1.Kingdom Hearts 4-Reveal Trailer

The first footage of the work in progress is the next installment of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, that is, Kingdom Hearts 4. I can’t lie, when the trailer first dropped, I was in pure awe. Considering the massive amount of  time and installments that were put between Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, as a longtime fan of the franchise it’s reassuring to see that this won’t be the case with 3 and 4. While we still won’t receive ample news on its development until possibly later this year or onward, this trailer is a sign that Square Enix is confident in their vision and plans for Sora’s next adventure

2. Announcement ArtWork

Here we have an image of the work in progress logo for Kingdom Hearts 4, a new character model for Sora, and a new character from one of the side games in the series making her main franchise debut. Many fans have pointed out and speculated that this female character is Kairi, Sora’s longtime friend and a third of the trio friend group. These designs are notably more realistic in appearance to coincide with the underlying themes and game direction of this next installment. Though it may seem this game will go in a more realistic style for direction, the magical mysticism of the franchise will still be present in the forefront.

3.Concept Cover ArtWork

Here we have some fan concept art of what the cover for Kingdom Hearts 4 may look like. In true Kingdom Hearts fashion, fans know little to nothing about what the next installment will look like or even involve, but thanks to sparse interviews with Tetsuya Nomura and secret endings in various installments, fans have enough to make theories of their wildest imaginations.

 This concept art is reminiscent of KH3’s art style and features Kairi, Riku, Sora in the distance and a woman with a star shaped light in the forefront. Nomura has gone on the record to say that this installment focuses on Sora’s disappearance at the end of 3’s events, leading fans to speculate that his friends will begin to take on more integral roles within the story.

4.Sora taking on a Star Wars mecha

It looks like Sora isn’t in Traverse Town anymore. In this image we see Sora going toe to toe with a Star Wars mecha, another fan created image. Due to the sudden departure from cartoony proportions to adopt a more realistic look, many fans have speculated that this next installment in the franchise will feature Star Wars and even Marvel related worlds. In all honesty it makes a lot of sense. The only way to make sense of a more realistic Kingdom Hearts would be to include more realistic Disney properties, however, I do still believe there will still be animated Disney IP’s present as well.