Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind State of Play trailer analysis

A new Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind trailer has dropped today during Sony's final State of Play for the year, and the amount of content here is beyond what any of us were expecting! 

You can watch the trailer below:

To start things off, we have Riku talking to the returning Radiant Garden Restoration Committee! This scene is taking place in Merlin's house from Kingdom Hearts II. Aerith, Yuffie and Leon are present in this scene with Aerith having voiced dialogue. Her voice actress seems to be different than the one who voiced her in Kingdom Hearts II. Aerith remarks how they're all still able to remember Sora so he must still be around. Riku however, cuts in and says that they haven't been able to find Sora with there being no available hints. Judging from the context of this scene, this has to be taking place after the events of the main game. This scene is most likely occurring after Sora used the power of waking to save Kairi. 

Also of note is that Yuffie, Leon and Aerith are all sporting the same attire they wore during Kingdom Hearts II. Unfortunately, there's no word yet on if Cid, Cloud, or Sephiroth, or other Final Fantasy characters will appear, but we shouldn't rule them out, seeing as this addition seems to be a response to fan demand. 

Next up, we have a very brief scene of Sora being present in Ventus's Station of Awakening, which suddenly erupts with darkness. After being enveloped in said darkness, Sora comes face to face with a recolored Dark Inferno in the Keyblade Graveyard. There's little to comment on in this scene due to its extreme brevity. At the very least, this does seem to be an optional boss of some sort. If it is in fact an optional boss, this recolored form will likely alter its attack patterns or strengthen the effects of its existing ones. Based on the description of the trailer, Sora is "tracing" the guardians' hearts. Seeing that he was at Ventus's Station of Awakening, could the Dark Inferno be related to Ventus?

The next scene is rather heartbreaking, as it shows Aqua staring in horror at a plethora of Anti-Aquas charging at her. Sora is in this scene, and realizes the "fear and despair that Aqua feels." Sora seems to observing this scene from the future, with the bright outline surrounding his body suggesting that he is some sort of phantom who is unable to interact.

This has to be taking place after the main story, seeing that Sora seems to be observing this event after the fact. The point of reference here is back during the first initial timeline of the Keyblade Graveyard before everyone died. During that scene, Aqua gave up and perished after surrendering herself to the incessant swarm of heartless. This scene here of Sora seeing it all from Aqua's view, puts it into perspective just how horrific her time in the Realm of Darkness was. The trauma and pain she endured there likely affected her mentality. Her rescue from the Realm of Darkness wasn't completely stainless since she has definitely been corrupted by it. We can not say to what extent, but it certainly perturbed her in more ways than one.

This next scene has Sora confronting Terra-Xehanort at the Keyblade Graveyard. Soon after, the guardian grabs Sora whilst Terra-Xehanort states "Seeing that you have also taken the forbidden path, you too must be ready to make the ultimate sacrifice." This line is likely referring to Sora using the power of waking to rewrite the events during the first Keyblade Graveyard battle. This can also refer to him "tracing" the guardians' hearts. If this is the case, then Terra-Xehanort referencing that must mean that this must take place after the main story in some way. The placement of this scene is puzzling, but we'll find out more during release.

This next portion of the trailer is our first gameplay segment, showcasing a brand new battle against Xehanort's vessels with every guardian of light minus Sora and Kairi. This seems to be story based battle taking place during the main story but its exact placement is unknown. Xehanort's vessels being here instead of against Sora in Scala ad Caelum is puzzling. The area this fight is taking place in is the Keyblade Graveyard, going off of the command window at the bottom left. This fight looks extremely eccentric with everyone teaming up and huddling together. Keyholes are littered everywhere and the darkness-infused Kingdom Hearts is hanging in the sky, so while the context of this scene is a little intriguing, the actual battle itself looks incredibly exciting. Riku and Xion are shown slashing a Xehanort vessel each, with Ventus and Roxas attacking with a gust of wind and rays of light respectively. The command window shows "Attack" as well as "Reflega", so this fight looks somewhat akin to the way the Raging Vulture in the Carribean was fought. Going frame by frame, there are some situation commands that pop up. "Twisted Counter" for Xion, "Storm Rider" for Ventus and "Miracle Hour" for Roxas. Albeit, the way everything here is structured does look different, and this might just be a small cinematic part of the fight, but the timing aspect of using Reflega and Attack seems similar to the Raging Vulture battle. The scenery of being above the clouds is also a rather enticing setpiece.

We have another quick story scene, with this one showing off more of the mysterious conversation taking place between Luxord and Xigbar in Olympus. Luxord is asking for clarification on "the box", which is obviously the fabled Black Box we've seen discussed in Kingdom Hearts III numerous times already. Xigbar looks a tad pensive in this scene, so him prompting this conversation shows that he is rather desperate for some motive of his. What that motive is? We do not know. It could certainly be related to the Foretellers and the Master of Masters but the specificity of the box's importance is also beyond us.

Next up is another very brief scene, with this one showing Demyx confronting Riku at the Keyblade Graveyard. Since the empty replica is still on the ground, this has to be taking place before Namine got her body back, but we have little to go off of besides that one detail. We never see the replica actually taken in the vanilla game, so it being there doesn't specify any of the numerous times it could be taking place during. Riku recalls that Demyx is one of the Organization members and summons his Keyblade, Braveheart, to his side. The scene cuts there. There isn't much to gather from that scene other than Demyx being relevant again in some way.

We then see a series of battles against the True Organization XIII. Firstly is Terra-Xehanort, who summons his guardian to slam on the ground and cause several spikes to spawn. Afterwards, we have Xemnas performing an air combo on Sora with dashes and his saber. Then, there is Riku Replica, who slams Sora down to the ground with a shockwave along with several mines surrounding the two. Ansem Seeker of Darkness's fight is shown next. The arena is fittingly coated in darkness with two large spherical orbs of darkness before either of his sides. A couple of projectile blasts are sent Sora's way. Larxene is shown next, with her agility being shown in full force. Sora blocks her swipes resulting from her quick dashes. Lastly, we have Xemnas once again, with him now firing off a barrage of lasers, in an identical manner to how he did during the final boss battle of Kingdom Hearts II. There is quite a bit to see here, but the extreme quickness of each of these scenes shows off too little to be carefully scrutinized. The command window shows the Nobody emblem protruding on both ends of the word 'Command'. This area is seeming like one specifically made for these Organization battles.

We have a story scene next with Sora shooting a beam of light towards Riku's Station of Awakening. One interesting aspect of note here is how this is young Riku and not the older version currently in Kingdom Hearts III. There's a possibility that this could be the new Riku Replica introduced in Kingdom Hearts III, or this could be some element of time travel to the era of Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, seeing as an image of Namine is present on the platform. These are just guesses though, and anybody's guess is as good as ours right now. There is a sneaky cut present in this scene however. The very beginning shows Sora on top of his own Station of Awakening. You can infer this by the red present on the platform, which is meant to be his Kingdom Hearts I attire. When he is up in the air though, it is Riku's Station instead. The transition here is quite clever. Sora's words are quite vague. The fact that "hearts are connected" is nothing new in this franchise, but Sora's tone of realization here is significant. He reflects on everyone telling him to follow his own heart, but then references how hearts are connected. This might mean that he takes that statement to a new level of understanding, maybe to even mean, "follow everyone's hearts", also known as tracing them. Since all hearts are connected, Sora following his own heart will follow his connections, ergo connecting him to everyone. This also explains why it shows him interacting with Riku's Station of Awakening and not his own when saying this.

Next, Kairi makes her debut in this trailer, appearing in The Final World with Sora. Her tone and wording makes it pretty clear that this is her first time stepping foot onto this world.

Then, out of nowhere, we are shown Kairi being playable for the first time in the series! Sora is the party member here, and armored Xehanort is the boss. She is wielding Destiny's Embrace and her combative segment begins with what looks like a reflective guard, similar in nature to Aqua's natural guard and Riku's guard. She is also able to shoot her Keyblade forward from quite a distance from what we see here. She is quite a ways from Xehanort and still manages to attack him from that distance. Afterwards, she soars into the air and fires of a barrage of light infused projectiles towards Xehanort. This seems to be her shotlock. The arena for this battle is a bit different from the standard platforms we've seen for the other Organization battles. There is quite an intensively woven magic circle of sorts slowly rotating on the field. This might be due to Xehanort's presence. Either way, it is very interesting to have Sora as a party member for this battle.

We then see a very quick scene of Sora activating a sphere in Scala ad Caelum, which creates a rail of light for him to grind on. Since this section is entirely new and entirely devoid of combat, this practically confirms that Scala ad Caelum has been expanded in some ways. While we don't know to which extent it has been opened, the fact that Sora is here alone and not with Donald and Goofy shows that this is taking place during post-game.

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Roxas, Axel and Xion are then shown fighting off against a member of the Organization. While we don't see this member's face, the fact that they are floating suggests that it is Xemnas. Axel calls out to Roxas and Xion, and exclaims "Get what's ours!" All three Keyblade wielders then go off with Keyblade in hand to strike Xemnas. The fact that Xemnas is here gives credence to the possibility of this being an alternate story scenario, or maybe taking place after Sora leaves the trio in the vanilla game. 

Another brief scene, with this one showing Riku and Aqua in the Land of Departure. This has to be taking place after the main game's story. While the subject of their conversation eludes us at the moment, the fact that the word "again" is used here suggests that Aqua could be going back to the Realm of Darkness. What that reason is, no one knows. But she also says that she isn't alone now, so someone else would be going with her in this context.

The trailer ends with words from Chirithy referring to how Sora won't be able to return to his world without his powers. And lastly, Sora and Yozora walk up to one another in the Final World during night-time, with Sora saying "I've been...." and Yozora following up with "I've been having these weird thoughts lately." Finally, in conjunction, both of them say "Like, is any of this for real or not?" This scene is a complete mystery, but perhaps this ties into the secret movie "Yozora" and the events that transpire there? The moon present in the sky is a nice touch. The night-time esque setting here is rather fitting since Yozora means night sky in Japanese.

You can pre-order the DLC now! It releases on PS4 on January 23rd, 2020 and Xbox One on February 25th, 2020. 

We covered the State of Play's release of this trailer here. We also covered a slew of new information such as a recent Famitsu interview with Tetsuya Nomura and more information regarding what was revealed at the Osaka orchestra!

What features and inclusions of Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind are you most excited for! Let us know!