I enjoyed Kingdom Hearts III. A lot. As a culmination of years and years of build-up and excitement, it managed to satisfy my expectations. The issue is, as a rabid fan of the series, with the experience of that game now behind me, I’m in desperate need for more Kingdom Hearts-related content to quench my thirst for more, and curious about the answers to the new questions this title raised. At the very least, I can rest assured that more content is on the way, thanks to a Dengeki Online interview which confirmed DLC was on the way for Kingdom Hearts III alongside even more exciting titbits related to the franchise as a whole.
First of all, DLC. While it was perhaps expected by many people prior to the game’s release that DLC for the game would be on the way, this interview is the first official confirmation that this is actually happening. It will be released as a mix of paid and free DLC, according to Nomura’s comments in the interview. ‘At this current time I am working on DLC so it does not feel like I have finished work on Kingdom Hearts III yet,’ commented Nomura while being asked about his feelings on the game’s reception alongside noting his joy on the game’s sales exceeding his expectations.
What will this DLC consist of, though? Previous games in the series would often receive a ‘Final Mix’ version roughly a year after the release of the initial version of the game that would see a critical mode be added alongside an expanded story, new areas, new bosses and more. This is basically what is happening with Kingdom Hearts III, in a sense, except in the form of DLC (though don’t be surprised if a physical Game of the Year-style edition is released further down the line with the Final Mix monicker). This DLC will have the aforementioned critical mode as confirmed by Nomura in this interview, while it will also contain some story content that is slightly detailed separately due to the potential for spoilers for those who are yet to play or complete Kingdom Hearts III. In terms of any particular date when this content will become available, nothing has been announced at this time, although since they are already working on this content now it could be hoped that this won’t be too far in the future.
Note: The remainder of this article will contain spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III
In terms of story content that could feature in this DLC, this is naturally being kept a closely-guarded secret, although he did tease fans by saying that there would be further story content related to Xion following her return in this new entry to the franchise. Considering the fact that she is one of my favourite characters in the entire series, this can only be good news in my opinion.
There was also some time in the interview dedicated to the opportunity to ask Nomura some questions regarding certain elements of the game’s plot. For example, they asked a question about what kind of place Scala Ad Caelum is and its resemblance to Daybreak Town, found in the mobile game Kingdom Hearts Union χ. This is a connection that ‘can be understood if you look carefully’ according to Nomura.
They also used this opportunity to ask about the identity of the secret girl Lea and Isa are looking for, to which he replied that this is something you could potentially guess if you consider both the secret movie and secret reports contained within Kingdom Hearts 3. As for the Nameless Star in the Final World, Nomura simply states that we will learn more about this in the future.
I can’t wait to see what this DLC will contain and the future direction of the franchise. The secret movie opens up so many possibilities for the future titles, especially considering its real life setting of Shibuya (possibly referring to a return for the characters of The World Ends With You). Whatever happens, I’m very excited to see what Nomura has planned next for the series.