Kingdom Hearts III type Video Games

After years of waiting, Kingdom Hearts III is finally set to arrive in January — 13 years and two generations of PlayStation consoles since Kingdom Hearts II. Fans that didn’t play any of the various spin-offs and handheld prequel games that have come out since then may have a bit of mythology to catch up on, but the latest trailer makes clear that the franchise’s classic formula (Final Fantasy play-style and storytelling sensibility mixed with characters and worlds from beloved Disney movies) is still in full effect, and looks as fun as ever.

In the new trailer, we see Sora and his old traveling companions Donald and Goofy make it to various new worlds based on Disney movies, including Monsters Inc., Big Hero 6, Frozen, the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, and more. This marks the first time Pixar movies have had a place in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, but unfortunately, not all of these worlds appear to be in great shape. Hercules returns once more after having a major presence in both Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, but this time Olympus is burning. A statue of Hercules himself collapses in front of Sora’s eyes.

Some Disney characters still appear even without worlds of their own. In the trailer, we see Sora call on both Remy from Ratatouille and Stitch from Lilo & Stitch to help him out in battle. Previous videos have shown Ariel from The Little Mermaid performing the same function as a summon character.

As for the non-Disney side of things, Sora and his friends Riku and Kairi seem a little overwhelmed by the return of Organization XIII. After the young version of Master Xehanort tells Sora that “there’s no saving you,” everything starts falling apart. In an epic battle scene, we see Donald collapse to the ground, Kairi grabbed by a swarm of Heartless creatures, Axel/Lea blasted by lasers, and Sora crying out in despair as only Riku stands to hold off the Heartless.

Kingdom Hearts III is out Jan. 29 in the U.S. Watch the full trailer above.

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