Square Enix

With even the biggest fans aware that Kingdom Hearts 3 is convoluted nonsense, the last thing Square Enix should do is release another spin-off.

Kingdom Hearts 3 has only just come out after the community has been waiting longer than a decade, and already Square Enix and Tetsuya Nomura are briefly discussing post-launch plans and the series’ future. According to a translation of the Ultimania guidebook on Reddit, Nomura has explained why there aren’t any Final Fantasy characters in Kingdom Hearts 3, as well as said that there’ll be “at least one KH title” before a Kingdom Hearts 4.

If you’re a sane individual, then the idea of another potential Kingdom Hearts spin-off should be sending shivers down your spine. Although Birth By Sleep is harmless enough on its own as the narrative is relatively simple and introduces some of the series’ best protagonists and villains, the other spin-offs are notorious for turning the franchise into a convoluted mess.

Whereas Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 were just about a Final Fantasy reject who fights Heartless fiends and depressed “nobodies” with Donald and Goofy while ruining the canon of every classic Disney film, 358/2 Days, Re: Coded, Dream Drop Distance, and whatever Union X is have turned the franchise into an impossible to decipher roadmap of hearts connected to hearts. Even if you’re a fan of these spin-offs, there’s no denying they ultimately ruined the series’ basic fanservice premise of visiting Disney worlds to teach children morals through sappy and melodramatic Shakespeare speeches about friendship and love.

Another spin-off before Kingdom Hearts 4 would be a massive mistake as the franchise already has too many superfluous characters that look and sound identical, and we don’t need any more side endeavours to add to the series’ already extensive list of unfinished plot threads. Rather than a spin-off on an obscure platform that nobody plays games on, Square Enix should just focus on tying Kingdom Hearts 3’s loose ends with DLC and giving the series a reasonably long hiatus before it eventually comes back.

In news relevant to Square Enix, the publisher has trademarked Parasite Eve and Chocobo Run!, and they are planning to release a MAJOR game before the end of 2019.