A YouTube video revealing previously unknown secrets regarding the original Kingdom Hearts by exploring environments and areas of cutscenes previously inaccessible or unshown was recently published. Game developers across all genres often use camera tricks and map borders to hide things they don't want the player to see, and Kingdom Hearts is no different. It's taken some time, but this video shares some interesting details regarding what Square hid in Kingdom Hearts where players couldn't see.
What makes the discovery of these secrets particularly exciting is that Square has already packed Kingdom Hearts full of hidden details and Easter eggs for players to find. There's a secret hole in a wall that can be opened in the Destiny Islands, a secret Gummi Ship from talking to Geppetto in Traverse Town, treasure chests in Olympus Coliseum for casting Blizzaga in a special location, and many, many other secrets to find in Kingdom Hearts. It begs the question what else Square might be hiding.
YouTuber Shesez is doing a series of videos in which they break outside video games' boundaries and Kingdom Hearts is their latest target. In the video, they explore beyond the range of what Kingdom Hearts' cameras show in various environments and cutscenes. Most of the clips in the video show developer tricks for moving characters around during cutscenes.
There is one especially interesting sequence showing Sora's bedroom in more detail. Sora's bedroom is only featured in a cutscene sequence and isn't ever used in the game otherwise. As such, much of the scene isn't viewable outside breaking the game like this. The video shows various toys in the room, paintings of Sora's friends, and a variety of other curiosities. For fans of Sora, the extra detail may provide additional insight into his character.
What's especially exciting about the video, though, is how it showcases the magic of game development. Kingdom Hearts' developers will bend character models in weird ways, take objects that are no longer on-camera and drop them into space, and even copy entire rooms with one small change just to avoid animating something just to make a cutscene easier to make. It's fun to imagine developers collaborating on the simplest and fastest ways to accomplish their goals.
Overall, the Kingdom Hearts video doesn't necessarily reveal anything too crazy or surprising. Kingdom Hearts has been available for over twenty years now, after all. Most of its secrets have been detained or hacked well before now. Most of Kingdom Hearts' Easter eggs have been discovered. Still, it's great to revisit the game and see it in a new way. The work Square put into Kingdom Hearts is easy to appreciate even now.
Kingdom Hearts is available now via the HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX collection on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.