Square Enix wins the award for “most belabored reveal of E3”
When Shinji Hashimoto took the stage during the Square Enix E3 2015 press conference, the giant screen behind him listing his position as the Executive Producer of the Kingdom Hearts series, it seemed pretty clear what was about to happen: A reveal of Kingdom Hearts III. And then it didn’t.
Instead, we were shown the Final Fantasy VII Remake trailer first revealed during last night’s Sony presentation, reminded that the PC version will be coming to PS4, and informed that the a port will also come to iOS. Stream viewers were left completely in the dark, as no translation was provided for Hashimoto’s comments preceding the video. What was happening here?
But then, Hashimoto (speaking through his translator) said it was time to move on to the Kingdom Hearts series. “Let’s take a look at this new game,” he said. The room darkened, the Disney logo splashed across the screen, a lone “woo” escaped the crowd. Clearly this was it, the moment everyone was waiting for.
NOPE. Instead of the Kingdom Hearts III trailer everyone expected, we were presented with a promo for mobile title Kingdom Hearts Unchained, confirming its eventual release in North America.
They did move on to an actual Kingdom Hearts III content. Sure, they spent another minute dragging their feet, cutting to a video with a pair of Disney executives to announce Tangled will be the basis for a new world in the game. This was immediately after Hashimoto pointed out that we would be better off watching footage of the game than listening to him talk, mind you. They could have simply shown the footage and included some Tangled bits instead of driving everyone crazy.
Truly, the whole thing was cruel.
The actual Kingdom Hearts III trailer, on the other hand, should look pretty good to fans. We’re shown young Xehanort and Eraqus playing what looks like some form of three-dimensional chess and taunting each other, but the bulk of the trailer is gameplay footage.
Sora is shown with his classic team of Donald Duck and Goofy fighting some plant-based enemies and, later, more familiar Heartless. There are a couple of flashy Keyblade transformations, including a cannon-type attack that launches huge balls of energy. A few summons show up too, based on Disney rides such as the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups, all decked out like they just finished participating in the Electric Light Parade.No release date has been announced for Kingdom Hearts III.
