Tetsuya Nomura Gives A Kingdom Hearts 4 Progress Update In A Rare Admission That It Exists

Square Enix just wrapped up a second-anniversary celebration livestream for Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis, the mobile gacha arm of the legendary developer's persistent infatuation with all things FF7. A while back, series producer Motomu Toriyama had suggested that this would be a good spot to begin talking about the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy's upcoming third chapter, which we presently know next to nothing about.

I recently wrote about that fact while cautioning that my fellow Final Fantasy diehards maintain tempered expectations, and I'm glad I included that bit, because lo and behold, we still know next to nothing about it. What we did get, however, was the illustrious Tetsuya Nomura himself, not only responding to fan clamor for a status update on Remake 3... but daring to breathe new life into three words he seldom deigns to speak: "Kingdom Hearts 4".

Good Strides

The above image has nothing to do with Kingdom Hearts 4, nor Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3. Instead, it is a brief demonstration of what the FF7 Ever Crisis anniversary livestream was ostensibly about. FF13 heroine Lightning's trademark garb is coming to the game, and Advent Children is getting some nice representation, too.

Which is all well and good, and I'm sure it will mean something to several of you. But even during the broadcast, which was only available in Japanese, the chat box was chock-full of constant requests to hear more about Square's third and final FF7 reimagining. Japan's diehard Final Fantasy contingent cited Toriyama's year-old statement hundreds of times.

Eventually, Nomura relented. The ever-reliable @aitaikimochi was on-hand to translate the celebrated character designer's words. Important to note here, but Nomura isn't just a Final Fantasy old hand; as any Kingdom Hearts fan will tell you, he's also the creator and ongoing supervisor of that entire franchise.

Which is why, while Nomura's statement that Square has "decided on the timing of when we will make an announcement" for the next FF7 game is arguably not too news-worthy in its own right, his almost offhanded inclusion of Kingdom Hearts 4 "making good strides" is somehow a veritable hotbed of reasons for me to hit publish on this article.

Just look at this. Less than a week ago, people were clinging to hopes that we'd get KH4 news. We didn't. The last time we heard anything at all about the game was hours after Square Enix announced the cancelation of a pending Kingdom Hearts mobile title. It's been three years since KH4's snazzy reveal trailer, and at this point, watching Nomura say its name aloud is like finding an oasis at the center of a Tatooine-themed KH world we'll probably never get.

As for Final Fantasy 7 Regenesis, or Final Fantasy 7 Revival, or whatever the heck it ends up called? We already know more on that score than we do on Kingdom Hearts 4, even if Nomura, Toriyama, Naoki Hamaguchi, and the rest of that great gang of devs haven't formally begun its marketing rollout. While it's undoubtedly a couple of years away, Hamaguchi has happily informed us that a treasured (?) moment in the original game will return when Tifa Lockhart slaps, and get slapped by, the nefarious Scarlet.

Kingdom Hearts 4