When it comes to what video games are available on the market today, many people would have a hard time finding a gamer who isn't aware of the scope Kingdom Hearts has as a series. Since the first title was released in 2002, a number of other games have followed it, and now Kingdom Hearts 4 is on the way. For the 20th anniversary of Kingdom Hearts, series director Tetsuya Nomura shared a special message, which some fans have found hides more news about the next mainline game.On April 10, the Kingdom Hearts series held an event to celebrate its 20th anniversary. While this led to the announcements of Kingdom Hearts 4 and Kingdom Hearts: Missing Link, there was also a special exhibit in Japan. Once series loyalists got to enter the venue, they quickly found a celebratory anniversary message from Tetsuya Nomura hidden next to a statue of Sora. However, there was more to this message than it seemed at first.In the reveal trailer for Kingdom Hearts 4, a mysterious voice talks about the "ending" Sora chose in Kingdom Hearts 3 among other things. According to Tetsuya Nomura's secret message, this voice belongs to Sigurd. Some fans may not be familiar with that name, but Sigurd is a character introduced in the ending of Kingdom Hearts Union X.
How fans discovered this statement took quite a bit of work, including needing to place an "X" over his message to make the correct Japanese characters stand out. While this may seem unorthodox, the letter "X" has a deep symbolic meaning in KH lore similar to how Kingdom Hearts frequently uses the numbers 7 and 13. However, some fans are unsure how to feel about the idea that yet another character from KH's mobile title is relevant to the ongoing story, especially considering KHUX ended its online services last year.
Kingdom Hearts 4 has made it obvious from even the less hidden aspects of its trailer that it will lean into plot elements seen in its mobile title. Not only does Sigurd have a role to play, but so does Strelitzia, a fan-favorite character who seems to have been taking care of Sora since the events after KH3 ReMind. This bodes well for those who wanted more answers about what KHUX brought to the series.
However, other fans feel alienated for many reasons. Kingdom Hearts Union X was rather long-winded, spanning over a thousand story-related quests. Due to this length, a fair number of loyal players skipped the game entirely, thinking it wouldn't make a difference to the plot. In order to help these fans get ready for KH4, Square Enix may be looking into ways for these players to get caught up on the story of Union X.
Kingdom Hearts 4 is currently in development.