On Friday the 18th of December at 10:00pm (EST), Square Enix released a brand new trailer for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue that was displayed at Jump Festa 2016. Here is KH13's analysis of the trailer to bring you some interesting details of the story and the gameplay we have seen so far.

0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-

The first section of the trailer displays Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-. We get our first look of master Yen Sid, Kairi, Riku and King Mickey in real time, via the kingdom shader. Due to PS4's engine, the book on Yen Sid's desk has far more texture added compared to previous instalments. Also various assets have been removed and added in the Mysterious Tower. Yen Sid explains in order to protect the seven pure lights from master Xehanort, they must assemble seven guardians of light and therefore must bring back Terra, Ventus and Aqua. Does this confirm the trio from Birth by Sleep will be three of the seven guardians of light? King Mickey admits he, "met Aqua once, in the realm of darkness." This suggests that the 'encounter' Aqua has in the realm of darkness is with King Mickey himself. One can only wonder what happened during this encounter and why Aqua is still trapped in there for over a decade. The fact Aqua did not turn around suggests Square Enix may be keeping her full character model and gameplay a secret until sometime next year.

χ Back Cover

The second section shows HD cinematics of Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover. Back Cover will be using Unreal Engine 4, the engine used for Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-, and Kingdom Hearts III. The first shot we see is the room in the clock tower from χ Back Cover's counterpart, χ[chi]. Could the book on the desk be one of the six book of prophecies that belongs to the Master of Masters? Furthermore, this is the same room where the five foretellers are seen speaking to a black hooded figure in Kingdom Hearts χ[chi]. The foreteller of Unicornis states, "A Lost Page...There's something missing from our Book of Prophecies." To which the foreteller of Anguis replies, "Are you implying that the one in possession of the missing page is the traitor?" This leads us to believe the traitor stole the page to hide his or her identity from the events they are planning to unfold, when Leopardos confirms, "The missing page tells of a traitor in our midst." The voice actors of Riku, Kairi, Ventus, Terra and Aqua could be the same voice actors of the foretellers Unicornis, Ava (foreteller of Vulpeus), Leopardos, Ursus and Anguis respectively, although this is not yet confirmed. Could this be pure coincidence or could this mean something more? This actually adds greater depth to a popular theory that the foretellers were reborn as the Kingdom Hearts main protagonists. The final lines, whilst back in the clock tower, are spoken by someone we haven't heard yet. Could this be the Master of Masters?

Dream Drop Distance HD

The final section shows Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD. First and foremost, the 60 seconds of cinematics shown is over double the amount of gameplay shown at 27 seconds. This shows Square Enix really wanted to display the increased level of detail and improvements to the texture of the character models, compared to the graphical engine of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. This is displayed by having close up shots of many characters throughout. The subtitles have changed from the 1.5 and 2.5 ReMIX's as the bold outline has been removed to make the text look more clearer. During the gameplay there is no HUD menu displayed throughout, suggesting the game may release later in 2016 rather than earlier. The quality of the game is looking far brighter and flashier, whilst appearing to run at a consistent 30 FPS. Lastly, with Dream Drop Distance HD coming to home consoles, the camera appears to have been pulled back slightly to give a greater range of view and movement.

Are there any interesting features we may have left out? What are your thoughts on the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue trailer? Let us know in the comments below!