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Kingdom Hearts 3 opening movie shows the power of friendship

Sora's story is almost at its conclusion, as the Kingdom Hearts 3 opening movie gives players a taste of what they're in for.

Ozzie Mejia

December 9, 2018 2:35 PM

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It's still hard to believe that Kingdom Hearts III is almost out. It's been a long decade-plus wait since the last numbered installment (without a decimal point) released. That's almost two whole PlayStation generations ago! Now the reality is starting to set in that the final game in Sora's journey is about to release, hammered home by the game's official opening getting released on Sunday morning.

This is the opening movie that will greet players when they kick off their Kingdom Hearts III journey. We'll dive into a few spoilers for the past decade of Kingdom Hearts games here, so if you're not keen on seeing those or have yet to play those games, you are welcome to watch the above trailer and just click away. Among the items of note here include:

• Sora in the blank world where he'll meet the Chirithy, as hinted during the X018 trailer.
• The chess game that's been in the background of many of the Kingdom Hearts III trailers for the past several years.
• Ventus, Terra, and Aqua separated by the darkness, complete with Terra taking on the form he did at the end of Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, where Master Xehanort forced his heart into his body.
• A quick look back at the Destiny Islands before the very first game, with Sora, Riku, and Kairi getting separated as their world collapsed into the darkness. Riku morphs into Ansem (the Heartless figure left behind by Xehanort) to signify those two characters remaining tied together to this day.
• Roxas, Axel, and Xion from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days enjoying Sea Salt ice cream over the clock tower, as they would after completing a long day's work. This culminates in that game's climactic battle between Roxas and Axel, as Roxas struggled with the root of his existence. (Or non-existence, since he's a Nobody.)
• Sora battling the various members of Organization XIII before finally facing off with Master Xehanort, the key villain behind everything.

There's still a lot to unpack from the whole Kingdom Hearts 3 story, with almost 15 years of story about to pay off. Sora's story comes to a close when Kingdom Hearts III releases on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 29.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?