Updates From The 'Kingdom Hearts' Deep Dive At D23

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The Kingdom Hearts IV news drought is officially over. This weekend’s D23 had a special panel dedicated to the series called a Deep Dive into Kingdom Hearts, but the night before the panel, Disney brought some attention to the game. When Benjamin Bratt, the voice of Ernesto de la Cruz, introduced Coco 2, he talked about interacting in the Land of the Dead in a new way for gamers. The screen then announced that Coco will be a part of Kingdom Hearts IV, and that the game will come out in late 2027. For the game’s 24-year history, Disney has mostly ignored the series, so for them to use an official Pixar release to announce news about the game marks a significant change in how the company views the series. Shortly before D23, it was announced that Kingdom Hearts made the company $9 billion, so that could explain the shift.

Before the trailer played, there was another surprise announcement. Kingdom Hearts The Series is an animated series coming soon to Disney Plus. The series was developed by Disney in partnership with the game creator Tetsuya Nomura and Square Enix. According to Disney, the series “reimagines the iconic adventure with a brand-new story that will expand on the universe of Kingdom Hearts while celebrating the characters that have captured the hearts of millions of fans around the world.” The promotional image shows an unknown keyblade wielder from the back. One of the prevailing fan theories is this series will tell the story of the cancelled mobile game Missing Link. Others think it will be a retelling of the Union X mobile games, focusing on the Keyblade War. Some fans think the image shows a young Master Odin from the Dark Road mobile game. My personal hope is we’ll see some of Yen Sid’s keyblading adventures.

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Image Source: KH13

The following day Khleo Thomas, the actor who played Zero in Holes, hosted a panel with Nana Gadd, Director & Product Developer for Disney & Pixar games, Tai Yasue, the Co-Director for Kingdom Hearts IV, and surprise guest Creative Director Tetsuya Nomura along with a translator. Thomas first asked about world design and how they choose what to include. Nomura mentioned wanting something unexpected in each game leading to the inclusion of The Nightmare Before Christmas and a couple of live-action properties such as Tron and Pirates of the Caribbean. Gadd mentioned that some worlds are to fill a certain videogame trope, the world based on The Little Mermaid, being a prime example of that as it brought underwater gameplay to the original game. Yasue spoke about the need for variety and choosing worlds based on experience.

Remember that 90-second trailer from earlier. It turns out that it was edited down. The panel released the full trailer which runs for three minutes and 44 seconds, and, yes, it includes English dub. The trailer opens with Hector playing guitar as one of the skeletons fades away. Miguel asks what happened, and Hector explains the Final Death as everyone alive forgets you. Miguel then hops on stage and starts performing “Un Poco Loco.” While he’s performing heartless appear in the crowd, and Sora shows up in full calavera (skull) makeup. From there, the title appears, and the trailer cuts to scenes with a figure in a black coat on a familiar hill, dandelion seeds flying, and Sora and Strelitzia standing on a pier looking out on a wide ocean.

Both characters have phones and are part of something called the Dandelion Dispatch. A Darkside attacks Quadratum, and Vali from Dark Road is a confirmed character as Sora shouts his name. We see a shot of a trolley riding through Plaza de la Cruz and Sora summoning a guitar-like keyblade, inspired by Coco. He rides the keyblade and uses a chain attack to take down a giant bird enemy. We see Sora and Hector team up in a fusion attack with bones thrown and a burst pinata. Yasue mentioned that Hector can shoot his bows like an arrow and his arm as a nunchuck. The panel confirmed that Miguel will get in on the action with his guitar as well.

Image Source: Gadgets 360

Then, the trailer cuts to King Mickey in Scala Ad Caelum, stating what every fan is currently thinking, “This is a lot of new information.” He confidently asserts that he will be able to figure out how to save Sora. The mouse king is then sucked into a book where he learns how to use origami copies of himself to get through narrow cracks or break walls down. These sections will be fully playable. Mickey was playable in Kingdom Hearts II under certain conditions and only momentarily, and was playable for a small section of the Kingdom Hearts III DLC. Then, we see a cutscene of Donald and Goofy asking Hades about the afterlife. Hades confirms their questions but tells them Sora isn’t there. The trailer then shows gameplay of Donald and Goofy. This marks the first time that non-keyblade wielders are playable in story mode, The pair were playable in the Mission Mode of 358/2 Daysalong with Mickey, Riku, Sora, and the Organization XIII members. It looks like Donald will have access to his magic, and Goofy has a skills menu command, which will likely include some of his signature attacks from earlier games. There’s also a combat style menu option, but there are no details on what that means. The pair will be able to team up with fusion attacks, similar to how they would team up with Sora in previous games.

The scene returns to Quadratum where Sora sees a holographic Donald and Goofy and apparently faints from confusion. Then, we see Donald and Goofy as skeletons in the Coco world. Back in Quadratum, a cloaked figure finds Young Xehanort under an umbrella and calls him old coot, revealing himself to be Xigbar. Giant heartless attack the city, and Sora calls out the names of Strelitzia and Sigurd. A flash of light reveals Riku with keyblade in hand, saving the day. After the screen fades to black, a woman's voice tells Sora to wake up. This is most likely Kairi, but there has been no confirmation on that. 

Thomas asked about the original worlds, and Yasue replied that the world of Scala Ad Caelum in this upcoming game is exciting as it’s mostly puzzle-based exploration with Mickey. There’s paper thin Mickeys and giant Mickeys that we saw in the trailer, but there’s also box Mickeys, and the ability to throw Mickey like a paper airplane. Gadd mentioned enjoying work on the Toy Story world as they were able to team up with the creators to tell an original story authentic to the characters and officially canon to both universes. Nomura mentioned how much fun it is to work with the Disney characters and revealed that Maleficent has a large role to play in Kingdom Hearts IV. They also spoke about creating Disney-inspired worlds like Birth By Sleep’s Disneytown, which was based off of the feeling of Disneyland’s Toon Town, hence the curved buildings and the iconic castle. This world was host to most of the game’s mini-games as well. Nomura said that these worlds are less daunting since he’s not under pressure to replicate an exact appearance.

Yasue spoke about creating the realistic world of Quadratum, inspired by Tokyo. He actually ran around the city recording on a headband camera to get the sense of scale. The developers gave Sora some unique abilities to traverse the city quicker, like using the keyblade's chain as a grappling hook. Lastly, they spoke about the enduring themes of the story and the connections the game has sparked between fans. The panel promised that late 2027 is the official release date and will not be delayed.

Image Source: Gamepur

In case all of that wasn’t enough information, Thomas brought Haley Joel Osment (Sora), David Gallagher (Riku), and Renée Johnson, the Creative Director for Disney Character Voices. They spoke about the different rhythms of English and Japanese and the need to match the timing of facial animations. Johnson mentioned doing bad versions of the characters in her office to get the timing right. She also has to decide how to fill a long pause that works in Japanese but not in English before crediting Osment and Gallagher for being amazing at their jobs. Their main directions are more whiny for Sora and more angst for Riku. Johnson spoke about adapting characters to the situations while staying authentic. Mickey is the same Mickey from the parks and cartoons. He’s just in a unique situation fighting the darkness. 

Thomas revealed that despite them working on the same series for over two decades, the pair had never met until now. Voice recordings are typically done in a sound booth alone. Since the game is recorded in Japanese first, sometimes they can react to the Japanese audio, and sometimes some English audio is done, so they can react to that recording. Gallagher joked that he’s been looking for Osment for twenty-five years. Johnson revealed a scrap book from a colleague’s wife that showed a young Osment and Gallagher in the sound booth next to images of their characters. 

Image Source: D23

Osment had voice over roles before the series but had never recorded over Japanese audio, so he called it a delight to learn how to do that over the past twenty-five years. He also mentioned that his main challenge with Sora is how high his voice is, so he is unable to use about 70% of his register. This makes providing variety a challenge. Gallagher said his role represents two milestones in his career. It was his first videogame role and the first time he got to voice a role that leaned toward the dark side. Gallagher mentioned that the fun noises, like grunts and attack sounds, are recorded on the final day with the character’s scream of defeat recorded at the end since it’s so hard on the voice. Gallagher and Osment agreed that genuine laughter is the hardest sound to make since laughter is inherently voluntary. The need to time it with the animation adds another layer of difficulty.

Thomas shared a special video message for Sora’s Japanese voice actor Miyu Irino. He spoke about the gap growing between Sora and him as he grew older, but finding ways to step back into character. He thanked the fans for their support and called Sora his most challenging role, mentioning that it could take up to three years to record for a single game. He also had the opportunity to voice one of Osment’s original roles in a project. The video ended with Sora’s famous line, “My friends are my power.”

Since Osment and Gallagher never had an opportunity to record together, the pair went on to perform the final scene from Kingdom Hearts II live with Thomas narrating the action. The three of them took a selfie with King Mickey and the crowd and a King Mickey voiceover reminding the crowd, “May your heart be your guiding key.” With the game’s release next year and its 25th anniversary, it’s set to be a great year for Kingdom Hearts fans.

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Source(s): SpottinGames, Mouse Steps/JWL Media, Kingdom Hearts, IGN, Variety

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