Long-awaited action RPG Kingdom Hearts 3 will supposedly take over 40 hours to complete.
If this figure is correct, then Kingdom Hearts 3 will be the longest game in the series by quite some distance, which is welcome news indeed for series fans. For comparison's sake, handheld "spinoff" Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is around 30 hours long.
If you're rubbing your hands with glee at this news, then we have more glad tidings for you: that 40-hour number refers only to the main story, or the "critical path", according to a Square Enix PR representative. When minigames such as Gummi Ship building and other yet-to-be-announced features are factored in, completion time looks closer to over 80 hours. That's an awful lot of Kingdom Hearts for your dollar.
The latest game in Square Enix's long-running Disney / Final Fantasy crossover series has been a long time in the making. The first footage of the game was originally shown back at E3 2015, but it was originally announced at E3 2013. A release date of January 2019 was finally announced just ahead of this year's E3 presentation, which means fans will have been waiting almost 6 years when Kingdom Hearts 3 is finally released. Since the game's announcement and subsequent E3 showings, a trickle of information has been released by Square Enix as to what we can expect from the game.
Disney properties confirmed to feature prominently in Kingdom Hearts 3 include Big Hero 6, Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. These new worlds will join returning fan favorites like Pirates of the Caribbean, Hercules and original location Twilight Town. Features new to the third installment of the Kingdom Hearts series include the "Attraction Flow" theme park ride attacks, improved "Athletic Flow" traversal, and the possibility of including up to 5 characters in the player's combat party.
Kingdom Hearts 3 will be released in January 2019 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, marking the first time the franchise has been available on a Microsoft console.
Are you looking forward to getting stuck in with Kingdom Hearts 3? Does the prospect of an 80+ hour game excite you or terrify you? Let us know in the comments below!
