Disney and Sq. Enix confirmed up for the Deep Dive into Kingdom Hearts panel at D23 2026 to indicate off an prolonged gameplay trailer for Kingdom Hearts 4 that contains a first have a look at a playable King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.
Nobody anticipated Sora to indicate up on the earth of Pixar’s Coco, Keyblade in hand, when the legendary crossover franchise made a shock look throughout yesterday’s Disney Leisure Showcase. That solely made Mickey, Donald, and Goofy exhibiting up as playable characters in in the present day’s new four-minute trailer much more of a shock.
Gameplay for Goofy and Donald appears to principally fall in keeping with what we have come to count on from Sora. Exterior of 1 phase that noticed the 2 Disney icons sledding by the Underworld, they are often seen utilizing skills and teaming as much as battle off Heartless enemies.
King Mickey, in the meantime, has acquired some particular consideration. The primary clip reveals him strolling round from a third-person viewpoint earlier than switching to origami-like visuals that includes 2D and 3D gameplay. It seems to be closely impressed by Nintendo’s Paper Mario, although how lengthy all of those sections might be stays to be seen.
One other shock saved for in the present day’s lengthier have a look at the sport is Riku, who reveals up within the video’s closing moments. He would not stick round for too lengthy earlier than the video involves an finish, however it seems to be like he’ll be teaming up with Sora for at the very least a part of Kingdom Hearts 4’s occasions.
Elsewhere through the panel, collection creator Tetsuya Nomura refuted claims that the sport would finally be delayed exterior of its 2027 launch window. It has been a giant weekend for Kingdom Hearts followers, as Disney and Sq. Enix have additionally confirmed plans to launch an anime collection based mostly on the franchise in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later.
Kingdom Hearts 4 continues to be on observe to launch in its late 2027 launch window for PC, Nintendo Change 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Sequence X | S. Whereas we anticipate updates, you should definitely try every part introduced from the panel right here.
Michael Cripe is a contract author with IGN. He is greatest recognized for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Make sure to give him a comply with on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).