Kingdom Hearts 3 Review: Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Speedrunning Tips

The Kingdom Hearts series has been well ahead of its time in many ways. With the worldwide release of Kingdom Hearts 3 on Tuesday, the series still manages to stand mostly alone in its unique space.  

A long-awaited mainline sequel more than a decade in the making, the Disney and Square Enix mashup of lovable heroes such as Mickey Mouse and Final Fantasy-inspired characters returns with KH3. 

The action RPG can feel welcoming with its familiar faces, but it is also intimidating because of its expansive and convoluted story threads, though this is a staple of the series. 

Perhaps the biggest surprises in an otherwise predictable release is KH3's evolution as an action RPG and some of the stellar set pieces outside of the story.

Fans who have been tracking Kingdom Hearts for 17 years won't be disappointed. Newcomers and everyone else in between will find one of the more polarizing game series available that shoves past the negatives thanks to superb gameplay. 

Graphics and Gameplay

Visually speaking, this is indeed the Kingdom Hearts fans have come to know and love. We're talking zippers, big feet and spiky hair in a cinematic world that doubles down on its style so well that it manages to be one of the best-looking games of the console generation. 

Outside of the all-white main menu, Kingdom Hearts 3 is a sheer thrill to take in at all times. "Colorful" would be a good way to describe it, but at the same time doesn't do it enough justice. The style walks the boundary between photorealism and cartoonish quite well, where no character feels out of place and no world a stark diversion from the overall tone. 

Part of the appeal outside of the beautiful battles is the visual changes when the party travels to different Disney worlds. The characters change physically to fit the world, and each area on its own is wildly unique and fitting for its Hollywood counterpart. These are more expansive vertically and more wide open than before, packing more of the visual goodness onto screen at once. 

For longtime Kingdom Hearts fans, it will be nice to see cutscenes and gameplay look identical. It sounds like an almost silly thing to point out, but the jarring removal of the game-world presentation for a story movie is gone. That isn't to say the framerates stay the same, but one thing at a time. 

Gameplay follows the same beats as the visuals. 

It is a little like a smartly designed fighting game: accessible for even the most casual of gamers and can mostly be beaten by smashing about two buttons most of the time. But the depths of the combat system, team play, items and interactions with the environment equate to meaningful skill gaps between varying players. 

This doesn't mean it is all good. A classic issue of the PS2 era—fighting with the camera—still requires some serious babysitting at times, and things often get too cluttered on the screen to the point it is hard to tell what is happening. Wonkiness in the player's ability to interact with the environment and inability to tell what surfaces they can or can't land on or climb can lead to frustration.

That extends to general world exploration too. While it isn't game-breaking by any means, running into invisible walls or sliding on one patch of roof in a town but not the next is reminiscent of games on older consoles.

Gameplay is diversified first and foremost through Keyblades, which are a joy to unlock and explore. Sora can equip up to three at a time, and sifting through them on the fly based on the events in battle is brilliant. 

Form changes triggered by a Keyblade's properties add depth to gameplay. While some character-specific Keyblades enhance defensive abilities, when Sora triggers one from Winnie the Pooh, for example, he's suddenly hitting off on ranged attacks via—wait for it—honey pistols. 

Keyblades are just the tip of the depth too. Sora has the ability to lock onto as many enemies as possible and unleash devastating attacks that kill off his focus bar. Team attacks with party members create some interesting area-of-effect damage potential that smartly fit into the fight. And some of these, like Goofy's ability to throw down something everyone rides over dangerous paths that would normally damage the player, help in the traversal area. 

Last but certainly not least, Attractions are just that—colorful, gigantic team-based attacks inspired by rides at Disney parks. And gigantic isn't meant to be glossed over here. These things take up the entire screen with their colorful glitz reminiscent of the colorful light bulbs strewn across a theme park at night. Remember the Buzz Lightyear Ride at Disney World? It's here as an Attraction attack, as are other notables such as Splash Mountain. There are also rare ones that seem to only come out during major set-piece fights against bosses. 

And those bosses take the good and bad of everything in the game and mash it into one sometimes-frustrating, always-interesting experience. The sheer scale of the bosses at times can lead to camera and movement issues. But the creativity and puzzle-like nature of figuring out how to fell the beasts is a good time. Some of these become tests of patience as opposed to skill, which can lead to some frustration, but the scope of these is appreciated. 

From a sheer gameplay perspective, player agency is left to decide how complicated battle becomes. The game does a good job of throwing move possibilities on screen with visual timers (and a big bonus in quality of life for displaying how much experience is needed for a level up!). Learning to string these various systems together can create jaw-dropping results and feel rewarding. But at the same time, taking a simpler approach is still enjoyable in a way that seems appropriate for the genre. 

Story, Features and More

KH3's most frustrating element is the story. 

This isn't anything new for a Kingdom Hearts game, of course. Whether you're a newcomer to the series or have gobbled up every bit of the its extensive lore, KH3 will disappoint.

It didn't have to be this way, either. Well before multimedia juggernauts like the Marvel Cinematic Universe were trying to carve out empires, Kingdom Hearts had the right idea. It should be an easy pitch: Disney and Final Fantasy stuff combined. Doe-eyed protagonist goes on adventure to various Disney films with globally beloved characters and saves the day. 

But it has never been so simple after the first game in the series. This is KH3, but it is actually the 10th or 12th game in the series, depending on how one wants to look at it. There are web-browser offerings, mobile releases and at least three handheld-system releases muddying the picture atop console outings. 

And every little release, from console to mobile to handheld, is treated like strict canon. Some of the names, such as Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, are indicative of the convoluted story. 

KH3 picks up after all of it. The main character, Sora, needs to find "The Power Of Waking" so he too can become a Keyblade Master. It serves as the classic soft reset, starting the main character over again.

Sora's party members, Donald and Goofy, are trying to assist. Mickey is off trying to save a lost friend, the end goal being a group of heroes who can combat an evil organization made up of 13 people who are actually the same person. It sounds at least somewhat basic, until we factor in past story beats that play a role, including time-traveling, cloning, multiple people living in one heart, people controlling other people, digitized versions of characters and the drama crossover that includes Disney characters and locales. 

The game does try to ease newcomers into the story with cutscene explanations, and new characters' names are used relentlessly during their introductory scenes. But it's not enough, so new players will have to make do with the simple understanding that the bad guys who look like bad guys are actually bad guys and must be stopped. 

To give the story some credit, it weaves in Disney characters really well. In past games, these could feel forced for the sake of it. The interactions this time feel much more organic and sensical to the plot. 

And as hinted, the game is still enjoyable without understanding the story. The gameplay loop is fun at its most basic. Go to a new world, meet some familiar, well-done characters and work toward a showdown with a typically epic boss battle. These worlds aren't huge in number, but the varying perspectives and gameplay mechanics are refreshing. 

Traversal between worlds is handled on the Gummi Ship, which is a fun diversion that serves as a minigame of sorts. While this is far removed from the magical feeling of romping through a Disney-inspired world or otherwise, the arcade-style combat is a nice change of pace. The 2D, sidescrolling ship shooter combat feels old school and fresh at the same time. 

Some of the deeper RPG systems have serious gems tucked within too. Stirring up caviar or other meals happens with a Ratatouille influence at a spot owned by Scrooge McDuck. Without going too deep into it, the minigames there are one of the best surprises of the game, and an expansion of those ideas and gameplay elements could make for a runaway hit on a standalone release. 

KH3 also tries to modernize itself via the Gummiphone. It has a camera, so the happy-go-lucky Sora can snap off selfies wherever he wants. Oddly enough, hunting the world for "Lucky Emblems," a fancy word for mouse ears, might tie into which ending players see. Along those same modern lines, loading screens oddly go with an Instagram-style format, hashtags and all. The phone also has various minigames players can dive into, inspired by the old-school Mickey cartoons. 

The Glossary is impressive, and each character encountered has a 3D, rotatable model within. It serves as a completionist's dream too, as it even lists every treasure chest in the game. 

Speedrunning Tips and Appeal

An extensive action RPG with layered systems, multiple worlds to conquer and varying levels of competition is dream speedrunner material. 

It would explain why Kingdom Hearts II, for example, has a dedicated speedrunning community still active today as users fight over the any-percent world record that sits just under three hours. 

KH3 probably takes about 30 hours to get through without stopping to 100 percent the game. In the coming months and years, it will be interesting to see how the community (which is sure to swell in number) will maneuver through the game and unearth tricks to cut down run times. 

What we know right out of the gates? Some of the old staples of speedrunning still apply. Players are able to skip any and all scenes and dialogue. This also applies for battle animations. Cutting out certain systems, like the aforementioned cooking minigame, could also be of help. 

From a gameplay perspective, balance with the Keyblades is probably the best way to go. Relying on NPC teammates to throw out heals at critical moments is a bad idea, so being able to swap to something aligned with those abilities helps before shifting back to a strength-based Keyblade. And while some attacks, such as the Attractions, can put up huge numbers, it might be faster to avoid them in favor of controllable moves guaranteed to hit and not clash with the battle's surroundings. 

And unless players are doing a run on a tougher difficulty, there isn't much of a reason to utilize the blocks or dodges in combat. Simply doling out as much damage as possible while mastering the varying systems in place will prove quicker. It also feels like using the dodge to move through the world will be quicker than Sora's plodding run. 

Items in the options menu can help to speed things along as well. Things such as turning off Keyblade cinematics and combo cutscenes not only help cut down on time, they make general gameplay flow better, provided a user is comfortable missing out on a bit of the thematic side. 

Granted, the mood all changes if someone wants to do a completionist run at 100 percent. There, strict memorization will come more heavily into play to find treasure chests and other items throughout the worlds at a quick enough pace. 

Regardless of run style, it will take years for the top times to start emerging given the depth here, which is a great development.  

Conclusion

Impressively, Kingdom Hearts 3 hits all the right notes for dedicated series players and has the strengths in all the right areas to cover up for some of its issues. 

With a story stranger than Goofy's laugh (gawrsh, g'hyuck) and so complicated George R. R. Martin would throw in the towel, KH3 is made a worthwhile experience by its excellent action RPG gameplay, which weaves in 17 years worth of gameplay innovations and additional Disney creations. 

At its core, this is a PS2 game souped up visually for 2019. Some of the little things, like popping out of a cutscene, taking two steps and going right into another is both funny in modern times and shows the game's age. 

But KH3 is never a bad time despite some of its shortcomings, provided potential players are willing to look past some corny dialogue and plot points in order to appreciate its strengths in gameplay. The story will also satisfy its hardcore fans, not to mention the usual Disney crossover appeal, and it isn't hard to put KH3 on the throne as the best in series.