A LinkedIn profile belonging to a Japanese game developer has revealed some interesting new details about Kingdom Hearts 3 and a game called Kingdom Hearts 2.9.
Fansite KH13.com found the profile, which belongs to a Square Enix developer in Osaka.
So what’s new?
The developer worked on a game called “Kingdom Hearts 2.9” for 10 months. This is a game that was listed on Square Enix’s presentation schedule at E3, but disappeared without a trace, leaving people wondering if it was a typo or a leak. Joe Parlock at Destructoid theorizes that Kingdom Hearts 2.9 might be a re-release of previous games for the PlayStation 4, which makes a lot of sense. Kingdom Hearts 3 will be coming out for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but none of the current-gen consoles have any of the Kingdom Hearts games yet. That’s no good for people who want to play catch-up on the series.
Rapunzel’s tower is visible in this teaser from Kingdom Hearts 3.
HD remakes of Kingdom Hearts I and II have both been released for the PlayStation 3, giving this theory more weight. Square Enix is really not above releasing the same game a few times with spit n’ polish. Still Tetsuya Nomura denied this in a 2015 interview at E3.
The profile also lists “Attraction Flow” under Kingdom Hearts 2.9. Attraction Flow is a move that will be in Kingdom Hearts III, so it’s uncertain what its place in Kingdom Hearts 2.9 will be.
As for Kingdom Hearts 3, the profile suggests that Pixar is joining Disney and Square Enix. That means we could see characters and settings from films like Up, Monsters, Inc., and Inside Out in a Kingdom Hearts game for the first time. The developer also worked on “multiplayer planning and documentation,” as well as boss battles and world design.
The most exciting thing about this? Proof that Kingdom Hearts 3, which was conceptualized in 2006, is still trucking along. There’s no release date for the game yet, but fans of the series can hold out hope that it’s on the way. Eventually.
