Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura plans to bring the series to an end as he considers retirement
Tetsuya Nomura, the director of the Disney and Final Fantasy crossover series Kingdom Hearts, has confirmed that he is considering retirement, but he also wants to "complete" the series' story before stepping down.
The details:
In an interview with Japanese publication YoungJump (translated by KH13's Ryuji), Nomura was asked about the franchise's future, as KH4 is set to be the start of a new chapter. The director stated that he only has a "few years left until I retire," and that he must decide whether or not to retire before wrapping up the series. โI'm making Kingdom Hearts IV with the intention of it being a story that leads to the conclusion,โ Nomura said.
KH4 was announced during the franchise's 20th anniversary celebrations in 2022 with a cinematic trailer featuring the world of Quadratum, a realistic city unlike anything seen in the series before. The game, which still features Sora as the protagonist, will mark the beginning of the "Lost Master Arc" after the series' original plot was completed in KH3. This new storyline will also reveal the truth behind Sora's famous quote from the first game, "Is any of this for real or not?" Nomura also revealed that the new setting has been considered since the franchise's inception.
Nomura also stated that he envisioned KH4 as a new entry point into the series for newcomers, even going so far as to hire new writers and redesign the classic logo. The community consensus is that the franchise is quite convoluted, with even games that are believed to be spin-offs containing vital plot information for its numbered entries. For example, Dream Drop Distance, a former 3DS exclusive, contains story elements that lay the groundwork for KH3, whereas jumping in directly from KH2 will most likely result in confusion.
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