'Kingdom Hearts III' Rating Warns of Off-Screen Impaling and Whimsical Attacks

The ESRB rating for Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts III has been released with the content description warning players of everything from "cartoony blasters" to protagonist characters being stabbed and impaled.

Much of the reasons for the "E 10+" rating the game received are ones people who played the last few games will already be familiar with. Referencing Disney-themed worlds and key-shaped swords along with piloting robots and small ships around to shoot projectiles. It also alludes to some off-screen stabbings and impaling scenes involving "protagonist characters," though those could be anything from new scenes to flashbacks of prior events.

Kingdom Hearts III's full rating from the ESRB complete with the "Alcohol Reference" and "Fantasy Violence" content descriptors can be seen below:

"This is an action role-playing game in which players follow Sora and his friends as they battle an evil force. From a third-person perspective, players explore Disney-themed worlds, gain cartoon-character allies, and battle shadowy creatures along the way. Players use key-shaped swords, whimsical magic attacks, and special powers/attack moves (e.g., blasts of water, cartoony blasters) to defeat enemies in frenetic combat. Some sequences allow players to pilot robots or small ships that shoot projectiles at enemies from a first-person perspective. A handful of cutscenes depict off-screen stabbings/impaling of protagonist characters."

The release of the ESRB's rating for the game follows another reveal from over the weekend when Square Enix released a new trailer for Kingdom Hearts III. During Xbox's big X018 event that took place on November 10th, the Winnie the Pooh trailer was released. That trailer featured not only scenes from the 100 Acre Wood but also revealed new gameplay involving different characters across Disney's many properties.

"Sora returns to 100 Acre Wood with Kingdom Hearts III!" Square Enix's preview for the trailer said. "Check out additional gameplay revealing Sora's team-up attacks with Rapunzel and Captain Jack Sparrow. Watch the forces of light and darkness gather as the battle for Kingdom Hearts approaches!"

That trailer kept up the trend of steady releases for the game since it followed another from earlier in November when the Kingdom of Corona from Tangled was teased in a trailer that featured both Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. There are still several more months before Kingdom Hearts II releases, so more trailers and teases are expected to come before its released date.

Kingdom Hearts III is scheduled to release for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 25th.