Following the news earlier today that the long-developed mobile game Kingdom Hearts: Missing-Link was being cancelled, Square Enix posted a collection of screenshots for Kingdom Hearts IV. Included in the screenshots is a look at King Mickey Mouse being playable in the game, at least in a short library section of the game. This is the first official look given for the game since its announcement in 2022.
What’s in the Kingdom Hearts IV screenshots?
Included in the Kingdom Hearts IV screenshots are:
- Sora fighting some heartless in Quadratum, he seems to be surfing on a floating keychain, which appears to be a new special move. The Command bar also shows a new option in Build.
- Strelitzia, who appeared in Kingdom Hearts Union χ, another mobile game, and the original announcement trailer.
- A telephone.
- Mickey standing on a chandelier in a library that looks like it might be in Twilight Town. There only being the Attack command does signal that his gameplay won’t be significant. Regardless, this is the first time he is playable since Kingdom Hearts II.
- The giant heartless that Sora fought in the original trailer, though it is darker this time around.
- Sora staring out into the daylight from what seems to be an overpass.
- Sora in a cutscene.
Obviously, the posted message above is an attempt to try to calm players that are growing restless while waiting for new Kingdom Hearts news. Given the challenges of game development, three years isn’t a super long time to wait for news on a video game these days, but considering how long Square Enix made us wait for Kingdom Hearts III, it’s not necessarily surprising people are getting antsy when a side project gets cancelled.
Unfortunately, outside of the screenshots, which at least mostly all take place in Quadratum, we have no clue about the next time we will learn more about Kingdom Hearts IV. There’s always the potential for the game to appear at one of the summer showcases next month, but we would imagine if that were to happen, they wouldn’t post info like Mickey being playable now. It may be another turn of the calendar until we hear more, and that’s if the next Final Fantasy game isn’t getting Tetsuya Nomura’s full attention first.
