WHAT IS KINGDOM HEARTS?

Kingdom Hearts is a series of games developed by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney, with the project being controlled by Tetsuya Nomura. Starting from 2002 and continuing on to modern day, there are over 14 games in the series (not counting remakes, spin-offs, or the movie because if we did there'd actually be like 29 I think) with more to come. They are ARPGs that are crossovers of many different Disney properties, Final Fantasy, The World Ends with You, and other Square Enix properties.

The story follows Sora and his friends, Riku and Kairi, wanting to leave their home of Destiny Islands to explore what’s out there. However, on the night of their voyage these mysterious creatures known as the Heartless attack the island, causing his friends to disappear. While Destiny Islands is collapsing, a strange weapon appears before Sora, known as the Keyblade, to help aid him against the Heartless. Following the destruction of his home, he ends up meeting up with two characters named Donald and Goofy. The two had been sent by their king to search for a certain “key” that would protect the worlds from the impending doom coming. That, of course, being the Keyblade. Together, the three set off to search for Sora’s friends, protect the worlds from Heartless, and to find where the King went.

That is only scratching the surface as to what Kingdom Hearts is though. It is known as having some of the most complex video game lore out there for a reason! Many outsiders view it as “that one funny game where anime characters interact with Mickey Mouse” but it is FAR more than that. This essay would be thousands of paragraphs long if I even wanted to try to explain its whole story here. It has made many laugh with its sense of humor and out of context scenes (there are many great compilations on Youtube). It’s had people speculating and putting together the giant puzzle that is its story for over 2 decades. And it’s also made me and many others cry over its rich and surprisingly dark story (shoutout to the many times this series has made me bawl my eyes out).

It is the most bizarre video game series that I have ever played. It feels like something that would only happen in fanfiction with how many crossovers and stuff Nomura is able to do in these games. Sometimes I have to just have to sit there and get hit with the realization over and over again, “oh wow wait I did experience these games, these weren’t a drug trip”. It’s a series with beloved characters, an amazing soundtrack, a rich and complex story to dig through, and just so much more. Not even this explanation here can fully put into words what Kingdom Hearts really is. So I encourage anyone who is curious to experience it yourself. To fully take it all in, sit back, and say to yourself, “What in the fuck did I just experience.”