It's been just over two years since Square Enix announced Kingdom Hearts 4, and much of the game's development is being kept under wraps, a new report from a reliable insider claims the next chapter in the beloved franchise will be released sometime next year.
Prominent insider Daniel Richtman (@DanielRPK) -- the same person who reported on Disney working on a Kingdom Hearts TV or movie adaptation -- is now claiming that Kingdom Hearts 4 will be released in 2025.
"I hear the 4th game will release next year," he wrote on his Patreon. While it's not a ton of information, it at least gives fans a glimmer of hope to hold onto while we wait for some sort of official announcement from Square Enix.
Kingdom Hearts 4 was officially announced on April 10, 2022, during the 20th Anniversary Event. Many fans were hoping Square Enix would offer some sort of update on the 2nd anniversary of its announcement earlier this month, but unfortunately, it's been radio silence.
Kingdom Hearts 4 will be the fourth entry in the main storyline and the 14th game in the franchise overall. However, it'll be the first since the Dark Seeker Saga, aka the "Xehanort Saga." The long-running storyline concluded with the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 in 2019.
Not much is known about the story of Kingdom Hearts 4 other than it will be the start of what Square Enix is calling the "Lost Master Arc." It will once again find Sora and his friends Donald and Goofy on a brand new adventure -- one that will presumably see them team up with characters from across the Disney universe.
The initial announcement trailer featured the iconic Keyblade wielder in a brand new setting and with a stylish new look. The brief video saw Sora going up against a giant enemy in the Quadratum, a large, expansive city set in a gorgeous, realistic world. Kingdom Hearts creator and KH4 director Tetsuya Nomura later revealed that Quadratum would be the "initial base within the game" where players will "spend time there and then go to different worlds and then go back there."
In addition to briefly showing Donald and Goofy, the trailer also teased a mysterious new character named Strelitzia who was first introduced in Kingdom Hearts Union X[Cross].
While not confirmed, many have speculated that Kingdom Hearts 4 could expand upon the Disney IPs and include worlds based on the Marvel and Star Wars franchises.