Kingdom Hearts 3 will be opening in Twilight Town, according to franchise director Tetsuya Nomura. In an interview with Japanese media outlet Dengeki, Nomura discussed several details regarding the upcoming sequel's world and how they will be tied to progression, revealing that Twilight Town, rather than Olympus or old favorite Traverse Town, will be Kingdom Hearts 3's opening tutorial world.

For those unfamiliar with past Kingdom Hearts games, each typically starts in one of two worlds: Traverse Town or Twilight Town. Traverse Town made its debut in the original Kingdom Hearts, while Twilight Town served as Kingdom Hearts 2's opening world. Each world has its fans, but Twilight Townis  currently much more intertwined with the series' plot. It's a huge world, the largest shown yet in Kingdom Hearts, and many important characters reside within the town itself or nearby.

Despite the tradition of using either Traverse or Twilight as tutorial worlds in Kingdom Hearts games, many fans were under the belief that Kingdom Hearts 3 might start on Mount Olympus. The Hercules-themed world was the focus of a lot of early Kingdom Hearts 3 marketing material. It also seemed to be a tutorial world for introducing many of the protagonist Sora's basic skills, but it was either there for advertising purposes or has simply been reworked since. There are also plot concerns that drew Sora to Mount Olympus. How that works out will have to be determined once Kingdom Hearts 3 launches.

Twilight Town's confirmation in Kingdom Hearts 3 is not a new development, as the world was confirmed almost offhandedly in early trailers for the game. Clever viewers deduced the location  based off "Struggle" posters on alley walls and from the general aesthetic in certain scenes. Twilight Town's reveal as the game's tutorial world is significant, however. Events within Kingdom Hearts 2, included in the Kingdom Hearts 2.8 collection, will now have to be plotted out with Sora starting in Twilight Town -- a twist with curious implications.

Another quote from the interview with Nomura plays into this Twilight Town news in an interesting way. Nomura says that Kingdom Hearts 3 is designed in a way that won't have Sora visiting worlds multiple times. Now, Twilight Town may not be intended to be included in what Nomura is referring to should it prove to be a hub world on top of the tutorial world, but it's certainly interesting to consider what might prevent Sora from returning to the key Kingdom Hearts world. Then again, maybe Sora just got sick of so many tutorials.

Kingdom Hearts 3 is planned for release in 2018 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Source: NeoGAF