fucking knew it

It's so funny how SE can provide next to no info and still get me extremely hype!

Well, Kingdom Hearts on mobile is clearly profitable enough for them to run another game simultaeneously with Union Cross.

This is still dissapointing news to me though.

I feel like I'm going to piss myself at how cheap Squênix has become. Well, guess we might finally find out more about Scala now.

I can't help but feel disappointed. Union X is in dire need of a console remake; this is a step in the opposite direction.

Nevertheless, hard not to be stoked about a Xehanort prequel. Let's hope we actually get some proper cutscenes out of it.

Damn it. Another mobile game? Really???
Can this at least mean that Union X is coming to an end? Please?
I was really, really praying the next game would be console. I would have even preferred going handheld again over this. I can't take another chibi-modeled pay-to-win cash cow. And more mobile games just mean more games that the vast majority of people won't bother playing (like with Union X), which means the next games are going to have to keep pulling double duty by catching normies up on what happens in them. And that'll only make people resent/ignore the series even more. I think these mobile games are only good for short-term profit, but really bad for the series in the long run.

Will be interesting to see what it looks like. UX has gotten really stale, and it honestly feels like it's gonna end in the near future.

Hopefully events and story in this are handled like FateGO and less like Fire Emblem Heroes.

The excitement for Xehanort to the disappointment for mobile was real. Still, I'm glad they're doing it in some form. If it's gacha trash like UX though, man that would suck.

I highly doubt it’ll be the case, but it’d be nice if this is a game we pay for upfront rather than relying on gacha mechanics for a profit. I really want to see what a KH mobile game could be without having the story dragged down by greedy corporate practices. But I guess I should settle for hoping it’s not an attempt at a Kingdom Hearts AR game. Lol

That said, I’m absolutely excited to see more of Xehanort and Eraqus’ story told. I just hope it doesn’t take 5+ years to tell it.

I never really considered the possibility of UX ending relatively soon while this game take it's place, but it definitely could happen.
Replace Daybreak Town for Scala Ad Caelum and the unions for different Keyblade Masters and we might be on to something here.

It does seem like UX's story is reaching an end so I guess this makes sense, but it makes me wonder if that means the UX service will be ending too because that would be annoying for everyone who has spent so much time on that game..

But hopefully the gameplay for this will take a whole new direction! Excited to see who the other characters in this game will be + getting to see more Scala. Also I wonder if this means UX will have an ending that relates to the creation of Scala. Also also wasn't UX supposed to get a story update?? I've been dying to see what happens next!

One of the characters in the background if the artwork is wearing a similar outfit to Aqua. Kinda cool to see a parallel for her like Terra has with Young Eraqus.

Awww a mobile game :/

Well this should be interesting. While I'm all for exploring his past please keep him dead in the present

Why are some disappointed that this is a mobile title? Mobile games can have good storytelling.

While I am a tad disappointed myself that it is another mobile game, I am really excited to get a glimpse into Xehanort's background. I just REALLY hope that this game does not end up being as ridiculously P2W as UX ended up being. I'd like to actually be able to play this game and enjoy it.

I'm actually not really surprised there's going to be another mobile game. I don't personally play on my phone but I do check out UX on Everglow's youtube channel to keep me up to date on the lore. If not full fledged console remakes, I definitely would like to see UX and Xehanort's stories put into a movie someday. Ready to see the rest of that artwork even more now lol.

i don't hate this but i'm very

very

tired

As the resident Xehanort stan, I hate this announcement but also love it and fear it because I hate mobile games but I'll be spending the next 2-3 years doing nothing but playing this game begrudgingly. I'm tired like Sign.

Insert Kombucha girl meme here.

I'm stoked.

Yeah, is it going to be a mobile game, and that's probably NOT as good as a console release... sure. However, at least it's SOMETHING, and it's going to be focused on something I've literally just last week talked about wanting.

If I win, do I get to be a boss like Kurt Zisa?

Oh wow, I wasn't aware UX was low on the profit side of things. It doesn't surprise me that much as the game seems to exploit players too much even for a gacha (japanese servers usually are pretty player-friendly but I heard UX was bad over there as well), but I guess I assumed KH was a big enough game to make even a shitty gacha be a big money maker.

Still, I'm not sure if it's even possible to have some sort of migration this time unlike X to UX. Even if they re-use the same format replacing Daybreak with Scala and the Unions with different Masters like I suggested, we are talking about a jump in time of literal centuries.

Also, It can be argued that the Playable Character is probably the worst part of the X/UX story and the hardest issue to tackle when adapting the story to other formats, with Back Cover ignoring us and nearly every event that we took part in too, so I find it surprising if they somehow keep that format going forward.

I’d like to see a new art style and a game that doesn’t do 800+ missions.

Title: Something, Something, Something Dark Side

I think it's worth mentioning that the title is, not only two words in English, 8 letters but it's also two letters in Japanese, with 3 characters each. I don't know much Japanese, but I assume in Japanese version, KH games titles were never in kanji? that's 3 katakana/syllable on each word then.

I never wanted a Xehanort game, but I feel for those who did. Not like this, Nomura.

Kingdom hearts: Darkness within freaking darkness

Quick Question Is this the KH game that Nomura mentioned in Past interviews that started development after KH3 and meant to be the KH game set to be released before KHIV or was it one of the Two KH games that they're developing right now?

What if is a Chess Game?
Enough of these Mobile Games.
Just make a Young Xehanort Game, like BBS, from the Past. With Eraqus their Master, and the other KB wielder from the Artwork.

Fortunately, Kingdom Hearts 4 and another Title exist. We just have to wait...

Funny, I still don't really have the feeling that something happened in Ux after ... four? years. I mean, sure, stuff happened, but everything's so vaguely-named, thinly paced and executed and has this glaringly weird gameplay-story disconnection that I really can't get hyped to get another one of these. I mean, sure, the new one doesn't have to be like Ux, but that's not the point - it's not that I dislike Ux as a game, I dislike the absolutely crappy way they handled it (and, as an active player, still do) and would've wished for something different than some "exciting", absolutely nutty "twist" every half a year or so. I'm sorry to sound so negative - this is what years of Ux does to you.

as long as the game is really an action game not forceful needpaytowingame it is okay, there are mobile games like that already though just a few

Another boring mobile game, it seems.

Xehanort, the main villain of the franchise so far, should have his story told on a proper game.
I'm not disappointed because I think it's time to move on, but due to his importance to the lore I don't think this is the right move. If anything, it would make way more sense to get a Xehanort Episode DLC for KH3...

As for the title I guess something like "No Heart X"

Another one I'll just watch the cutscenes or summaries here or on Youtube. I don't have time I can waste on mobile games.

Seriously Nomura, remember how you justified the whole .5 remasters in order to bring the scattered story threads back together? Now you're doing it again with new story developments.

A Xehanort game is hype and it was needed, but the fact that it's a mobile game is a bummer. Hopefully it's something like Coded or FF: TAY instead of UX, but we will see.

I'm hoping they'll at least let us play as Xehanort and not a player avatar. I love Player in UX but I don't think another one will work here.

I'm not gonna rage that it's on Mobile, that's how it is. There's nothing I can do about it.

I'm just glad we're getting a game about Xehanort's past, it could be interesting. I see four blurred characters (there's definitely at least two girls, maybe even a third one in the back but it's hard to tell) alongside Xehanort and Eraqus and I'm really curious to see who they are. Is Disney gonna be a d*ck about Yensid though? I want to see him in his younger days as well, come on. Also, what if one of the girls was... Kairi's grandma?! I've ALWAYS wanted to see her in her fresh days as well. Damn, so many questions, but definitely excited about this project!

i dunno, I like the idea of making a game centered around new characters in Scala ad Caelum, but I'm not too fond on the idea of flashbacking Xehanort's life entirely and focusing on him. It would be cool a game about him before KH3, but now that I've seen this man diying and going to KH, it seems a really underwhelming idea right now. I just hope Xehanort isn't the protagonist in the game, erh...
Also, if they could just revamp the gameplay from Union X, maybe I would think about playing it or givinig it a chance. Unless the battling system is different, I'm against playing this and will just watch the important cutscenes in youtube .-.

Nomura wanted a game delving into Xehanort's past and now it's on its way soon, and hey, I wanted to know about it, so that's groovy, but...mobile....

I mean, there are advantages to having it as a mobile game? Such as, uh, shorter production time I guess, and doing the story in bits means we have something going on in the meantime while waiting for a proper console title...?
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I don't know how I'd handle it if this game is all cutesy-lookin' like the Chi games. :LOL:

I'm going to be optimistic and say this has the potential to be a good thing. Mobile games are not ideal, but as others have mentioned, a mobile game's production is not as demanding as a proper game, so it doesn't necessarily have to detract from any bigger projects (which may not be forthcoming anyway as Nomura is focused on FF7R and likely will be for the foreseeable future).

Regarding Xehanort's past, the only real alternative to a mobile game would be no game. In terms of storytelling, at least it's something most of us actually wanted and, unlike Union χ, the idea behind it relates closely to the main story and has apparently already been thought out for some time.

Of course, we have no information to go for the time being, so nothing can be said for sure. I do hope this means the end of Union χ, though. As MX said, "just let it end, boy."

Quick Question, Is "Project Xehanort" the KH game that Nomura mentioned in Past interviews that started development after KH3 and meant to be the KH game set to be released before KHIV or was it one of the Two KH games that they're developing right now?

Square has two options with this game:

1.) Develop a new formula that makes the game unique and playable/profitable fore more than a year;

2.) Copy/Paste the KHUx structure because the reason it's less profitable is because it's an old game.

I'd guess this will be the long teased Reconnect where we'll follow YX story in a similar fashion that we did with Sora in Remind (without giving away any spoilers) which could be a interesting way to release new story without adding another full fledged game within the Dark Seeker Saga

I don't hypetrain anymore. I need more details. I'm not exactly excited for another Xehanort game, given the saga _just_ ended. What logic.

Still, I'm definitely not excited for another mobile title, simply because that's not how I like to play games. I've tried and deleted them. The updates, the gacha systems, the diminishing returns for pricey microtransactions - it's not ideal for me as a consumer anymore when there are way better options for me. Playing KHUx from the beginning was exhausting after even the first year, if I'm honest with myself. But I had to finally let go after years of trying to endure it.

I agree that mobile titles can be just as sophisticated as console titles, I just don't think a lot of SE's are. Sans ports, they just aren't my cup of tea, and if this new guy shares a similar setup to KHUx, then, like another user said, I just may finally resort to YouTube instead.

I really hope they just copy Chain of Memories playstyle (and update it) if the alternative is UX. If not, I hope that they come up with something more fun and interesting than just medals and Thousands of health bars. Also the story updates are more like FGO and less like whatever has been going on at UX but I think all of us hope for that.

Great a new mobile game... That means we will again wait months or years until something exciting or at least halfway interesting happens, just to pay attention to the game for 1-2 days and then ignore it again? To be honest i’ve never been a fan of KHUX and probably won‘t be one anymore, so i‘m not very excited about the news. But i‘m sure there are enough or at least some people who are happy about it, so i hope for your sake it might not be as bad as i think.

The issue of "could they handle this well as a mobile game", for me, comes down to this:
If they design it more in the vein of the original Coded—that is, delivering big chunks of the story at once rather than drip-drip-dripping it over a period of months—then I could be on board with that. I'd like to have a good sense of how long the story is actually going to take to come to a conclusion. With Union X, I never imagined the story would continue to slog on for as long as it has. And as much as people make fun of Coded, the updates that it got on its original DoCoMo platform were at least substantial and moved the narrative forward, whereas Union X's updates are an endless barrage of filler punctuated only by occasional progress in the main narrative that, until recently, has had nothing to do with the main player's missions.
Another thing Coded got right that UX doesn't: NO. MORE. RNG.
RNG-based gameplay mechanics are the worst. And people complain about Chain of Memories—at least CoM was a) finite in the amount of cards you could even collect, and b) designed to make you rely more on your skills WITH the cards rather than the cards themselves. It's infuriating to have main story locked behind enemies that you can't beat simply because you weren't lucky enough to get sufficiently strong medals to beat them, and to have to wait until you either get a lucky pull or cough up enough money to force a good pull. That crap needs to go ASAP.
Now, Xehanort is a character clearly near and dear to Nomura's heart, so I would hope that he would do all he could to ensure his game treated him (and the players) with due respect. But, I don't know how much control Nomura ultimately has over this—maybe the business suits at Square strongarmed UX to be a gatcha game, and maybe they'll strongarm him on this one, too. I have no clue.
But if this game is even going to be made in the same general vein as Union X, then I'm gonna pass. I won't put up with another one of these corporatized abominations. I just want these five things, and they shouldn't be that much to ask:
1) An upfront timetable on how long the story should be expected to unfold.
2) Sizable chunks of update rather than monthly drips that take 10 minutes to complete.
3) An art style that doesn't make the game look like it's for little babies.
4) Battle mechanics based on skill, NOT on RNG.
5) An actual story, and not 900 missions of pointless hunt-quests with bits of story snuck in out of left field.
These things should be basic. And if the new game doesn't have it, then hopefully no one will play it—only then will SE learn their lesson.

Title guess: Xehanorigins

In case anyone wanted a reminder

I think it might be called Dark Fate/Born/Path.

Huh. Considering a lot of people guessed the same thing, I assume they'll pick those who said it first.

I'll be really surprised if "Another X" isn't the title.

So JP Twitter is going to unveil the title at 17:00 JST on the 31st. That's be 12:00am PT on the 31st, rather than the 30th like NA Twitter said.

So uh, maybe don't be surprised if the announcement doesn't come at midnight tonight? NA Twitter ain't great with time zone conversions.

Wonder if it'll operate on a simultaneous worldwide schedule.

I'd hope so, having multiple months delay between the versions really isn't ideal. It really doesn't seem like it'd be too hard to plan updates far enough in advance to compensate for time needed to translate.

When you're tired of NA SE's shennanigans: