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Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory follows the music in November

Kingdom Hearts is getting musical with Melody of Memory, which now has a November release date.

Ozzie Mejia

August 26, 2020 11:25 AM

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At this point, all bets are off when it comes to trying to predict where the Kingdom Hearts story goes next. So when Square Enix revealed that the next step for the series would be a rhythm action game, fans shrugged and said, "Sure, why not?" There hadn't been a lot revealed about Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory, but that changed with Wednesday's Nintendo Direct Mini, which culminated with the game's release date.

Melody of Memory is essentially the series' greatest musical hits. Sora and company will journey through many of the locales they've visited in the past, playing through rhythm sections assigned to familiar music tracks from each of those worlds. This spans the entire series to the point, starting from the "Simple and Clean" track from the original game and even going into "Let It Go" from Kingdom Hearts 3's Frozen stage. While some stages will contain straightforward rhythm sections, others will include action elements and even boss battles. Clearing stages will unlock a music player, as well as associated cutscenes. So if you've ever wanted an abridged recap of the Kingdom Hearts series to this point, you'll now have one at the ready.

Melody Maker will also feature a competitive element that allows players to face off online. However, the Nintendo Switch version will include an exclusive Free-for-All mode that allows for eight players to jump in locally via multiple Switch consoles.

On top of collecting the Kingdom Hearts music catalog, Melody of Memory is also going to fill in some blanks from Kingdom Hearts 3 regarding Kairi's story. So if you want more of the full story, you're not going to want to skip this game. Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is set to release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on November 13. It's up for pre-purchase on the Nintendo eShop and, yes, it's a full-priced $60 game.

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?