Plenty of ink has been spilled about Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts franchise and its overblown, confusing web of narrative beats, lore, and mechanics. At its core there's a simple conceit: Final Fantasy and Disney universes intermingle, leading to bizarre interactions like Goofy the dog chatting with Final Fantasy 7's Aerith. That being said, this unique premise and the series' action RPG mechanics have made it a favorite of many, to the extend many are already waiting on Kingdom Hearts 4 after the long-anticipated KH3 released in 2019.
While most Kingdom Hearts titles have the same fundamental gameplay mechanics, each also include unique features to toy around with. Chain of Memories turned combat into a card-battler, Dream Drop Distance introduced parkour-esque "flowmotion" alongside creature collecting and raising, and Kingdom Hearts 3 added Disney park attractions such as Magic Tea Cups to attack with. One memorable mechanic from Kingdom Hearts 2 called Drive Forms should return when the next entry in the series releases, as it added a lot to gameplay and the interpersonal relationships of Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy.
With Our Powers Combined
After Kingdom Hearts 2 players complete the cold open starring Roxas, Sora and his friends make their way to Yen Sid's tower and receive brand-new outfits from Sleeping Beauty's fairies Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. These outfits allow Sora to transform by combining with Donald, Goofy, or both using a limited "Drive Gauge" that fills through normal gameplay. Each Drive Form comes with different abilities.
Sora attains Valor Form by combining with Goofy, allowing him to dual-wield Keyblades and fight with a faster, entirely physical style. Likewise, he attains Wisdom Form by combining with Donald, letting him glide about the map and fire magic bullets as though the game were a shooter. Master Form uses both partners in the transformation, and similarly combines their abilities by letting Sora use two Keyblades, but strike with more powerful physical and magical attacks.
Three more Drive Forms exist as well: The Limit Form exclusive to Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix lets Sora transform alone, dressing as he did in Kingdom Hearts; the Final Form randomly unlocks following Sora's late-game battle with Roxas, giving him the ability to fly; and the Anti Form gets rid of Sora's Keyblade and has him lash out in a guise similar to the shadowy Heartless. Anti Form can only be activated by triggering a hidden value increased primarily by repeated use of the other Drive Forms.
Drive's Potential in Kingdom Hearts 4
The idea of form changes appear in other Kingdom Hearts games, just not in the same capacity. For example, Kingdom Hearts 3 has the Formchange ability that alters Sora's appearance somewhat based on the Keyblade he wields. Some of these are reminiscent of Drive Forms, for example the Rage Form visually changes him into a Heartless and only activates when Sora is at critical health. Where this misses the mark compared to Drive Forms is in its lack of character interactions.
Valor and Wisdom Form from Kingdom Hearts 2 stand out because they help Sora in a way both visually and mechanically reminiscent of his friends, driving home the shared bonds that so often play a part in the series' narrative. If the idea were to return in a theoretical Kingdom Hearts 4, it could be stretched further. Perhaps Sora could combine with Riku to gain a darker power with more control than the Anti Form, or he could combine with Kairi to conversely use the power of light. Multiple combinations of characters would be even more intricate from there.
The ending of Kingdom Hearts 3 may make it tricky for developers to rely on Sora transformations, as the series' main hero disappears to save Kairi and seems to wind up by himself in Shibuya, Japan from The World Ends With You. He may spend a large part of the game alone, unless the events of NEO: The World Ends With You play into Kingdom Hearts 4's story. However, who's to say Riku or another character could not also experiment with a system similar to Drive Forms - it may be worth trying.
Kingdom Hearts 2 is available now for PC, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.