Gaming

‘Kingdom Hearts 3’ Is Finally Out After 12 Years, And People Are Having A Lot Of Feelings

Kingdom Hearts fans have done their waiting! Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!

by Amanda Yeo  30 January 2019
Kingdom Hearts 3

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Kingdom Hearts fans have done their waiting! Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!

Kingdom Hearts 3, a role-playing game by Square Enix and Disney’s powers combined, finally hit Australian shores yesterday. Yes, it was only released in Japan on January 25, but fans haven’t just been waiting for this for four days. It’s been 12 years since the release of Kingdom Hearts 2, and players have been well and truly ready for the series’ next instalment.

While a collection of mobile games, Nintendo DS games and PlayStation Portable games did come out in the time between Kingdom Hearts 2‘s release and this week’s Kingdom Hearts 3, most were prequels. Kingdom Hearts 3 finally concludes the main series’ Dark Seeker Saga – a saga which has now taken 16 years to tell, and which was only intended to be Kingdom Hearts’ first act.

Kingdom Hearts’ timeline could best be described as a Jeremy Bearimy. In simplest terms, the plot follows our anime protagonist Sora and his trusty sidekicks, Donald Duck and Goofy, on a quest to defeat bald wizard Xehanort. Xehanort wants to destroy and remake the world, and Sora and pals are very much not about that.

Along the way, our intrepid band of bizarre heroes visit various locations from Disney films and meet their residents, making friends, influencing people, and whacking things with a giant key. In Kingdom Hearts 3, these locations include the worlds of Big Hero 6, Frozen, Monsters Inc., Tangled and Toy Story, all of which are being introduced to the series for the first time.

Look, it’s much more complex than that, but for the sake of brevity and sanity, let’s leave it there.

Fans are incredibly excited by the return of the beloved franchise, many having quite literally grown up with the series. The first Kingdom Hearts game was released in Australia on 28 September 2006, and now many of its original fans are adults. It’s a great blast of wholesome nostalgia.

[Discussion] I started this journey as a boy, continued it as a teenager and I’m about to finish it as a man. from KingdomHearts

Of course, not everyone grew up with the series, and its confusing lore may turn some people off. But, in some small part, we call all partake in the happiness Kingdom Hearts 3‘s release has brought.