GameChat, GameCube and more…
Nintendo has been freshening up all sorts of things in recent months and its Switch Online trailer has now been updated with Switch 2 footage.
This includes a look at Mario Kart World, existing Switch releases including Animal Crossing: New Horizons which just got updated, a rundown on the new feature GameChat, and a look at the library of ‘Nintendo classics’. This includes the new GameCube collection, exclusive to Switch 2.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
It’s official – Days of Play is back for 2025! We are kicking off the 2025 celebration on May 28, with community activities, new content coming to PlayStation Plus, and great offers on PS5 consoles, games, and accessories.
Days of Play is all about celebrating our players and the moments of play that make being part of the PlayStation community so special. With an exciting year ahead filled with new game releases, experiences, and milestones, it’s a great time to check out the latest PlayStation activities and promotions we have planned for this year’s celebration.
Days of Play begins May 28 at 12:01AM through June 11 at 11:59PM local time in each region – below is an overview of 2025 activities. Be sure to visit the Days of Play 2025 website for details as we will be sharing regular updates starting on May 28.
PlayStation Plus – Monthly Games for June, bonus titles, and more
We’re excited to reveal the latest PlayStation Plus content that will be available during the Days of Play celebration – this includes upcoming Monthly Games, bonus Game Catalog titles, Classics Catalog additions, Game Trials, and more.
Monthly Games for June
To start, here are the Monthly Games* for June, which will be available for all PlayStation Plus members beginning May 30:
Bonus titles for Game Catalog and Classic Catalog, plus new Game Trials
Create even more moments of play with bonus titles coming to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and Classics Catalog, as well as new Game Trials.* These titles are in addition to our regular Game Catalog content drops for June – stay tuned for our regular monthly Game Catalog announcement for next month’s lineup.
Game Catalog
(Available in Game Catalog on the specified dates for PlayStation Plus Extra and Deluxe members)
Classics Catalog
(Available on June 5 for PlayStation Plus Deluxe members)
Game Trials
(Available on May 28 for PlayStation Plus Deluxe members)
From June 3 through June 11, participate in special PlayStation Tournaments for NBA 2K25**, which is included in our PlayStation Plus Monthly Games lineup for June. Players can compete in multiple competitions each day for a chance to win prizes including NBA 2K Virtual Currency and Days of Play-themed PlayStation Network avatars.
*PlayStation Plus Monthly Games lineup, availability of Classics, Game Trials and Game Catalog varies over time, region/country, and plan. PlayStation Plus is subject to a recurring subscription fee taken automatically until cancellation. Terms apply: play.st/psplus-usageterms.
**Internet and active PS Plus membership required. PS Plus is subject to recurring subscription fee taken automatically until cancellation. Terms apply: play.st/psplus-usageterms. Must be at least 16+ and a resident of an eligible country. Void where prohibited. See full rules on PS5 or PS4 console
Days of Play 2025 Deals
We’re also celebrating Days of Play with exciting promotions across consoles, games, and from participating retailers (prices may vary), and on PlayStation Store. For more information on your local deals, be sure to check out the Days of Play 2025 website.
Deals directly from participating retailers
From May 28 to June 11 in Singapore/Malaysia/Thailand/Indonesia/Philippines/Vietnam, save on hardware and accessories including PS5 consoles, DualSense controllers, and more. You can find these offers at participating local retailers. Please note that offers and promotion dates may vary by region and retailer.
Deals on PS5 console offerings include:
There will also be offers for PS5 accessories and games, including:
PlayStation Plus memberships
This Days of Play, save on a new or upgraded PlayStation Plus membership – players who join PlayStation Plus during this year’s celebration can save up to 33% (up to 30% for Thailand) on select 12-month memberships.* For players who are currently a PlayStation Plus Essential or Extra member, save 33% (30% for Thailand) on the remainder of your membership when upgrading to PlayStation Plus Deluxe.**
*Discounts vary by region/tier and are subject to certain eligibility restrictions. Game library varies over time, region/country, and plan. PS Plus is subject to a recurring subscription fee taken automatically (at the then current PS Store price) until cancellation. Terms apply: play.st/psplus-usageterms.
**At the end of your current subscription, you’ll be charged recurring subscription fees (at the then-current PS Store price) for PlayStation Plus Premium/Deluxe at your current billing frequency, unless cancelled.
PlayStation Store
Celebrate Days of Play with hundreds of digital games and add-ons on offer at PlayStation Store. You can find a list of PlayStation Store offers here.
We’re excited to celebrate Days of Play 2025 with you and hope you enjoy the activities, new content, and promotions we have in store! Be sure to check the Days of Play 2025 website for regular updates from May 28 through June 11.
Switch Online Splatoon icons also available.
Splatoon is now a well-established Nintendo IP and this month marks its 10th anniversary. To celebrate this very special occasion, Nintendo has added the original Wii U soundtrack to its Nintendo Music mobile application.
This latest soundtrack contains 47 tracks with a runtime of 1 hour and 28 minutes. You can listen to bangers from the Squid Sisters, other bands, and much more. Here’s every song included in this latest update for the Nintendo Music app:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
“I’d love to say all Switch 2 releases from us in the future will go the full ROM route”.
Marvelous USA has been hitting the headlines for all of the right reasons in the run-up to the Switch 2’s launch next week, on 5th June 2025. The publisher is one of the few third-parties bringing a full physical release to the new console on launch day in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, with Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar and Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion also following suit later this year (the latter only in the West).
And, in an interview with RPG Site’s Mikhail Madnani, Marvelous USA / XSEED Games CEO and co-founder Ken Berry has shared why the publisher decided to go all-in on physical on the Switch 2, at least for the time being — because it’s “this is the right decision for us and our relationship with our fanbase.”
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Indie publisher tinyBuild had their second annual tinyBuild Connect showcase today. IGN streamed the Connect live, and the showcase was packed with reveals of new games and release date announcements. Best of all, you can try almost all of the new games shown today via a playtest or demo — either now, or very soon. If you weren’t able to watch it live or just want a rundown of everything that was shown, we’ve got you covered. Here’s everything we saw during the show:
The showcase opened with a brand-new look at Ferocious, where dinosaurs, mercs, and mechs clash in a lush but lethal survival FPS. The trailer teased the ability to tame apex predators and flip the food chain in your favor. The Steam playtest is live now, so it’s time to find out if you can survive the island’s deadly welcome.
New footage rolled out featuring hulking, customizable “Trampler” walkers stomping across sun-scorched dunes, frantic PvP action, and a confirmation that the extraction shooter will be coming to consoles later this year. A fresh playtest is also on the horizon, so get your squad together and see if you’ve got what it takes to rule the sands.
The world-premiere trailer introduced Trainfort, a co-op survival crafting game where roving dwarf nomads build and drive a steam-powered fortress across a procedurally generated wasteland. The developers are promising that a tactile first-person hand-control system will make every action from chopping trees to assembling your mobile base feel grounded and physical. The playtest for Trainfort also went live right after the show.
Hozy invites players to restore a forgotten neighborhood, one cozy room at a time. Revealed for the first time during the showcase, the debut trailer showed players scrubbing grime, slapping on fresh coats of pastel paint, and dialing in lighting to turn derelict rooms into homey sanctuaries. Hozy also dropped a public Steam playtest right after the show, so you can already get a taste for its fixer-upper gameplay.
Physics-based construction meets post-apocalyptic survival in this vertical city builder where every ramshackle tower can topple like Jenga. The team confirmed an open beta for Steam Next Fest on June 9, giving players a chance to stack homes sky-high — or watch them spectacularly crumble. All Will Fall has a demo available on Steam right now.
CarbotAnimations’ tongue-in-cheek trailer revealed a July release window for this unique strategy title, where peasants only work under your royal gaze. Each run tasks you with juggling production, training armies, and adapting to unpredictable events. The playable demo is still available on Steam for those eager to test their royal authority.
A sweeping world overview trailer showcased sun-bleached fortresses, misty marshlands, and brutal third-person combat that rewards stance-switching finesse. Playtest sign-ups went live alongside the trailer, inviting would-be island wanderers to chart their own, marker-free adventures.
A new trailer proved that everything can go wrong at any moment with this anything-goes sandbox, capping the segment with a confirmation that it hits Steam Early Access in 2025. From hijacking tractors to accident-prone heists, chaos is king in Streets of Rogue 2, and you can check out its demo on Steam right now.
A new, action-packed devlog unveiled the upcoming “Permafrost” update, promising new frosted realms to carve through and fresh gear to master in this hack-and-slash created by a solo developer. Judging by the slicing, dashing footage, the chill won’t slow the carnage one bit. You can grab Voin with a limited-time discount during tinyBuild’s publisher sale on Steam.
The cult-classic competitive platformer is turbo-charging into the new era. The latest trailer confirmed a massive 64-player tournament mode and showed more cutthroat racing gameplay across some new maps. A Steam playtest will launch this summer, and sign-ups are open now. SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed will launch on PC in 2025, with the console release to follow in 2026.
The new trailer dove onto the screen, confirming that Duckside lands on consoles this August and showing off full-flight PvP mayhem, complete with crafting, base building, hat-wearing ducks, and of course, quack-tical base raids. The game is on sale with a limited-time discount on Steam.
Become a true Corporate Mining manager in this strategy roguelite builder game. Whether you prioritize profits or workers’ safety is up to you! The devs locked in a 1.0 launch for July 17 and surprised Switch owners with a port arriving later this year, but you can hop into the Early Access right now, as Drill Core is currently on sale on Steam.
Hello Neighbor franchise creator Nikita Kolesnikov popped up in a devlog to give a first look at the eerie living sandbox town of Raven Brooks, where every NPC has its own agenda. Prototype 2 shadow-dropped during the show, so the curious (or the brave) can sneak in and test the new systems right now.
Medieval England never looked so doomed: a frenetic new trailer for the shooter/RTS hybrid finally showed off four-player co-op, with assault rifles mowing through armored knights before revealing an October 8 Early Access launch on Steam and Epic Games Store. Time-travel paradoxes be damned — Kingmakers is ready to bring an attack chopper to a sword fight.
Earlier this week, one of my industry peers James Bentley (they’re over at that other site about PC games, GamerPCs I think it’s called) put out a video essay titled “I Can Guarantee You This Game is Going to be Underrated“. Trusting in James as a critic of varied and interesting taste, I clicked through and found that yeah, they’re right, it probably will be. However, I also get to write about indie PC games for a living, so I’d like to do my part in telling you about this strange, point-and-click/ visual novel called Decade.
I think there might be a chance, just ever so slightly, that the development of Cities Skylines 2 has been a bit difficult. The game launched back in October of 2023 and has suffered from performance issues, rushed DLC, and a delay to its first expansion Bridges and Ports. This expansion was meant to come soon after the Beach Properties DLC, but that obviously didn’t happen, catching a delay to sometime in the second quarter of 2025 specifically to continue improving upon the base game. Except the expansion has been delayed once again.
The early bird can’t catch the worm.
It was only a matter of time after US retailers reportedly started receiving Switch 2 units, but now some are sharing screenshots of the console in their home. However, there’s a catch — the console is unable to play any games right now.
YouTube account a2dubai has shared a short unboxing video of the console (spotted by Wario64 on Bluesky), showing the console and Joy-Con-2 in the box. But in a reply to a comment on the Short, a2dubai says that Nintendo has “locked the Switch 2” saying it needs an update to function.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Five Nights At Freddy’s has cemented its place in the horror gaming hall-of-fame. From its beginnings as a breakout hit to its explosion into a massive multimedia franchise, it’s safe to say that the Animatronics of Freddy’s have invaded the homes and minds of millions of gamers around the world.
Today, Dead by Daylight has brought Five Nights At Freddy’s into The Fog in a major way, with a new Chapter featuring Springtrap as a playable Killer. Not only can players deliver brutal jump scares with an incredible Power and 3 character-specific Perks, but they can do so in an immersive and detailed recreation of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria.
The atmosphere of Five Nights At Freddy’s is an integral part of its horror, and it was imperative that the Level Design team captured that in their recreation of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Place.
While players will certainly be keen to enter the notorious building, there’s still plenty to accomplish outside, with Generators to repair and Hooks to serve The Entity. In fact, having access to internal and exterior areas was an intentional design choice for gameplay balance purposes, allowing the team to create larger, more dynamic loops.
Upon entering Freddy Fazbear’s, players will immediately be swept into a nostalgia-tinted nightmare. Don’t let the festive balloons lull you into a false sense of security. Remember how quickly the laughter turned to screams, and know that history has a way of repeating itself.
“It’s such a fun idea to have juxtaposing ideas in horror,” explains Associate Art Director Chase Toole. “We have a children’s pizzeria juxtaposed with all the gruesome imagery and backstory associated with the FNAF license. It’s something that really taps into a familiar sort of fear.”
Delving deeper into Fazbear’s will bring you into the Dining Hall, where closer inspection will reveal blood spattered across the stage, barely covered by a shredded curtain.
“When you first look at the Map, it almost seems like a fun place for the whole family – until you start to notice the terrible things everywhere,” continues Toole. “We always love using environmental storytelling to really fuel the imagination.”
Amidst the birthday decor, you’ll notice that The Entity’s influence has already begun to seep into the Map. For those unfamiliar with Dead by Daylight’s lore, each Map is conjured by The Entity, drawn from the memories of Its victims. That’s why you’ll often see disturbing pustules and various deformations, manifested because of Its eldritch influence.
It’s a symbolic representation of two worlds colliding, and the team always looks for exciting way make The Entity’s presence felt in any crossover Map or Realm.
“We’re always looking to fold in lore from Five Nights At Freddy’s into our own,” continues Toole. “It really helps cement the fantasy that this is a new way to experience being stalked in a settling that players may be used to spending time in.”
“We’re always looking to fold in lore from Five Nights At Freddy’s into our own,” continues Toole. “It really helps cement the fantasy that this is a new way to experience being stalked in a settling that players may be used to spending time in.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Fazbear party without Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie – even if they are lurking in the shadows, keeping to themselves. Don’t be shy, and consider saying a quick hello. They’d certainly love the company.
“Recreating the animatronics was super fun, and required a lot of fun research,” says Toole. “The team spent time trying to find broken or malfunctioning animatronics as references, so we could create realistic animations. Having that tangible feeling really drives home the horror.”
Onward to the kitchen, which players of the first game may enjoy seeing recreated – given that the kitchen camera has remained for the entirety of the series. While the days of serving fresh pies are long gone, there’s still plenty of slicing happening beneath the dilapidated rooftop. Whatever you hear, it’s best to stay away from the stove.
“We took reference from the first game and attempted to reconstruct what a pizzeria would realistically be built like. That’s why we have things like air ducts, mechanical rooms, and of course, the kitchen you see in-game. They reference FNAF, but they also work toward the immersion and believability of the space itself.”
While you’re busy looking at every intricate detail, keep an eye out for some of the Easter Eggs hidden throughout the building. Rest assured there’s plenty of nods to the beloved series, and we hope fans enjoy discovering them all.
So concludes our tour of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Place, opening its doors to Killers and Survivors alike at an all-new location – The Fog. If you’re lucky, you might even meet Springtrap!
Dead by Daylight: Five Nights At Freddy’s is available today on Xbox.
The post Dead by Daylight: Five Nights At Freddy’s Brings Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria To The Fog appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Square Enix and Disney announced Kingdom Hearts 4 at the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary event in 2022, giving us a fresh new look at Sora and what he’s been up to after he left his friends for a solo adventure at the end of Kingdom Hearts 3. To no one’s surprise, there haven’t been many updates for the sequel since it was announced, but a recent spread of screenshots affirmed the game’s continued development.
To further ease our impatience for Kingdom Hearts 4, Square Enix brought the entire Kingdom Hearts series to Steam on June 13, 2024. Well, almost the entire series, including Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, Kingdom Hearts III + Re Mind DLC, and Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece — the latter of which is a bundle that released on the Nintendo Switch in cloud streaming form in 2021.
While we wait for more updates and a potential release date for Kingdom Hearts 4, we’re giving you a list of Kingdom Hearts games to play in chronological order. As convoluted as the series’ plot may be, this list should give you a clear perspective on the history of the Kingdom Hearts world, how Sora was set up to be the Keyblade’s chosen one, and how Master Xehanort keeps trying to plunge the world into darkness, hence the name of the series’ first arc: the Dark Seeker Saga.
Jump to:
The Kingdom Hearts series includes 13 games across multiple platforms, including the PSP and Game Boy Advance. There will also be a new game in the mainline series, which was officially announced in April 2022.
If you are new to the Kingdom Hearts series, we highly recommend starting off with Kingdom Hearts 2. When you play as Roxas in the beginning of the game, you get flashbacks of the most important scenes from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories to get you up to speed on the story of the series thus far, and give insight on how Sora and Roxas are connected in the first place.
The gameplay in Kingdom Hearts 2 is also more straightforward than Kingdom Hearts, and you don’t have to play through every Gummi Ship mission more than once even when you revisit worlds. Thank us later.
Apologies for grouping all the titles in one section, but Kingdom Hearts χ [chi], initially a Japan-exclusive title for PC, had been subsequently rebranded into Unchained χ and Union χ [Cross] for mobile users worldwide during the eight years it was running online. The χ refers to the χ-blade, a coveted weapon designed by two Keyblades in an “X” shape capable of unlocking Kingdom Hearts.
Kingdom Hearts Union χ is set hundreds of years before the series’ events, in an era leading up to the Keyblade War. You control a newly minted Keyblade wielder in the 2D world of Daybreak Town who joins one of five factions and works to ensure its supremacy over the other four as they fight over the finite light available to the world. Union χ occurs shortly after Unchained χ, but in an alternate data world where the player relives the past to forget the Keyblade War. The game shut down in May 2021, but you can still watch cutscenes of it online. If gacha games are not your style, you can watch HD cutscenes of the events in the cinematic Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, which is included in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue.
As the title suggests, Kingdom Hearts Dark Road is the origin story of villain Master Xehanort set 70 years before the events of Birth by Sleep. As a young man, Xehanort is taken from Destiny Islands to Scala ad Caelum to train alongside Master Eraqus to become a Keyblade wielder and is tasked by Master Odin to search for the Lost Masters, triggering a chain of events that leads him to become the Seeker of Darkness.
Dark Road employed the same 2D graphics present in Kingdom Hearts χ and its subsequent rebranded titles, which aren’t very impressive, but the game still contained details integral to the entire series. You may not be able to play the game, but you can still watch cutscenes on YouTube to get the full scope.
Set 10 years before the events of Kingdom Hearts, Birth by Sleep is told from the vantage points of Ventus, Terra, and Aqua — all Keyblade Apprentices of Master Eraqus living in the Land of Departure. Shortly after Aqua and Terra finish their Mark of Mastery exam, with the former passing and obtaining the title of Keyblade Master and the latter failing for not keeping his darkness in check, the trio go on separate journeys to find Master Xehanort, who disappeared without a trace, and defeat the Unversed, creatures created by Xehanort’s apprentice Vanitas to attack other worlds.
Birth by Sleep dives into the origin of Sora and Master Xehanort, as Ventus had part of his heart patched up by a piece of Sora’s heart. Xehanort, meanwhile, created Vanitas from the darkness he purged from Ventus’ heart, which Xehanort deemed too frail for him to use as a vessel to forge the χ-blade, forcing him to go after Terra instead. It also explores how Sora and Riku could wield the Keyblade in the first place, as Terra bestowed the power of the Keyblade to Riku, while Aqua sensed strong ties with Sora and Riku to Ventus and Terra, respectively.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.
Although it’s safe to place A Fragmentary Passage (included in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue) before the first Kingdom Hearts game, it acts as an epilogue to Birth by Sleep and a prologue to Kingdom Hearts 3. However, the story for this game begins shortly after the events of Dream Drop Distance because King Mickey tells the story of how he came across Aqua in the Realm of Darkness to Riku, Kairi, and Master Yen Sid.
After sacrificing herself to save Terra from the Realm of Darkness at the end of Birth by Sleep, Aqua has been wandering in darkness for 10 years, trying to find a way back to the Realm of Light. She visits the dark versions of Castle of Dreams, Dwarf Woodlands, and Enchanted Dominion to battle hordes of Heartless that form into Demon Towers, fight apparitions of Ventus and Terra, and save Terra’s heart. Meanwhile, Mickey went to the Realm of Darkness to save Riku. When he meets Aqua after using her lost Wayfinder to find her, he tells her 10 years have passed since they last met and proceeds to Destiny Islands after fighting another Demon Tower. There, the door to Kingdom Hearts is spotted, and Mickey helps Sora and Riku seal it shut, leaving Aqua to dwell in the Realm of Darkness once more.
In the very first entry of the series, Sora sets out on a journey with Donald and Goofy to reunite with Riku and Kairi after the Heartless destroy Destiny Islands and plunge the world into darkness. Along the way, he travels to different worlds aboard the Gummi Ship, meets various Disney and Final Fantasy characters, and helps defend their world from the Heartless by sealing Keyholes. Meanwhile, Maleficent leads a group of her fellow Disney villains to seek out the seven Princesses of Heart to unlock the last keyhole leading to Kingdom Hearts, and she employs Riku.
By the time Sora reaches Hollow Bastion, Kairi’s body is found with her heart missing as it was transferred to Sora’s body during the apocalypse at Destiny Islands; Riku becomes possessed by Ansem, who was manipulating Maleficent to open Kingdom Hearts; and Kairi is revealed to be the Princess of Heart, hence the heart transfer from her to Sora, who then frees Kairi’s heart after impaling himself with Ansem’s Keyblade, turning into a Heartless in the process. Kairi manages to turn Sora back to human form by recognizing his Heartless and embracing him, and from there Sora defeats Ansem and seals the door to Kingdom Hearts with help from Riku and Mickey from the other side.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts.
While searching for Riku and Mickey after sealing the door to Kingdom Hearts, Sora, Donald, and Goofy visit Castle Oblivion, causing them to lose their memories upon entry. They’re told by Marluxia, the lord of the castle who is revealed to be a member of Organization XIII, that the deeper they go into the castle, the more memories they’ll lose, but they’ll uncover new ones in the process. The group is given a deck of cards called “world cards” based on Sora’s memories, and they meet memory versions of the characters they met in the previous game and fight a few members of the Organization aside from Marluxia — Axel, Larxene, and Vexen — as they progress through each floor of the castle. Meanwhile, Riku is going through the basement levels of the castle, wrestling with the darkness inside him and Ansem’s attempts to control him while fighting two other members of Organization XIII: Lexaeus and Zexion.
Aside from the cards being decried as an ineffective battle system, Chain of Memories introduced new characters that became essential players in the Kingdom Hearts series, such as Naminé, whom Sora gradually remembered as being an old friend only to find out later she was manipulating Sora’s memories of Kairi by replacing them with fake ones of herself under Marluxia’s orders. After Sora fights Marluxia for his life and Naminé’s freedom, Naminé places him and his companions to sleep in pod-like machines to help them regain the memories they lost.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.
358/2 Days is set during the events of Chain of Memories. It explores the birth of Roxas as Sora’s Nobody when Sora turned into a Heartless during Kingdom Hearts, his daily life as the 13th member of Organization XIII, and his friendship with Axel and Xion, who mysteriously arrived as the 14th member.
As time progresses and their bond deepens, it is revealed that Xion is an artificial replica created after Sora’s memories of Kairi as a fail-safe if Sora and Roxas are proven to be useless for the Organization to achieve their goal of summoning Kingdom Hearts and becoming whole, all the while delaying Sora’s memory restoration process by absorbing them. This discovery causes Roxas to defect from Organization XIII to find himself, and later Xion, who fights to merge with him to become whole, stopping Sora from waking up. Ultimately, Roxas defeats Xion, who disintegrates into light with all the memories she absorbed returning to Sora.
Fun fact, but not precisely fun: 358/2 was dedicated to the memory of Wayne Allwine, the voice actor for Mickey Mouse, who died 12 days before the game’s release in Japan in May 2009.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts 358/2.
The game begins in Twilight Town, where Roxas enjoys his summer vacation with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, having no memories of his time with Organization XIII nor Axel, who remembers him during their encounters while waking up with dreams of Sora, who had been asleep for a year at that point. Once Sora wakes up along with Donald and Goofy after Roxas merges with him, they set out to once again protect the worlds from the Heartless and visit new ones to stop Organization XIII from creating another Kingdom Hearts that would give the Nobodies their hearts back.
As Sora and the gang explore the concept of the heart even further, they learn that the Ansem they fought was Xehanort’s Heartless; Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII, is Xehanort’s Nobody; and that Xehanort was an apprentice of the real Ansem, named Ansem the Wise, the sage-king of Radiant Garden (renamed Hollow Bastion and then Radiant Garden again) who studied the heart alongside Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, Ienzo (human versions of Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion, respectively) to protect his people from darkness before he was exiled to the Realm of Darkness for corrupting them with the same darkness and taking on the new identity DiZ (Darkness in Zero). Even more shocking, they learn Roxas and Naminé are the Nobodies of Sora and Kairi, respectively.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts 2.
Initially released as an episodic mobile game called “Coded” in Japan, Re:coded centers on King Mickey and a digital version of Sora as they work to repair Jiminy Cricket’s journal, which chronicles the real Sora’s adventures fighting the Heartless and Organization XIII, after it got corrupted. It was being digitized to analyze a secret message Jiminy did not write: “Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it” (originally written as “We must return to free them from their torment” in Coded). In the dataspace, Data-Sora and Mickey fight the bugs, who take the form of red-and-black blocks and Heartless, and work to decipher the message’s meaning.
Square Enix originally released eight parts of Coded and a preview to Japanese mobile users from June 2009 to January 2010, making it run almost like a full season of a television series. To make the game accessible to fans worldwide, the entire game was repackaged into Re:coded for the Nintendo DS.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded.
To prepare for Master Xehanort’s return, Master Yen Sid proctors the Mark of Mastery exam to Sora and Riku in the most unconventional way possible: sending them back in time to unlock the keyholes of seven worlds that were left in a sleeping state after being destroyed by the Heartless, including the worlds of Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pinocchio, Tron: Legacy, and Fantasia. Though they go through a different chain of events in the same worlds, they work to defeat the “Nightmare” Dream Eaters with the help of their “Spirit” Dream Eaters and the power of Flowmotion.
Throughout the Mark of Mastery exam, they run into the younger version of Xehanort, who reveals that he, Ansem, and Xehanort, who were supposed to have been defeated, lured Sora into a trap at The World That Never Was and put him into a deep sleep (where he was protected by Ventus’ armor), and Riku has been running through Sora’s dreams as a Dream Eater the whole time. To save Sora from the darkness, Riku fights the young Xehanort, and the revived, older Master Xehanort arrives with intentions to turn Sora into his 13th vessel for the new Organization XIII, comprised of mostly his past selves from across time, and create the χ-blade by pitting the 13 seekers of darkness and the seven guardians of light against each other. Thankfully, Xehanort’s plans are foiled by King Mickey, Lea (the human version of Axel), and Riku, who ultimately passes the Mark of Mastery exam, with Sora failing for losing the power of waking, which is the ability to restore hearts.
Read our Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance review.
In the final chapter of the Dark Seeker Saga, Sora sets out to reclaim the power of waking and gather the seven guardians of light to prepare for the final showdown with Organization XIII and Master Xehanort, who is hellbent on not only creating the χ-blade, but also keeping darkness and light in proper balance. Meanwhile, Kairi trains to become a Keyblade wielder with Lea, and Riku goes with King Mickey to search for the missing Keyblade wielders.
Kingdom Hearts 3 took 13 years to make, with a few trailers released between 2013 and 2018 before finally being released in 2019. To this day, it remains the best-selling Kingdom Hearts game.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts 3.
Melody of Memory is a rhythm game where Sora and the other Keyblade wielders defeat the Heartless, Nobodies, Unversed, and Dream Eaters to the beat of every song in the series. It’s set against the backdrop of Kairi being in the lab at Radiant Garden, as she gives a summary of the series’ events as the narrator.
Kingdom Hearts 4 was announced in 2022, though Square Enix has been quiet about KH4 since its announcement and has yet to reveal a release window. The most recent development, a series of screenshots, came out of almost nowhere, but hopefully indicates we’ll be getting our hands on Kingdom Hearts 4 sooner rather than later. I wouldn’t be surprised if the game ends up releasing on the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.
Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. She has contributed her work to various publications, including Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions, and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.
