Kingdom Hearts mobile game coming to the US on 7th April

Last year at E3, Square Enix both surprised and perhaps briefly irked its fans. A good number were expecting the announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3, which indeed happened later. However, Square Enix prefaced it with the revelation of a Kingdom Hearts mobile game, which misled some into believing that the company has betrayed them for a quick mobile buck. Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, as it was finally revealed, was happily a completely different game for iOS and Android. Half a year after that title launched in Japan, Square Enix will be bringing it to North America this week.

Fans of the Kingdom Hearts franchise will already be familiar with characters like Sora as well as the motley crew of Disney as well as original characters. Well, you can forget most of that in Unchained χ as the game takes place a long, long time before the events of the first game, a.k.a. the Keyblade Wars.

Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ boasts of a couple of features you won't find in the mainline games. For one, you can customize your own avatar instead of being forced to use a pre-existing persona. You will also have an assortment of costumes and accessories to mix and match, and, of course, buy, in-game. But perhaps the most the most unique feature of all is its online gameplay. No Kingdom Hearts title before has allowed players to interact with other players. That means there will be elements of cooperation, competition, and communication in the game.

Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ also ties in with another upcoming title for the PlayStation 4, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. The latter is actually a compilation comprised of an hour-long Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover movie and the Full HD remaster of the Nintendo 3DS game Dream Drop Distance.

Aside from the April 7 North American launch date, much of the availability details are still unknown, particularly the price. Given statements about costumes and whatnot, do expect a lot of in-app purchases. Release dates for the rest of the world also remain unknown.

SOURCE: Square Enix