A new playable gameplay demo for the upcoming Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is scheduled to be unveiled in October. This is the latest installment in the franchise since the Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC dropped earlier this year.
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a departure from the normal RPG formula of the series and will instead be a rhythm action game that recounts the entirety of the notoriously complicated Kingdom Hearts story. Players will control teams of three characters as they traverse through the many worlds of Kingdom Hearts by hitting the right buttons in rhythm with the music. All songs in the game, over 140 of them, will be from the series.
IGN has reported that the upcoming playable demo was announced by Ichiro Hazama, the game's producer, at the 2020 Tokyo Game Show during a live event on Friday. During the showcase, Hazama revealed some gameplay with the help of esports player Kasumi Ashizawa. The focus was on the game's co-op and single player modes. There were no specific details given about the demo's release date and there was no information about a potential western market release.
While the last major title, Kingdom Hearts 3, did not have any multiplayer and none was added in the DLC, the series has had co-op in the past. Versus play, however, is entirely new to the franchise. It is unclear if this mode will only be in Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory or if it will return in some way for the RPG titles down the road.
While this game is being marketed as a retelling of the overarching Kingdom Hearts story, fans of the series will likely be worried that the same narrative issues that have plagued the franchise in the past will resurface. The series has been known to put important plot details into every title across every platform a Kingdom Hearts game is released for, including mobile games. This has understandably left many players, particularly new ones, confused. It has been common for players in the past to skip a game in the series that, on the surface, appears to be a spinoff with little to do with the main story.
While Kingdom Hearts fans have learned to adapt to this storytelling style, it has not been welcomed. Many fans hoped that this way of storytelling would change with the release of Kingdom Hearts 3. However, there was a hint in the announcement trailer for Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory that this is not the case and that the developers will continue to put important information into smaller titles. Only time will tell if the Kingdom Hearts narrative will be streamlined or if fans will continue to be pressured to play literally every single title produced in order to get the full story.
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory will be available on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on November 13, 2020.
Source: IGN
