After the enormous success of Kingdom Hearts II and the many handheld entries that followed, the wait for Kingdom Hearts III felt almost unreal. Thirteen years is an eternity in gaming. Entire console generations rise and fall in that span of time, and Kingdom Hearts skipped one completely, jumping from the PS2 era straight to the PS4. For years it became a ritual: every new gaming showcase brought the same question — is this the year they finally announce it? When that first teaser trailer dropped, it felt surreal. Seeing Sora in full HD, watching waves of Heartless swarm across the screen, it looked like everything fans had imagined and more.
But time changes things. Not just technology — expectations. Disney itself had evolved dramatically in those thirteen years. Pixar had become a dominant force. Marvel and Star Wars were now under Disney’s umbrella. The cultural landscape wasn’t the same as it was in 2002 or 2005. And when Kingdom Hearts III finally arrived, it felt like stepping into a very different version of this universe.
Where the first two games felt tightly connected — revisiting worlds like Agrabah or Halloween Town, running into familiar faces, continuing friendships — this entry largely abandoned that sense of continuity. Instead, it introduced entirely new worlds inspired by modern Disney and Pixar films: Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Frozen, Tangled, and Big Hero 6. On paper, that’s exciting. And visually, they’re stunning. But emotionally, it felt different. Instead of returning to old friends, you were constantly starting over. The familiarity that made Kingdom Hearts I and II feel like one continuous journey wasn’t there in the same way.
Even the Final Fantasy presence felt scaled back. In earlier games, those characters helped ground the story and reinforce that crossover magic. Seeing them interact, fight together, and exist naturally within this world was part of what made the franchise feel unique. That blend — Disney and Final Fantasy intertwined — was essential. Without it playing a major role, something felt slightly off.
That’s not to say Kingdom Hearts III doesn’t have incredible moments. When the story finally converges at the Keyblade Graveyard, the game finds its emotional momentum again. The reunions hit hard. The scale feels appropriately epic. Donald casting Zettaflare is one of the most shocking and powerful moments in the entire series. The final confrontations with the various incarnations of Xehanort are dramatic and visually spectacular. There are real highs here.
The combat itself is fluid and explosive, arguably the flashiest it has ever been. Yet sometimes it borders on overwhelming spectacle — attraction flows, cinematic finishers, constant visual fireworks. There are moments where it feels like you’re pressing triangle through a theme park ride of abilities. It’s fun, undeniably, but it can lack the grounded rhythm that made Kingdom Hearts II’s combat feel so satisfying and deliberate.
The biggest hurdle, though, is the story’s complexity. Kingdom Hearts once thrived on simplicity: the seven princesses of heart, Maleficent’s schemes, Ansem as the looming threat. In III, the narrative is dense with time travel, multiple versions of the same character, lingering mysteries like the black box, and reveals layered on top of reveals. If someone played the first game and then jumped straight to the third, it would almost feel like an entirely different franchise. The scale is bigger, the ideas more ambitious, but the clarity is harder to hold onto.
Even the ending leaves lingering uncertainty. Sora’s fate remains unclear, and years later fans are still waiting for concrete answers. We’ve seen a glimpse of the future with the reveal of Kingdom Hearts IV — a trailer watched and rewatched endlessly — but updates have been scarce. It’s now been years again, and that familiar waiting game has returned.
Kingdom Hearts III is what I’d call a perfect imperfect game. It’s beautiful. It’s ambitious. It has moments that absolutely soar. But it also feels like the weight of its own mythology. The magic that defined the first two games — their simplicity, their emotional clarity, the joy of revisiting worlds and friends — doesn’t quite land the same way here.
I still love this franchise deeply. All three main titles mean something to me. But if I’m being honest, Kingdom Hearts III is the one I revisit the least and think about the least. It’s a great game. It just lives in the shadow of two nearly perfect ones.
And maybe that’s the real story of Kingdom Hearts III: not a failure, not a disappointment — but the complicated finale to a journey that meant so much, trying to carry the weight of thirteen years of expectation.
Kingdom Hearts 3 = 7.7/10
My reviews for KH1 and 2!
