Gaming
The Kingdom Hearts series debuts on Nintendo Switch next month
Each title from the trilogy will arrive by way of the cloud.
It’s been three years since the last major Kingdom Hearts game was released and now all three titles from the series will be available for the Nintendo Switch next month on February 10. Square Enix made the news official this week and plans to offer cloud versions of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts III + Re Mind (DLC). Switch users can purchase each game individually or grab all three through an all-inclusive bundle.
There are a few things to keep in mind for anyone interested in pulling the trigger on any or all of the games — pre-ordering the bundle right now makes the most sense from a cost perspective. As of this writing, you can get the three-game package for $72 ahead of the official release date, but that price is exclusive to pre-orders, otherwise, the normal price tag will be $90 (fairly pricey for retro-active, cloud versions).
Otherwise, if only one or two games speak to you, then you can also pre-order a single title for $40 ($32 for Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX), and similar to the bundle situation, that price jumps up to $50 following the games’ release.
Cloud Constraints — Since all of these games will be cloud versions, you will need a fairly stable internet connection for them to be playable. While Kingdom Hearts III came out fairly recently, it makes sense for that specific entry in the franchise to be released through the cloud but the first two (which are remastered versions of the original Kingdom Hearts I & II, that dropped in 2002 and 2005 respectively) in the bundle have been around for a over five years.
Seeing as the Witcher III and Dark Souls: Remastered received physical releases, it would have been nice for Square Enix to do the same thing for Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue.
Purchasing the bundle or just Kingdom Hearts III as a standalone game will give users a special keyblade to use in-game. If you’re on the fence about the series as a whole, you can always play a demo of each game before making a decision.
Now’s the time for me to queue the original Kingdom Hearts music:
