After years of radio silence, Square Enix finally provided an update on Kingdom Hearts 4. In a post on social media, the developer shared a fresh batch of screenshots while assuring fans that they continue to work hard on the the highly anticipated game.
"To our Kingdom Hearts community, We’re currently working hard on Kingdom Hearts IV and will continue pouring ourselves into the game’s development," the developer wrote on X/Twitter. "We’re dedicated to making this an experience that lives up to your expectations!"
"We’ve seen how excited you are, and we are truly grateful from the bottom of our hearts. We are equally excited and can’t wait to share more about Kingdom Hearts IV when the time is right," the post concluded. "Until then, we appreciate your patience."
The post was shared with a series of new screenshots. With no context, speculation is running rampant online with fans breaking apart everything they see.
Like, for example, in the top photo with Sora -- who is wearing regular sized shoes, by the way -- we see the Commands menu with a mysterious option called "Build." Game director Tetsuya Nomura had previously discussed this new Build mechanic, which allows Sora to scrap and rebuild things.
In that same screenshot, we also see what looks like humanoid Heartless. It's possible that this is just the form that Heartless look like in Quadratum, which is a large expansive city that resembles a realistic world.
Another screenshot in the second row shows Mickey Mouse as a playable character. There's only one button option shown, which suggests this is probably a small minigame and not a full-fledged experience. Mickey has been playable in some previous Kingdom Hearts games but in very limited capacity. There's also speculation that this library is within Scala ad Caelum, which is where Mickey was looking into the Foretellers from Kingdom Hearts Cross Union.
There's also an image of Strelitzia from Kingdom Hearts Cross Union. We last saw her in the Kingdom Hearts 4 reveal trailer. There's a single shot of a rotary phone which could be Quadratum's version of the Gummiphone in real-life form.
in the third row, we have an image of what appears to be a Darkside Heartless from the original trailer. It looks like it's undergone quite a few visual enhancements since we last saw it in the 2022 trailer. It now has wings and an even more ominous presence. We also see two lights headed flying towards it.
The final two screenshots are of Sora. In the first one, he's standing in a dark street, almost like another dimension, with sparkles floating all around. At the end of the road is a bright light. The last image seems to be from the same scene, but focused on Sora's face as he's illuminated by a bright light.
It's all very mysterious, but certainly intriguing. It's unclear when we'll get more details or see a formal trailer. Square Enix is simply saying it'll come "when the time is right" but we're not more than three years since Kingdom Hearts 4 was first revealed and fans are understandably growing anxious.