Simple and cleaner
If, by now, you’ve not taken the leap – or Dive to the Heart, as it were – into the Kingdom Hearts series, you’re seriously missing out. Folks will say plenty about the increasingly-convoluted plot, overreliance on spin-off titles to complete the narrative and gameplay that’s slowly transitioned from too clunky to too passive, and they’d be right. But there’s just something about it, a magic that draws fans to each new title again and again. The marriage of philosophies of Disney and Final Fantasy works in ways that it shouldn’t, and if nothing else, every theme song is a certified banger.
There’s been no shortage of re-releases of these games over the years, but should you be in need of a Kingdom Hearts education today, Square Enix has you covered with yet another compilation of titles spanning 24 years of home consoles and handhelds. Kingdom Hearts Collection [I~III] isn’t a strictly new package, given that it compiles the exact same games as Kingdom Hearts All-In-One Package from several years ago, but this time around we’re looking at some new platforms in the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2, each of which brings its own small benefits to the effort that make them compelling options for those coming freshly into the fold.
If you’re playing on PS5, like I have been, the biggest gains come from the later PS4 titles like Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep and, of course, Kingdom Hearts III. On the newer home consoles, these now benefit from lightly-improved visuals, higher resolutions, faster load times from SSD storage and smoother 60FPS performance. These are games that already looked and played just fine running in backwards compatibility mode on the PS5 or Xbox Series machines, but the slight uplift is still nice to have. Kingdom Hearts III also now includes the Re:Mind DLC, which is great as it adds a lot to the game’s attempts at parsing decades of stupidly complex lore.
The more drastic difference will no doubt be for folks picking up Kingdom Hearts Collection [I~III] on the Nintendo Switch 2, where a lot of the included games are available on Nintendo’s handheld hybrid console family for the first time in non-streaming form. I unfortunately have not tested these versions, but Oliver over at Vooks has an incredibly comprehensive write-up on the entire collection that you should read if you’re interested in seeing how each game handles on the Switch 2.
Elsewhere in the package, it’s a lot of the same re-releases we’ve already seen. There are some appreciable touch-ups, including quality-of-life improvements to settings menus and save features, the option for Japanese audio in Kingdom Hearts III, and some new platform-exclusive Keyblades – if that’s your thing. If you’ve already played through these games multiple times, there’s probably not a huge incentive to come back again, although the 50% discounts being offered on PlayStation and Xbox for previous owners on the same platforms could be enticing. If you’re new here, though? Welcome to Kingdom Hearts, and the best way to play the series to date.
But seriously, would it kill them to include Melody of Memory??
Reviewed on PS5 | Review copy supplied by publisher
Great
- The games still slap
- PS4 entries have genuine visual and performance improvements
- Some small quality-of-life updates across the series
- Seven games, three movies and a DLC for the price of one game
Not great
- Very little has changed about the older titles
- Still no Melody of Memory
Born into the world of video games through SEGA, and in particular Sonic the Hedgehog, Kieron’s gaming tastes now consist of the latest, shiny AAA thing, an indie darling or two, and an embarrassing number of hours of Balatro.