Hot off the heels of Kingdom Hearts 3, one of the most anticipated game sequels in the last 20 years, Square Enix is getting back to work on the next installment of the Kingdom Hearts series. This was confirmed through a series of recent job postings listed by the Japanese company on its official website.
According to the site, Square’s Osaka branch is seeking professionals for the “HD development of the Kingdom Hearts series.”
While fans might be quick to hail this as proof of the development of a Kingdom Hearts 4, it should be noted that history does not support that theory.
There were 14 years separating 2005’s release of Kingdom Hearts 2 and 2019’s Kingdom Hearts 3. But that does not mean that we were without Kingdom Hearts titles for that entire time period.
Far from it.
Square delved into the world of Kingdom Hearts time and time again through a series of handheld games like Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. There were also a number of mobile games like Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded, among others.
What makes Kingdom Hearts a unique franchise is that these “side games” played a pivotal role in the storyline of the long-awaited third major console installment. Players who never ventured into the Disney-inspired worlds of these “side games” were left scratching their heads at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 3.
Square and Disney made up for this by re-releasing the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise on PlayStation 4, which included all of the handheld games, playable for the first time on a major console. Even the mobile games were included in the form of cutscene movies.
Whether the next installment in the franchise is going to be a move forward into a major fourth title or the first in a series of new side quest games remains to be seen. Square has released no official word on what is going on with the future of the franchise other than that it will continue beyond Kingdom Hearts 3.
While Kingdom Hearts 3 may have felt like an ending to many players, it merely marked the end of what was dubbed the “Xehanort Seeker of Darkness Saga,” putting an end to Sora’s struggle with longtime series antagonist Xehanort and his many alternate versions.
Kingdom Hearts 3 released on January 25, 2019, on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles. It included journeys to various Disney movie inspired worlds like Frozen, Tangled, Monsters Inc., Big Hero 6, and even Toy Story.
