One-Month Check-In on Kingdom Hearts
It’s been a month since I began Kotaku’s year‑long Kingdom Hearts replay, and it’s time for a quick check‑in. I’ve always heard that the original game feels outdated, but I was determined to revisit Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s first adventure rather than skip it.
Now I’m not so sure. Between moving apartments, a busy work schedule, and the recent shutdown of BioWare, I’ve struggled to keep up, and every launch of the game feels oddly flimsy, exposing flaws I didn’t notice before.
Kingdom Hearts is an ambitious mix of action, RPG, space‑flight combat and, oddly, platforming for a 2002 PS2 title. Its biggest drawback is Sora’s famously floaty jump, which makes landing feel risky. In the Deep Jungle world, the platforming becomes especially frustrating: falling from a vine drops you to a lower layer, and climbing back up is tedious. A short clip from Jesse Vitelli illustrates this perfectly.
Movement has been a constant pain point. While PS2 action games were generally tight, Sora’s floatiness turns each jump into a gamble, so much so that I once set my Switch 2 aside to vent by playing Overwatch.
On a brighter note, the early Disney worlds show how Square Enix creatively adapted Disney material. Wonderland feels smaller than I remembered, but Deep Jungle’s take on Tarzan — where the villain Clayton simply controls Heartless — offers a surprisingly dark blend of the two universes.
The Olympus Coliseum stands out as a highlight. Though it only contains three rooms, it delivers one of the most compelling Disney‑Final Fantasy crossovers, featuring Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII as a boss who must be defeated for Hades. The fight is tough, with swift strikes and high mobility, while Donald and Goofy often become dead weight.
Overall, dissecting Kingdom Hearts has been more enjoyable than actually replaying it. I hope its earnestness carries me through the clunky mechanics, and now let’s see what the community thinks.
Developers have noted that early Final Fantasy cameos were essentially placeholders, and the series feels more like Disney viewed through an SE lens than a true crossover. Still, I miss the occasional FF or TWEWY cameo and would love to see them return in future entries.
Fans have voiced frustrations: the Gummi Ship segments feel overly long and could be skipped today, and many wish the ship‑building could be more optional. Others praise the creative freedom of custom designs, from hieroglyphic patterns to massive HP‑filled vessels that let you “Kool‑Aid” through levels.
The schedule for the ongoing replay is:
- Kingdom Hearts: October-December 2026
- Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories: January 2027
- Kingdom HeartsII: February-April 2027
- Kingdom Hearts358/2 Days and Re:Coded: May 2027
- Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep: June 2027
- Kingdom HeartsDream Drop Distance and A Fragmentary Passage: July 2027
- A watch through of the unplayable mobile gamesKingdom Hearts Union χ Dark Road: August 2027
- Kingdom Hearts IIIand the Re:Mind DLC: August-October 2027
- Kingdom HeartsMelody of Memory: November 2027
- Kingdom Hearts IV:Late 2027