D23, Disney’s biggest fan convention, continues with a special panel all about Kingdom Hearts. IGN is on the ground bringing you the biggest news, reveals, and updates from the presentation as it kicks off today, August 15.
Titled ‘DEEP DIVE into KINGDOM HEARTS,’ this panel will stream live starting 4:30 PM PT / 7:30 PM ET / August 16 at 12:30 AM UK Time. You can watch it on IGN’s own YouTube channel, which we will embed in this article for your convenience once the show gets started.
Disney said the panel will give fans a “behind-the-scenes look at the making of the games,” with insights from the “creative minds, character voices, and more behind the magic.”
Kingdom Hearts 4 – Official Announcement Images
Guests on the panel include Nana Gadd, director of games at the Walt Disney Company’s Japan branch, Tai Yasue from Square Enix, Haley Joel Osment, the voice of Sora, David Gallagher, the voice of Riku, and Renée Johnson, who is behind several Disney character voices.
This event follows gameplay footage shown at D23’s Friday night showcase at the Honda Center the day prior, where fans got to see Sora battling the Heartless in Coco’s Land of the Dead. A Kingdom Hearts animated series was also announced, which will stream on Disney+ on an as-yet unreleased date.
Follow along starting at 4:30 PM PT / 7:30 PM ET for all of the latest updates from what’s shaping up to be one of the most highly-anticipated looks at Kingdom Hearts 4 and what’s next for the series.
And that’s a wrap!
Thanks for keeping it locked to IGN for our live report of D23’s Deep Dive into Kingdom Hearts panel. And remember — let your heart be your guiding key!
Haley Joel Osment and David Gallagher Take the Stage
Haley Joel Osment, David Gallagher, and Renée Johnson came up on stage, where they discussed their experiences working on Kingdom Hearts over the years.
Johnson showed off an adorable scrapbook of images taken from production during Kingdom Hearts 1, which one of her colleague’s wives made all those years ago. It was seriously cute and a major throwback for both the actors and the KH fanbase.
Osment joked about how he has to change his voice to sound more like his younger self, saying it feels like his eyes are about to “pop out” of his head when he’s recording Sora these days. Gallagher remarked that his 17-year-old self was shocked at playing a ‘bad guy’ in Riku, saying he was used to being a ‘golden boy’ up until that point.
Miyu Irino, the Japanese voice actor for Sora, also appeared in a short video to send fans a message thanking them for their support over the years.
Finally, Haley Joel Osment and David Gallagher took to the stage to perform the final scene from Kingdom Hearts II live for the panel audience in a touching moment. Mickey, dressed up like Sora, showed up to take a photo with the voice actors and the audience.
Kingdom Hearts IV to Launch in Late 2027
While no specific date was mentioned, Yasue confirmed that Kingdom Hearts IV will launch in 2027.
“Development is very smooth, it’s a 100% thing. We will get there for sure,” he said.
Nomura went on to say the game will launch in “late 2027,” reassuring fans that this date will not get pushed back.
“One last thing I wanted to share: we announced the game will come late 2027. Online. some people were saying the release date my get pushed back. I want to set the record straight: that is not happening,” Nomura said.
“There’s many things underway, many plans we have underway. Now that we are approaching the 25th anniversary, we’re thinking about what the 30th anniversary [looks like],” he added.
Nomura also confirmed that he is “deeply involved” in the Kingdom Hearts animated series, though admitted that he wasn’t allowed to say much else on the topic.
New traversal mechanics, mini-games, and gameplay segments
Nomura made specific mention of the villains in Kingdom Hearts’ world, saying that Maleficent plays a “very important role” in the story of Kingdom Hearts IV’.
Yasue said an original world in KHIV, DisneyTown, was inspired by the Disney Parks, specifically mentioning the many desserts included in an event called the ‘Dream Festival’ in the game, which features an ice-cream-themed mini-game.
Nomura also mentioned incorporating a “variety of different gimmicks” into the game, saying there was an idea they had since Kingdom Hearts III that they were finally able to realize in this upcoming title, calling it a “very, very exciting idea.”
Yasue went on to mention some unique traversal mechanics coming to Kingdom Hearts IV, specifcally in Quadratum. Players will be able to shoot their keychain to launch themselves forward over large distances, launch themselves off of buildings, slide down powerlines, and twirl down poles.
Getting Quadratum right was a big deal for the team, with Yasue explaining the lengths staff went to in order to translate the city’s lighting and overall vibe to the game, such as walking through Tokyo and taking photos everywhere they went.
Extended Kingdom Hearts IV Trailer Shown at D23 Panel
Nomura admitted that the trailer we saw at Friday night’s Honda Center showcase was a shorter, abridged version of the actual trailer. He showed the full trailer at the panel, which begins the same way as the previous one.
This trailer gives a better look at Quadratum, showing futuristic, flying vehicles, and Sora using a smartphone before throwing down with some heartless.
A Mickey gameplay segment is also shown off, with two-dimensional, Link Between Worlds-style gameplay. Players can also seemingly take control of Goofy and Donald or segments centered around those characters.
Riku was also shown off in the trailer, with Kairi urging Sora to “wake up” in a voiceover once the trailer was over.
Tai Yasue teased some seriously inventive gameplay, saying that Hector uses his bones as nunchucks and projectiles, with Miguel using his guitar to help fight enemies alongside Sora.
Yasue also dove into Mickey’s gameplay segment, where he dives into a book and navigates a paper world where he creates origami copies of himself. There are big, small, and even paper-thin Mickeys, and if you throw him, he turns into a paper airplane. “It’s sort of a puzzle-based game design,” he said.
King Mickey kicks off the Kingdom Hearts Panel with Khleo Thomas
King Mickey kicked off the event with a voiceover introduction for our host, actor Khleo Thomas, best known for his role in Holes. Thomas excitedly waxed poetic about his love for Kingdom Hearts before introducing the panelists: Director of Product Development at Disney and Pixar Games, Nana Gadd, Co-director of Kingdom Hearts IV, Tai Yasue, and Tetsuya Nomura himself!
“Thank you so much for inviting me today. It’s been seeral years, but I finally managed to get myself out here. I actually got here yesterday, but becayuse my apperance was a surprise, I couldn’t show up until now.,” Nomura said, via a translator.
Nomura admitted that he wants each Kingdom Hearts game to contain “at least one unexpected world, especially those based on live-action films.” He also revealed that The Nightmare Before Christmas was an early “must-have” world for Kingdom Hearts 1, with Gadd confirming that The Little Mermaid was also one of their first picks due to providing an underwater level.
“When it comes to worlds …I typically proioritize the gameplay experience above all else,” Nomura continued. “We think about what worlds and which characters would make those the most enjoyable for players. When I do have a chance that we absolutely need to inclued a certain world, I think about how it synergizes overall with Sora’s story, and when considering overall themes, we thought Coco would be the best to help us achieve that goal.”
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.