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.”
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.
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.
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.”
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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.
