Kingdom Hearts III Director Discusses New Keyblade Transformations

While the Toy Story world took the show during the big reveal of Kingdom Hearts III at the D23 Expo, many fans of the series were also looking intently for more hints at what kind of keyblade transformations they'd be able to look forward to in the new game. We've been able to catch a couple of glimpses through previous trailers and were also able to see more transformations from the Toy Story trailer as well, and in a recent interview, game director Tetsuya Nomura spoke about the keyblade transformations and combat systems in detail.

"First and foremost, each keyblade will have its own form that it can transform into, and it's different per keyblade," Nomura told Game Informer during a recent interview with the director. "There are at least two different forms it can take. For example, in Toy Story, you saw the giant hammer and then the drill. Another one was at the beginning of the trailer where you saw Sora shoot arrows and it [then] turned into a bazooka, so there are two different forms. It also has multiple layers in terms of transforming; you start out with your first phase of transformation, and if you successfully connect your combos, the [next] transformation will happen."

As far as how the player actually goes about transforming the keyblade, Nomura chose to withhold that information since the system is still in the works. He said that they're still finalizing the transformations, but they have hopes that the end result will be even better than what they have now.

"We're still trying to finalize the specifications, but that being said, it is subject to change, so it might evolve into something even more impressive," he said.

As far as other combat elements, Nomura said that summons would certainly still be in Kingdom Hearts III but with a new, yet to be revealed vision. The environment will also supposedly play a bigger part in the gameplay, according to Nomura's interview.

And when it comes to these new environments, there will certainly be plenty of them to traverse. Big Hero Six, Tangled, and worlds unique to Kingdom Hearts are just a few of the locations that have been confirmed so far.

Kingdom Hearts III is scheduled to be released in 2018.

[via Game Informer]