According to a new datamine, Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory has an extensive list of banned words hidden within its recently-released demo. It is unclear how or when players would use any of the words in gameplay, possibly suggesting some as-yet-unannounced aspect of the game.
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is the first rhythm game in the Kingdom Hearts franchise. As befitting of an action RPG series, Melody of Memory combines the iconic soundtrack of Kingdom Hearts with a rhythm-based auto-running battle system. The game also serves as a recap of the series story to date, while potentially laying the groundwork for Kingdom Hearts 4. Based on the concept of Kairi exploring her memories, the story seems to offer little in the way of offensive content, as supported by its E10+ ESRB rating.
According to Twitter user @orcastraw, datamining the game's well-liked demo reveals a list of profanities that will get players banned from online play. The decidedly un-Kairi-like words in the list include all the usual suspects, plus some words that players might not expect. As far as SFW content goes, the datamine seemingly reveals the full list of prior games from which the new game's music is taken, as well as a list of some songs that did not appear in the demo.
Melody of Memory has been confirmed to have an online competitive versus mode. If the list of banned words is any indication, there may be some kind of text chat functionality included in online interactions. The Nintendo Switch version also offers an exclusive battle royale mode of sorts, so players can likely chat during that mode as well. It's also possible there is some other feature that has not been announced. In any case, given how comprehensive the word list is, Square Enix clearly wants any online interactions to be entirely child-friendly.
Some may find the word list reminds them of a larger issue with the franchise: namely, its reluctance to address darker and more mature topics. The Kingdom Hearts mobile games depict death and grief in more direct ways than many of the main series games try to do. Moreover, some of Kingdom Hearts' sister series, like Final Fantasy and The World Ends With You, use mild expletives in their dialogue to convey intense emotions. Keeping this kind of T-rated swearing from Kingdom Hearts may ultimately do more harm than good.
Still, of course, it is important that Square Enix ban these words from online play. Kingdom Hearts is an all-ages series, with the pure and tender relationship between Sora and Kairi being one of its most iconic features. Even though the series could become more mature in the future, Melody of Memory is not the game for that to happen. Thanks to the long list of banned words, it won't be.
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is set to release for PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on November 11 in Japan and November 13 worldwide.
Source: Twitter (Warning: NSFW)