Tetsuya Nomura Hints at the Series’ Conclusion with Kingdom Hearts 4Kingdom Hearts 4 Will See the Story Reset, Said Nomura
The future of the Kingdom Hearts series is shaping up to be both intriguing and potentially conclusive, according to a recent interview with series creator Tetsuya Nomura. As fans eagerly await Kingdom Hearts 4, Nomura provided insights that suggest the next chapter could be a major turning point for the franchise.
In an interview with Young Jump, translated by KH13, Nomura revealed that Kingdom Hearts 4 is being developed "with the intention of it being a story that leads to the conclusion." While this doesn’t necessarily mean the series will end with the installment, it sets the stage for what may be the final saga in the Kingdom Hearts story. The upcoming game marks the beginning of the "Lost Master Arc," an entirely new story that will allow both newcomers and longtime fans to jump in without needing extensive knowledge of the previous complex storylines.
"If you remember how the ending of Kingdom Hearts III goes, you'll understand that Sora ends up like that because he's ‘resetting’ the story in a way," said Nomura. "So Kingdom Hearts IV should be easier to get into than before. I think that if you like the series, you'll feel like 'this is it', but I'm also hoping that as many new players as possible will play it."
"Both Kingdom Hearts Missing Link and Kingdom Hearts IV have been created with a stronger focus on being new titles rather than sequels," Nomura told Young Jump. "For example, as a new experiment, we have had staff who have not been involved in the Kingdom Hearts series before participate in writing the scenario. Of course, I will be editing it in the end, but I don't think it will be positioned as a work that needs to be done in the sense that the writer who has never been involved in the 'Kingdom Hearts' series is creating a new base."
However, while Nomura’s creative genius has been instrumental to the series’ success (and often, confusion), he has confirmed that he is pondering retiring in a few years. Before retiring, though, he poses a challenge to himself: "If this isn't a dream, then I only have a few years left until I retire, and it's looking like: will I retire or will I complete the series first?"
New Arc, New Beginnings
Announced back in April of two thousand and twenty-two, Kingdom Hearts 4 is currently in development. The game’s first trailer will see the beginning of the "Lost Master Arc." At the moment, little is known about where the story will be heading, but the trailer does reveal that it will start off with Sora waking up in Quadratum, a world that Nomura described in an interview with Famitsu in two thousand and twenty-two, as an Alternate World similar to ours.
"From each of our perspectives, our perceptions change," Nomura said, translated by VGC. "From Sora’s perspective, Quadratum is an underworld, a fictional world that is different from reality. But from the point of view of the inhabitants on the Quadratum side, the world of Quadratum is reality, and the world where Sora and the others were is the other side, the fictional world."
According to Nomura in his recent interview with Young Jump, this world, reminiscent of Tokyo but with a dream-like quality, isn’t entirely new; Nomura has had the concept in mind since the development of the first game.
"With regards to Kingdom Hearts IV, players are definitely going to see a few Disney worlds in there," Nomura told GameInformer back in 2022. "Since each new title, the specs have been really increasing, and there’s so much more we can do in terms of graphics, it kind of limits the number of worlds that we can create in a sense. At this time, we’re considering how to approach that, but there will be Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts IV."
While it’s a shame to see a reduction in the number of Disney worlds Sora will explore in the next entry—a core element of the series since its inception—Nomura’s decision to streamline the worlds could lead to a more focused narrative, which would help alleviate the complexity that has occasionally overwhelmed players in previous installments, even if legal considerations aren’t the main factor.
Whether Kingdom Hearts 4 brings the series closer to its conclusion or opens up a new chapter, it will be a Monumental moment in the journey of Sora and his loyal companions. For many fans, the prospect of seeing Kingdom Hearts come full circle under Nomura’s direction, while bittersweet, will be an epic finale to a story over two decades in the making.
