Kingdom Hearts 4 Returns!

Return to the Light!

May 14th was a rollercoaster of emotions for KH fans. In the wake of the cancellation of Missing Link, Square Enix uploads brand new screenshots of Kingdom Hearts 4. Whatever mixed emotions arose from the demise of Missing Link were balanced by the light and jubilation of Kingdom Hearts 4 resurfacing.

However, these KH4 screenshots came out at a perfect time! Kudos to Square Enix and whoever made the call to show these screenshots. It was an excellent response to the fallout of Missing Link.

These screenshots look beautiful and clean. While some of the visuals are still uncooked, you can tell that the graphical fidelity is much more developed and refined.

The arrangement of these screenshots are curious. They are presented in a collage. I don’t think these are random images thrown together.

I feel there is some significance to the collage. And there’s more to these screenshots than Square Enix wanting to give us something positive about KH. We diving deep into this collage while joyously discussing KH again.

The KH4 Screenshot Collage

Sora and Streliztia’s Glow Up!

The models of Sora and Streliztia look more realistic and beautiful. The lighting is much better, allowing the details of their clothing and face models to shine.

Going by Sora’s glow up, it’s safe to say that his Noctification is complete. Sora is not only a Disney character now. He now looks like a certified Final Fantasy character. The best of both worlds.

Strelitzia is gorgeous! She looks angelic. Also, I want to point out that her hairpins are arranged with the Roman Numerals for eleven. An obvious nod to her brother, Laruiam, and his nobody.

Battle Scenes

There are two versions of the battle scene. There is one version on the North American Twitter. And the other is on the Japanese Twitter.

Sora is battling new enemies. While it's they appear to be similar to Neo Shadows, they have more cybernetic feel to them. And there are two enemies with large gaunlets similar to Thanos's Infinity Gaunlet?!

Further, Sora appears to be riding on the chain of his keyblade. In the English version, there are gold chains and star particles while Sora is grinding the gold chain of his keyblade. This could be flowmotion at work, too, as Sora's shoes are glowing in both scenes.

Quadratum Battle Scene (English)

Also, the battle interface is back to being 2D. Build appears as the last action on the menu. In an interview for the reveal trailer for KH4, Nomura mentioned a new battle feature called "Scrap and Build."

With Scrap and Build, Sora can deconstruct enemies' attacks and craft them into his attacks. This could be in play as Sora is grinding upward on his Keyblade chain. We know the chain can be used for traversal from the KH4 debut trailer. It's pretty cool that they can use it for battle as well.

The Japanese version of the battle scene has Sora grinding upwards on the chain. He appears to be attacking the enemies. There's also a weird-looking aerial heartless about to attack Sora with a darkness sword.

Japanese Battle Scene

Rotary Phones

Why is there an outdated rotary phone in this screenshots? What I have learned from various content creators is that rotary phones have a special meaning in Japan. These phone are also known as “Wind Phones.”

In Japanese culture, wind phones are used by the living to contact a deceased loved one. This is used as a coping mechanism for a person who has lost someone. Wind phones allows the living caller to leave one sided messages for the departed recipient.

What significance does this hold for KH4? The phone could be used as a way for Sora to communicate with his friends in his home world. He can communicate with them directly or leave messages for his friends.

Quadratum is an afterworld for both Sora and Streliztia. And both have experienced death in one way or another. So, the wind phone does make sense.

The wind phones could be a way for Sora to travel to other worlds. The phones could lead Sora to other afterworlds. After all, we don’t know how he will go to other worlds

Wind Phones

Playable King Mickey

Mickey is playable in this screenshot. It looks he can only attack since that the only option available. He appears to be in a luxurious library, on top of the chandelier.

Mickey may be exploring Scala Ad Caleum. A task given to him by Yensid. Mickey’s search in Scala Ad Caleum seems to be important in finding Sora. Yet, the king's search could yield clues and trouble than he and the Guardians of Light were expecting.

Mickey is exploring a library.

Also, getting go back to the arrangement of the collage. Mickey’s scene appears to be the last of the images in this row. There’s the glow up of Streliztia, the Wind Phone, and Mickey.

Could there be any significance to this arrangement? With Nomura’s cryptic nature, you can’t rule anything out. Speculating about any breadcrumbs is exciting. Even the smallest details could have major importance in KH.

The Final Row

The final row of images has two lights attacking or heading towards the Darkside Heartless. Another scene has Sora surrounded by blind light and particles in the air. In the final image, Sora appears to be bewildered and responding to the arrival of two lights.

Now, the two lights could Sora and Streliztia take down the heartless. It possible could be the Masters of Masters and Luxu. We have no idea what these two are up especially the Master of Masters.

Heck, we don’t even know anything about Master of Masters. We only know that he wants to eliminate the True Darkness. But that's all we know.

There’s also the possibility that these two lights could be something else. Or they could be somebody else. The look Sora has on his face indicates that entities have him confused.

Is The Drought Truly Over?

With the cancellation of Missing Link, I feel more information about KH4 will be forthcoming. KH4 is officially the next KH game to release. The collage of screenshots gave us a lot of information and clues.

Also, the game’s development seems to be going well. The screenshots are extra confirmation that the development team for KH4 is hard at work. While more work needs to be done, we say that the game is looking beautiful. These screenshots are a massive evolution of what we saw from the KH4 debut trailer.

Also, I think development will ramp up more with KH4 due to Missing Link being canceled. But it is awesome to be talking about KH again. It’s fun to speculate and figure out the clues that Nomura gave us, too. Welcome back, KH! I missed you!

Sources: The GamersJoint Youtube