Kingdom Hearts IV

Kingdom Hearts IV is the next numbered mainline entry in Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts series, announced on April 10, 2022, during the franchise’s 20th-anniversary event in Tokyo. Its reveal trailer introduced the project alongside Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link, a separate mobile title. The announcement confirmed that series director Tetsuya Nomura was involved, and Square Enix presented IV as the beginning of a new story arc called the “Lost Master Arc.” The trailer places Sora in Quadratum, a realistic-looking metropolis which Nomura later described as an “unreality” from Sora’s perspective. Sora awakens in an apartment after apparently spending seven days unconscious. Strelitzia, a character first introduced in Kingdom Hearts Union χ, tells him that the city is Quadratum and that he has been asleep for a week. The scene follows the ending of Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind, in which Sora disappears after using the power of waking to restore Kairi. The footage also cuts to Donald Duck and Goofy in a dark underworld-like setting, where they call for Hades while looking for clues to Sora’s whereabouts. Riku appears separately in Quadratum, wielding his Keyblade amid the city’s streets. A giant Heartless attacks Sora in the same city, and he uses a Keyblade in combat. Square Enix’s published materials identify Sora, Donald, and Goofy as returning protagonists, rather than presenting IV as a reboot with an entirely new cast. The trailer’s visuals present a deliberate contrast between the series’ traditional stylized character designs and Quadratum’s detailed urban architecture, traffic, and civilians. Its title card explicitly names the game Kingdom Hearts IV, making it the successor to Kingdom Hearts III, which released in January 2019. The reveal does not supply a release date, platforms, or a complete account of its Disney worlds. Consequently, publicly confirmed information centers on its announcement, its Lost Master Arc designation, the return of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and its early Quadratum setting. Prior to IV’s announcement, the most recent numbered installment had concluded the “Darkness Seeker Saga,” an arc involving Xehanort that began with earlier Kingdom Hearts games and reached its finale in Kingdom Hearts III. Nomura stated in the 20th-anniversary announcement that IV would launch the Lost Master Arc. The public trailer therefore supplies a prologue-like setup rather than a detailed synopsis: Sora is stranded in Quadratum, his friends are searching for him, and an enormous Heartless threatens the city. No further official plot details were provided there.