“Far, far away, in a fairy-tale realm…

The realm was filled with light.

That light gave birth to many worlds, enveloping them.

The source of the light, Kingdom Hearts, and the key that protected it, the χblade…

As long as they existed, it was believed that the realm would be in eternal light.

However, just as strong light will form a shadow, darkness was born.

The darkness called up fear, unease and craving.

Darkness, hidden deep in hearts, began to spread throughout the realm as chaos.

In order to drive back the spreading darkness, those who wished for light created Keyblades in imitation of the χblade, and embarked on adventures that spanned the realm.”

Before we get started you should know two things.

First, Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ is absolutely canon. Second, Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ ties directly into KH3, as well as Dream Drop Distance, Birth By Sleep 0.2 a fragmentary passage, and χ Back Cover. Don’t assume that because this is a F2P mobile game that it’s not as important as Birth By Sleep or Dream Drop Distance.

Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ is a mobile adaptation Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], a free to play browser based game exclusive to Japan. It’s the earliest title in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, taking place before the legendary Keyblade War, when disputes between Keyblade wielders over the Light that created the world sparked a war between Light and Darkness, triggering a calamity that created the present-day layout of the Kingdom Hearts world.

Prior to the war, an unnamed Keyblade Master bestowed a book called the Tome of Prophecy to five of his six apprentices before disappearing. The Tome has the ability to predict and even manifest objects and people from the future. The five apprentices learned to a prophecy foretelling the world falling to Darkness and the Light being destroyed. In order to prevent this, each of the apprentices decided to attempt to prevent the prophecy from coming true.

As part of their efforts, they used the Tome to manifest powerful warriors from the future as the Fragments. Each eventually begins hoarding pieces of Light, called Lux, from the monsters known as Heartless, and each created their own factions themed around their individual animal icon: Ursus, Anguis, Unicornus, Leopardus, and Vulpes. The story will lead into the beginning of the Keyblade War.

While the game is almost identical to that of χ[chi], the two are treated as separate installments in the franchise and will eventually diverge into their own unique storylines. One should not be considered a replacement for the other, but it is not required to play both in order to receive the full experience. That being said, players who do play both versions of Kingdom Hearts χ will better understand certain concepts within the games.

The Player

You are a newly awakened Keyblade Wielder summoned from the future. You get to choose to support one of the five factions and work to ensure the chosen faction’s supremacy. You can change your outfit, skin tone, hair style, hair color, facial expression, and gender at any time.

Ephemera - A boy from different union. Friends with the player character. He has a desire to know the truth behind the gathering of Lux and the structure of the World.

Skuld - A girl from the same party as Ephemera. Wields the keyblade like a rapier. [Fake spoiler]Has the best character design in the franchise.[/SPOILER]

Chirithy - cat-like, anthropomorphic companions that accompany the player through the various worlds. They were created by the master of the Foretellers and oversee the players’ progress, putting them through trials but also offering advice and help so that they may get stronger. The Chirithy support all five Unions, and though they are not subordinates to the Foretellers directly, they work together with them to drive back the darkness. A Chirithy is bound to its player. In the event that the player succumbs to the darkness or vanishes, so does the Chirithy.

The Unknown - A person completely concealed in a black coat. Nothing else is known about the unknown’s appearance beneath the hood and their true identity and purpose remain unclear.

Anguis - Real Name: Unknown

A young woman wearing a blue snake mask and a light blue cloak and tassels over a darker blue shirt, robe, and sash, all featuring gold embroidering.

Leopardos - Real Name: Unknown



A young boy wearing a white leopard mask with white ears pointing out from his hood and a tan yellow robe, shirt, and sash. His robe and embroidering are dark grey, and his tassels are a light blue.

Unicornis - Real Name: Unknown



A young man that wears a white and gold unicorn mask along with a light blue robe, shirt, sash, and robe, while his tassels are purple and embroidering is golden in color. Unlike the other Foretellers, he also appears to be the only one to wear his emblem mask on top of his hood rather than underneath it, and features a blue mane that extends behind his head and is tied in a ponytail in the back. [fake spoiler]This is my union and we’ve been curbstomping everyone online. We haven’t lost in months.[/spoiler]

Ursus - Real Name: Unknown



A broader young man with dark skin that features a dark grey bear mask with round ears on top of his hood with a tan cloak, golden tassels, and black embroidering. His shirt, sash, and robe are a light brown.

Vulpeus - Real Name: Ava



A young girl wearing a white and blue fox mask with two pointed ears on top of her hood. She wears a pink cloak with light green tassels. Her shirt and sash are a dark grey with gold embroidering and a white robe.



Current Worlds:

Note: the story of Beast’s Castle and Dwarf Woodlands has been completed in Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], which is the furthest along storywise.



Expected next world:

Note: through datamining Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], a depowered version of the Fairy Stars keyblade was discovered, which implies that that will be the next world added. This has previously happened with the discovery of a depowered Divine Rose and the subsequent addition of Beast’s Castle to the game.

Note: Most screens are from the Japanese release.

At the start of the game you can pick one of the five unions to join. I suggest the Unicornis, because we have won every week since the game launched. Just saying. If you make the mistake of not picking the Unicorn, you can switch later for a small jewel fee as well as all the lux you got for the week. NOTE: you can only form parties with people in your union.

You can form a party of up to 30 members, who can assist you with an additional attack in battle. They can also join in to fight Raid Bosses with you (though with Unchained’s focus on the single player experience, this can be rare). You can make your own party or join someone else’s.

Also called “the sins of the Heartless”, Guilt is a system to increase the power of your maxed out ability medals. You only get Guilt on six star medals that have been fused into itself six times or otherwise received ability up, so I wouldn’t worry about it just yet.

By picking up materials in the various worlds and doing well on missions, you can enhance your keyblade and unlock boosts for certain colors medals as well as two additional attacks. Upgrading with an orichalcum can be done every few levels and changes the appearance of the keyblade.

When you get new outfits, you get more than just new clothing. You also get the chance to upgrade your max HP, AP (which determines the number of missions you can go on), cost (which limits the medals you can equip to any given keyblade), and for a few outfits, you can even gain more medals. You can sort your outfits as well, meaning that you can only show outfits with locked AP boosts or whatever else you choose.

This is the unlock board for the Arabian Amethyst outfit. This particular outfit has two HP upgrades, an AP upgrade, a cost upgrade, and the six separate pieces in the outfit. In the customization screen you can mix and match parts, so you could wear a Shiki from TWEWY outfit with the Arabian Amethyst headband and Sora’s gloves.

Every week the Unions are ranked on how much Lux the players in said union collect. The Unicornis has won these 23 times in a row (AKA all of them), cause we’re just that good.

Medals are how you attack in UX. You have three attacks: a tap attack to attack a single opponent, a swipe attack to hit all opponents with a spin, and the medals ability, which can hit either one or all foes. The attacks are absolutely ridiculous eye candy explosions.

A few of my faves are the Dual Disaster, Blitz Braver, Brave End, and the glorious IRush Raid. These are actually [chi] videos, but the attacks look the same in Unchained.

Also, you can both level up medals to make them more powerful, as well as upgrade your medals to higher rarity if you have the right upgrade medals, meaning you can take that one attack you love and keep making it more and more powerful. You can also attach skills to you medals (like second chance to survive a killing blow) which has a percentage chance of triggering that can be increased.

The bread and butter of the game. There are currently four types of missions: the book leads to the standard story missions of the game, Mickey takes you to missions were you can earn Medal and Keyblade upgrade material, Meow wow leads to harder missions with midboss type characters like Invisibles that frequently give substantial rewards, and I’m sure you’re used to the Coliseum by now. One interesting thing to note is that if you can clear all the battles in a match in one turn, you can skip ahead in to much higher levels. Clearing a higher level match nets you the reward for all the fights you skipped plus the fight you win. Like the outfits, there are a number of unlockables that you can get in the coliseum, mostly boost medals.

This is where you can used gems to get new medals. It is also the place where you can spend money, but the only thing you buy is more gems which you’ll have plenty of from completing missions, logging in and plenty of other ways.

A Q&A with Tetsuya Nomura

Please explain where in the KH series the story takes place.



This is the story of the “beginning” of the KINGDOM HEARTS series; in other words, it falls into the earliest part of the narrative.



It takes place in the world of fairy tales talked about throughout the series, during an era before the Keyblade War.



There are many different keyblade wielders in the world, and you, the player, are one of them. How does Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ relate to the upcoming Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue?



All three titles within KINGDOM HEARTS Ⅱ.8 has a link to KINGDOM HEARTS Unchained χ in some way. You can see it most prominently shown in KINGDOM HEARTS χ Back Cover – a brand-new, approximately one-hour long cinematic piece, which is depicted from the perspective the Foretellers, who gather the Keyblade Wielders. On the flip side, KINGDOM HEARTS Unchained χ is seen from the player’s perspective. By watching KINGDOM HEARTS χ Back Cover, the player will be able to get a glimpse of what kind of motive these supposed leaders are operating under behind the scenes.



And in KINGDOM HEARTS Dream Drop Distance HD, which is the HD remastered version of the Nintendo 3DS game KINGDOM HEARTS 3D: Dream Drop Distance, you may noticed the Dream Eaters were a sort of foreshadowing. And the title that would act as a bridge between these two titles would be the latest installment in the series, KINGDOM HEARTS 0.2 Birth By Sleep, which is developed utilizing the technology behind KINGDOM HEARTSⅢ. It is a sequel to KINGDOM HEARTS: Birth By Sleep, and a short episode that follows immediately after the events of KINGDOM HEARTS Dream Drop Distance HD, but it’s a title in which players can get an early feel for KINGDOM HEARTSⅢ. You mentioned this before at E3 2015, but what was the inspiration behind the character Chirithy?



When we realized we needed some kind of character that navigates the players due to the nature of the game, I didn’t want a character that’s too self-asserting considering that they would accompany the players throughout the journey. Once that idea got rolling, then I thought a cat would be great, since you can’t tell what it’s thinking, but can still get along fairly easily with humans, so I went with my favorite, the Scottish Fold as my motif.

I liked the Meow Wow from KINGDOM HEARTS 3D: Dream Drop Distance, too, but I designed the eyes the way I did to make sure you do not get a sense of it being self-asserting. Some people might have the wrong perception that because I own Scottish Fold cats, I modelled the character after them, but it’s actually the other way around; a while after we began developing, I started to own two Scottish Folds. By the way, their names are not Chirithy. Aside from characters and world that appeared in the Kingdom Hearts series, what are some new characters and worlds that are unique only to Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ?



The game is currently progressing under a certain rule, so the only brand-new world would be “Daybreak Town,” the home town in which the players first start out, but there may be a possibility [of other worlds] should we continue providing service through the app.



In terms of new characters, there are not only the five Foretellers and Chirithy, but there are also key new characters named Ephemera and Skuld that appear and move the story. What aspect of the game do you think will appeal to fans? What do you think fans will get hooked on? (i.e. collecting medals, events, etc.)



One of the biggest pillars would be the sense of playing live, which is very different for existing KINGDOM HEARTS series titles thus far. You may have communication and cooperation, as well as the occasional competition, but the sensation of going somewhere and realizing there are people there and the world is moving is very unique to this particular KINGDOM HEARTS.



Along those lines, various events are being held frequently depending on the occasion, the medal collection element is key to your battles, we also offer a ranking element, and a unique story told only in this KINGDOM HEARTS, so I’m sure there is some kind of element that would pique your interest. What kind of costumes are included in the game? Is there a particular costume of a character that you particularly love?



There are so many different costumes already; of course you have the original designs, then Disney characters, KINGDOM HEARTS characters, and seasonal/special occasion designs, all for both male and female avatars respectively. Plus, you can mix and match the outfit elements, so I think the players can really bring out their individuality.



From what I’ve seen, the hairstyle of the KINGDOM HEARTS 3D: Dream Drop Distance version of “The World Ends with You” Neku matched up with the black coat of Organization XIII seem to be popular. Also, the KINGDOM HEARTS version of FINAL FANTASY VII Cloud costume and King Mickey’s costume are popular as well. If I were to choose, personally, I’d like the Cheshire Cat costume. Do you have a special message for the fans?



As mentioned in the beginning, this is the story of the start of KINGDOM HEARTS. In other words, there is no need for any prior knowledge of the series.



I would love for people who have not yet played KINGDOM HEARTS to take this opportunity to casually jump right in with a blank slate. And of course for our fans, you can approach and play this KINGDOM HEARTS in any way you like, so through collecting medals of your favorite characters, collecting costumes, and moreover becoming a part of the KINGDOM HEARTS world and experiencing the enjoyment of weaving your own story that leads to one of the biggest mysteries in the series, which is the “Keyblade War,” I hope you can further enjoy the upcoming release of KINGDOM HEARTS Ⅱ.8 and KINGDOM HEARTS Ⅲ, as well as the KINGDOM HEARTS that will continue beyond that.

Do paying players get a significant boost over non IAP players?

No. The game is liberal as heck with the gems and you rarely are hurting for them. There’s some exclusive stuff, like a rare attack medal, but mostly it’s aesthetics. The draws are random, so it’s really just luck. I’ve got enough 6 star medals to fill almost all of my keyblades and I haven’t spent a dime.

Is there any real, live co-op in the game? I’ve researched and found that apparently there’s a browser version that has co-op, but the mobile version just has faux-op (lol, just came up with that term out of nowhere), with some asynchronous world bosses and such.



Thanks!

There’s no real co-op in either, but both have asynchronous raid bosses. In the browser game, you need to team up with your party to take turns inflicting increasing damage. If you attake within 3 minutes of the previous person, then they attack the raid boss and do some damage for you and it chains. I think the biggest chain I saw was a 30 hit combo before I got to go. In the mobile game, you *can* do the same (ally hops in and attacks), but you’re generally powerful enough to kill a raid boss by yourself. The mobile game has a stun system where you can force the enemy to not take a certain number of turns in a row, giving you more attacks to kill it. I’ve been playing Unchained since launch and I’ve died to a raid boss once in that entire time. And even then was because I was rushing and chose a bad ally medal.

Oh, but that being said, you do need to get in a party ASAP. That’s a massive help.

Hmm.. okay, thanks! And will there be a browser version releasing in the US, as well? Can players take their characters between both platforms?

Almost certainly not and not really? You can transfer your look, but [chi] and Unchained play completely different, all the systems are different, heck, even the way you level up is different.

is this as fair as Record Keeper in terms of the F2P stuff?

More, IMO. I play until I don’t want to, not until I run out of AP.

Are the stories in both of them the same?

So far the differences are subtle, but the community expects them to diverge. Particularly since “the Unchained” is a thing that exists and it brought up in the PC version.

Since it’s a gacha game, does it have any sort of PvP mode?

No.

WELLLLLL. There’s a ranking system, so yeah? But you won’t be fighting anyone directly. Correction, you won’t be fighting any players. You’ll fight people and get your teeth kicked in.

Does it play like an actual MMORPG?

No. It’s online, but you are by yourself. Even more than in the PC release, which at least had you team up for raid bosses

is the chain of memories combat still in?

It’s turn based and a bit more creative than CoM.

Message from Tetsuya Nomura: “I hope fans and newcomers alike will find themselves absorbed in this brand new adventure that reveals the origins of KINGDOM HEARTS.”

Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ

Publisher: Square Enix

Developers: Square Enix, Success

Platforms: Android, iOS

Price: Free to play with optional micro transactions

US Launch: April 7, 2016

Other territories TBD

Android US

iOS US

Android UK

iOS UK

Android Japan

iOS Japan

