As you’re surely aware, Disney is holding its D23 Expo this weekend, and this is shaping up to be the biggest version of the biennial event yet. The show has been the source of plenty of news about huge movies like the Incredibles 2 and Wreck-It Ralph 2, but video games aren’t being excluded from the fun. This year D23 plays host to Level Up! The Walt Disney Company’s Video Game Showcase, featuring trailers and information for some hugely anticipated games.
Kingdom Hearts III developer Square Enix revealed last month they’d be bringing a new trailer for the game to D23, and that it would feature some elements fans have yet to glimpse. Thus far, we’ve only seen a very limited amount of what Kingdom Hearts III has to offer, every trailer has focused on the same Hercules-inspired world, so the promise of new stuff is a big deal. Well, the Kingdom Hearts III trailer has official dropped, and it delivers, big time, revealing an all new Toy Story World! You can check it out for yourself, above.
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The trailer opens with Sora, Goofy, and Donald awakening in a very familiar bedroom. Our heroes then realize they’ve shrunk and been turned into plastic action figure-like toys! Obviously, Donald and Goofy are pretty used to being turned into playthings, but Sora seems a bit put out. Unfortunately, the Heartless have even infiltrated Andy’s bedroom, but Sora takes them down with a new cactus-shaped Keyblade variant.
With the baddies dispatched of, the Kingdom Hearts gang exchanges information with the Toy Story gang. It seems the humans, including Andy, have gone missing, and (of course) Organization XIII is to blame. Everybody agrees to team up, and we get some more trademark Kingdom Hearts-style action in the house’s front yard, and at Galaxy Toys, where Sora takes control of some toy mechs, in a E-rated version of Titanfall 2. Needless to say, there’s a lot packed into this trailer’s five minutes.
Kingdom Hearts III was first announced back in 2013, but development, led by perfectionist series creator Tetsuya Nomura, has been slow-moving and shrouded in mystery. Trailers were released in 2014 and 2015, and it was anticipated Kingdom Hearts III might release sometime in 2015, but then all news about the game dried up. Understandably, there was some fear Kingdom Hearts III was stuck in development hell, but the game has resurfaced this year. Square Enix released a trailer during E3 and followed up quickly with this latest D23 trailer, as it seems the game may actually be coming together.
As further proof of that, Kingdom Hearts III now has a rough release date! Yes, believe it or not, the new trailer reveals the game will be coming out in 2018. In the meantime, you can keep up with WWG’s latest Kingdom Hearts III coverage here.