofy.


 * The Summon system will operate very differently from in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. Summons are now called Links with Ariel's "Lagoon Showtime", Ralph's "8 Bit Blast", Simba's "Kingsflare", Meow Wow's "Wonder Balloon", and Stitch's "Plasma Encounter". A summon sequence can easily be skipped by pressing.


 * The AI has been improved, so allies can invite Sora into special techniques, and enemies can work together.


 * Much like with the Limit attacks from Kingdom Hearts II, Sora can team up with Donald and Goofy or other party members to perform powerful team-up attacks.

Exploration

 * Nearly all worlds are new to the series. However, there is some familiarity seen in Twilight Town, Hercules's world and the Pirates of the Carribean world.
 * Autorunning (Athletic Flow in Japanese), a mechanic based on Flowmotion, will allow the player to interact with the environment, like running up walls that faintly glow.
 * Textboxes when talking to NPCs are removed. The dialog is now voiced.

Other features

 * The game will contain mini-games. There is a cooking mini-game with Remy in Twilight Town.
 * The Gummi Ship will return with a revised system. Traveling is described as being more "open world".
 * Sora has a Gummiphone which can take selfies, as well as Lucky Emblems which are s. The amount of Lucky Emblems photographed is tied to unlocking the Secret Ending. For example, on Beginner, the player must photograph all of them, but on Proud, the player only needs to photograph a few of them.

Special Editions
A special and Deluxe edition will also be available alongside the main release. The Special edition is available for $79.99 which includes a exclusive steelbook packaging, a mini-art book with concept artwork by Tetsuya Nomura and a collectible KHIII pin. The Deluxe edition will be available for $229.99 which has the contents from special edition along with three Bring Arts figures of Sora, Donald, and Goofy from their appearance in the Toy Box.

DLC
There is downloadable contents (DLC) for the game either adding additional elements or in the form of Keyblades. Some are only available as pre-order bonuses. These include:


 * Patch update data
 * A Memory Archive that will be available on launch date based on the respective region that will show past events of the series to help inexperienced players catch up with the storyline, which is currently being used on Square Enix's Japanese website.
 * The epilogue ending for Kingdom Hearts III that will be available on the day after the date of release for each region which is unlockable by completing the game
 * A secret ending video will be added on January 31 for all regions, and has been stated to require completing the game under certain conditions based on the difficulty level, similar to past games.