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As someone who's a fan of both Final Fantasy and Disney, I love Kingdom Hearts. I do not love the series' scattered and frequently knotted lore, however, and the Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer has planted us right back in the wilds of esoteric nonsense.
In the trailer, we see a black-haired younger man wearing a dark face mask and blazer. He appears for just a second amid Sora's battle against a gigantic heartless in the middle of a city. Even though he's already part of the franchise, you likely don't recognize him, because Kingdom Hearts 4 is going deep here.
That looks very like Vali, a character from Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road, a mobile game centred on the early years of the Xenahort. He's one of the upper classmen, and it's a surprise to see him here because he actually dies during the events of that game.
Normally I'd be wary of spoiling something like that, but Dark Road was only accessible through the Kingdom Hearts Union X app that's since been discontinued and delisted. So if you haven't already played it, you can't by official means.
Assuming it's him, how he's there or why he's there are questions only the fourth mainline entry can answer. This is all extremely par for the course of the property, as Kingdom Hearts has sprawled across platforms since Chain of Memories on the Game Boy Advance followed the first installment.
This is coming to the fore amid jokes about the harebrained nature of all this mythology. Alas, Kingdom Hearts gives Metal Gear, Drakengard, and any FromSoftware release a run for their money when it comes to mind-bending background information. My advice? Just enjoy hopping around your favorite Disney and Pixar classics as Sora, Donald and Goofy.
Kingdom Hearts AI art accusations hit Square Enix, and that sure looks like slop to me.
