Sora is back, Quadratum is getting bigger, Coco is joining the Disney lineup, and Kingdom Hearts IV looks set to take the series somewhere seriously weird.
It has taken Square Enix a while to get here, but Kingdom Hearts IV is finally starting to look like a real game rather than an elaborate fever dream teased in a trailer.
The next mainline entry in the famously complicated Disney-meets-anime-meets-please-explain-the-lore-again RPG series is scheduled to arrive in late 2027, bringing Sora, Donald and Goofy into a new chapter of the story.
And this time, things are getting decidedly more realistic.
Welcome to Quadratum
Kingdom Hearts IV picks up after the events of Kingdom Hearts III and Melody of Memory, with Sora trapped in the mysterious world of Quadratum.
If Quadratum looks familiar, that’s because it deliberately resembles a hyper-realistic version of Tokyo, complete with areas inspired by Shibuya and Minami-Aoyama.
Sora even gets his own apartment, which acts as his home base during the early portion of the game.
It is a pretty dramatic change from the colourful Disney worlds we’ve come to expect from Kingdom Hearts.
But that’s the point.
Quadratum is essentially a world where the rules are backwards. To the people from Sora’s original reality, Quadratum appears fictional. To the inhabitants of Quadratum, Sora’s world is the fictional one.
Because apparently Kingdom Hearts needed another layer of existential confusion.
Sora Has Learned Some New Tricks
Sora’s Keyblade is still very much the star of the show, but Kingdom Hearts IV is expanding what the weapon can actually do.
Parkour returns, allowing Sora to zip around the environment with considerably more freedom. The Keyblade can even transform into a grappling hook, letting him cover large distances and navigate the city in a way that looks considerably more acrobatic than previous games.
And then there’s the transformations.
In the upcoming Coco world, for example, the Keyblade can apparently transform into a guitar.
Because obviously it can.
The game also brings back the reaction commands made famous by Kingdom Hearts II, while introducing a new “scrap and build” mechanic that should give players additional ways to interact with the environment and combat system.
Square Enix is also spending more time exploring Sora’s everyday life and routines, giving us a glimpse of what happens when the Keyblade wielder isn’t busy beating the living daylights out of Heartless.
Donald and Goofy Are Finally Getting More to Do
One of the more surprising developments is that Donald Duck and Goofy will be playable.
Yes, really.
The pair have traditionally served as Sora’s party companions, but Kingdom Hearts IV is giving them a more direct role in gameplay.
Mickey Mouse is also playable, although his sections appear to be considerably different. His gameplay takes place in paper-like, book-inspired environments and focuses on puzzles.
Team Limit attacks are also returning, so fans of watching three characters unleash an unnecessarily spectacular combo attack are still being catered for.
Hello, Coco
The biggest new Disney/Pixar reveal so far is Coco.
The game will feature a world based on Pixar’s 2017 film, with Miguel, Héctor and Ernesto de la Cruz appearing.
Coco was apparently the first world selected for Kingdom Hearts IV, with director Tetsuya Nomura saying the film’s themes had particularly strong synergy with Sora’s story.
That makes a surprising amount of sense.
Kingdom Hearts has always been obsessed with memories, hearts, loss, death and the connections between people. Coco is basically built around those same ideas.
So expect this one to hurt.
Probably emotionally.
Probably while Yoko Shimomura’s music is playing.
Disney Worlds Are Still a Big Deal
Despite the dramatic shift toward a more realistic setting, Square Enix isn’t abandoning the Disney side of Kingdom Hearts.
The Hercules Underworld is returning, while other Disney and Pixar worlds will join the lineup.
There’s also plenty of speculation surrounding the mysterious forest shown in the original reveal footage. Fans immediately began wondering whether it could be Star Wars, particularly after spotting what appeared to be the foot of an AT-ST.
Square Enix hasn’t confirmed that theory, so for now it remains firmly in the Kingdom Hearts Rumour Machine™.
And anyone familiar with this franchise knows that the Rumour Machine is usually where things get interesting.
The Lost Master Saga Begins
Kingdom Hearts IV marks the beginning of the “Lost Master” story arc, following the conclusion of the Dark Seeker Saga and Xehanort’s story.
Naturally, that doesn’t mean we’re leaving the old characters behind.
The game will feature characters connected to the mysterious Dandelions, including Strelitzia and Sigurd, as well as Vali. Characters from Birth by Sleep, 358/2 Days and other corners of the Kingdom Hearts universe will also have roles to play.
And yes, Yozora is involved.
That probably raises more questions than it answers.
Yozora, first introduced through Kingdom Hearts III and its Re Mind DLC, is closely connected to Quadratum and the mysterious in-universe game Verum Rex.
For Kingdom Hearts fans, this is where things get particularly interesting.
Yozora’s design has long drawn comparisons to characters from Tetsuya Nomura’s abandoned Final Fantasy Versus XIII project, which eventually evolved into Final Fantasy XV.
Nomura has previously suggested that Yozora will play an important role in the future of the series.
So, naturally, everyone is going to spend the next year analysing every single frame of every trailer.
Fewer Worlds, More Detail
Here’s an interesting change: Kingdom Hearts IV is expected to have fewer worlds than previous games.
That might initially sound disappointing, but Square Enix says the reason is graphical fidelity.
The team wants each world to be considerably more detailed, and the jump in technology means creating highly realistic environments takes significantly more resources.
That is particularly obvious in Quadratum.
Sora himself has received a more realistic redesign, while the human characters and environments around him are also far more detailed.
Disney characters such as Donald and Goofy, however, retain the stylised look introduced in Kingdom Hearts III.
So we’re essentially getting realistic Sora hanging out with cartoon Donald Duck.
Which is, when you think about it, exactly the kind of visual nonsense Kingdom Hearts was invented for.
The Kingdom Hearts Lore Is Getting Even Deeper
If you thought you understood Kingdom Hearts, we’re sorry.
Square Enix has confirmed that elements from the mobile Union χ games are heavily integrated into Kingdom Hearts IV’s story.
That means players who ignored the mobile games may have some catching up to do.
The developers are apparently aware of this and have brought members of the mobile development team onto Kingdom Hearts IV to help make the complicated lore easier to understand.
Good luck with that.
The game’s script is also reportedly around twice the size of Kingdom Hearts III’s.
So if you thought the previous game had a lot of exposition, you might want to clear your schedule.
When Is Kingdom Hearts IV Coming Out?
Kingdom Hearts IV is currently scheduled for late 2027 on:
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox Series X|S
- Windows PC
- Nintendo Switch 2
Development appears to be progressing well, with English voice recording reportedly around 70% complete by the end of August 2026 and the Japanese voice work already finished.
Haley Joel Osment returns as Sora, while David Gallagher returns as Riku. Coco star Benjamin Bratt is also reprising his role as Ernesto de la Cruz.
Yoko Shimomura is returning to provide the music, which means we can probably start preparing ourselves emotionally now.
The Weirdest Game in Gaming Is About to Get Weirder
Kingdom Hearts has never been particularly interested in doing things the normal way.
A Disney RPG with Final Fantasy characters eventually became a sprawling mythology involving time travel, alternate realities, digital worlds, clones, talking animals, mysterious teenagers and a villain who somehow managed to turn wearing a black coat into an entire fashion movement.
Kingdom Hearts IV looks like it is taking all of that and turning the weirdness up another notch.
Quadratum provides a fascinating new setting, the return of Disney and Pixar keeps the series’ identity intact, and the expanded gameplay looks considerably more ambitious than what we’ve seen before.
There’s still a lot we don’t know.
But if nothing else, Kingdom Hearts IV is shaping up to be exactly the kind of glorious, ridiculous, lore-heavy adventure that only Kingdom Hearts could deliver.
And honestly?
We wouldn’t have it any other way.
