Summary
Kingdom Hearts 4may still be a bit far away, but fans of the franchise are nonetheless excited to see the next chapter of Sora’s journey, which has been unfolding for quite a while.The firstKingdom Heartsgamereleased more than two decades ago, and the series has undergone a great deal of changes during that time. This is the seed of a bit of contention, whichKingdom Hearts 4may be able to quell.
Generally speaking,Kingdom Heartsis a fairly uncontroversial franchise, and it leverages nostalgia and raw emotion in a way that few gaming series are able to, maintaining consistent fan interest for an impressive period of time. Of course, there is one common criticism ofKingdom Hearts: its narrative. The series' story, helmed by Square Enix veteran Tetsuya Nomura, is often cited as a prime example of excessively convoluted video game plot-and-world-building, surpassing even a franchise likeMetal Gear Solidin its complexity and confundity. WhetherKingdom Hearts' story is “good” or “bad” is a subjective matter, but it’s hard to deny that it is complicated and difficult to keep track of at times, andKingdom Hearts 4should take steps to remedy this issue.
Kingdom Hearts 4 Is the Perfect Candidate for Destiny 2’s Timeline Features
Director Timeline Features Add Much-Needed Clarity to Destiny 2
Last year,Destiny 2introduced Timeline Reflection, an expansion of the existing Timeline feature in the Director that allows players to tackle short missions that summarize crucial narrative beats. These timeline features are great for a live-service title likeDestiny 2, which is designed around the periodic release of new story-focused expansions. It’s common for players to hop aboardDestiny 2with the release of a new expansion, but with seven years of lore to catch up on,Destiny 2’s narrative can be intimidating for newcomers. This is alleviated by the Timeline feature.
Why Kingdom Hearts 4 Desperately Needs Its Own Suite of Timeline Features
There are a lot ofKingdom Heartsgames, some of which, likeKingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, are locked to specific platforms. This makes the story ofKingdom Heartsparticularly inaccessible as, even if a player has the requisite hardware, they will still need to commit a great deal of time if they want to experience the story first-hand. Add to this a sprawling cast of characters, complicated multi-world structure, and dense plot, andKingdom Hearts’s narrative quickly becomes cumbersome and hard to parse.
Players can watch the cutscenes of a game like358/2 DaysonKingdom Heartsconsole bundles, but this solution is inelegant and time-consuming, on top of not covering things like in-game dialog, which can be important for storytelling purposes.
Compared toKingdom Hearts,Destiny 2’s expansion-spanning narrativeis practically elementary; it’s clear thatKingdom Hearts 4needs something akin toDestiny 2’s timeline features, offering clear and concise summaries of previous games in the series not just for newcomers, but for anyone who hasn’t played every single game in the franchise. Since there are thirteenKingdom Heartsgames, it’s likely thatKingdom Hearts 4’s player base will be primarily composed of those fitting that description.
Though individualKingdom Heartsgames can have compelling, self-contained narratives, it’s easy for players to feel like they’re missing context when hopping into the series' latest installment. There are plenty of valuable online resources available for those looking for background information aboutKingdom Hearts, but this should not be necessary: the series' broader narrative ought to be comprehensible without the use of outside sources. Such sources can still add important analysis, but a streamlined, possibly playable, summary of the story so far, baked intoKingdom Hearts 4,would go a long way toward improving the overall player experience.
Kingdom Hearts 4
Kingdom Hearts 4 is an action RPG developed by Square Enix and represents the fifteenth installment in the franchise. Players once again are put in the shoes of Sora who is suddenly trapped in a more realistic world called Quadratum, with companions like Donald and Goofy attempting to rescue him. Kingdom Hearts 4 is a direct sequel to Kingdom Hearts 3 and Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.
