Kingdom Hearts IV to use Unreal Engine 5 and may include Star Wars

Kingdom Hearts IV to use Unreal Engine 5 and may include Star Wars
Ben Borthwick Updated on by

Posted in News

Video Gamer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more

A couple of extra morsels about Kingdom Hearts IV have emerged, including fan speculation of the inclusion of Star Wars.

The first comes from a report by Japanese publication Famitsu, who attended the 20th anniversary event in person. As translated by Video Games Chronicle, the game’s debut trailer during the event was apparently running on Unreal Engine 4. However, Famitsu say that the development team is already testing the newly launched Unreal Engine 5.

According to them, it claims, the full release will be on the newer engine. As a result “the quality of lighting and detail will be several levels higher” than that we saw in the trailer. The report also claims that the studio behind the game will be Square Enix’s Osaka one, which was behind 2019’s Kingdom Hearts III.

It also seems that Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura was at this 20th anniversary event. Famitsu claims that he explained a little more about the decision to make Kingdom Hearts IV, revealing he was originally considering a game based on Verum Rex. That’s the fictional game featured in the Toy Box world of Kingdom Hearts 3. He decided against this, as he felt it’d be too difficult to make two console games at the same time.

The final bit of gossip on the upcoming RPG comes from fan speculation. Fans have noted that a brief shot of a forest during the trailer seems to show part of a robot foot. Specifically, that of an AT-ST as seen on the forest planet of Endor. Though Square Enix are yet to confirm at this time, Star Wars is owned by Disney these days. So a Star Wars cameo in Kingdom Hearts IV isn’t, perhaps, out of the question. We’ll have to wait for more official info to find out.