Review: KINGDOM HEARTS III + Re Mind (DLC) - A Fair Switch 2 Port Of An Enjoyable 'Conclusion'

The end of the beginning

by · Nintendo Life

There was a lot of hype and excitement in the lead-up to 2019's Kingdom Hearts 3. It promised to finally conclude the Dark Seeker Saga that had kicked off way back on the PS2 in 2002. Expectations were sky-high and the final product didn't quite stick the landing, but it did manage to deliver plenty of that sincere Kingdom Hearts magic that kept us invested since the beginning. Now that it's finally come to Switch 2 with a proper native port — no Cloud Versions here — I'm pleased to report that it was largely worth the wait.

Narratively, this adventure is very bizarrely paced, with a lot of meaningless detours into unrelated and largely irrelevant Disney stories before a sudden lightspeed attempt to resolve all the major subplots. The story is thus unsatisfying and not really given the necessary time to breathe, yet it’s also something that you can’t help but love despite it all. Sora’s earnest optimism, the frequent goofy monologues on the power of friendship, and the shoehorned ways in which the party is inserted into known Disney stories somehow all come together in an incredibly charming and pleasant way, making it feel like a worthwhile journey despite shortcomings.

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Meanwhile, the combat and exploration is dialled up to the max here, feeling in many ways like the ultimate version of Kingdom Hearts gameplay. Gummi ship missions now take place in their own explorable world, Sora has tons of form changes and new Disney ride attacks to punctuate combos, and worlds are much more expansive and are more interactive through parkour and Flowmotion. If you’ve enjoyed the gameplay of past entries, you’ll love most of what was done to build upon it for this one.

The later-released ReMind DLC is included here and this goes a long way in polishing up some of the story and combat's rougher aspects. This five(ish) hour epilogue expands upon the ending of the story and adds several tough new boss fights that are easily some of the best combat encounters in the franchise. ReMind doesn't totally fix the underlying story issues and low difficulty in KH3, but it goes a long way in making it a more complete experience, and it's good to see it come as standard with this port.

Regarding visual fidelity, Kingdom Hearts 3 performs alright on Switch 2, but there's some room for improvement. Handheld mode delivers a crisp 1080p, while docked mode ups this to what seems to be a dynamic 1440p. Meanwhile, the uncapped frame rate clearly struggles to keep up with all the onscreen flair, making for an uneven experience where it’s sometimes bouncing maddeningly all over the place and appears to dip as low as the mid-20s. Given Square Enix’s own work with other heavy-hitting games for the platform, it’s hard not to be disappointed, but most of the time you’ll get a relatively stable 30+fps.

Conclusion

As the culmination of a nearly 20-year saga, Kingdom Hearts 3 feels a little disappointing. A poorly paced story that simultaneously feels both too long and too short sloppily attempts to tie a bow on way too many subplots, while this port's technical performance leaves something to be desired.

Yet despite these shortcomings, Kingdom Hearts 3 is still an enjoyable and engaging action RPG that no KH fan should miss. Given its status as the soft conclusion of an ongoing, serialised narrative, I wouldn’t recommend that series newcomers start here, but those who know and love Kingdom Hearts owe it to themselves to give this one a shot.

About Mitch Vogel

Mitch has been a fan of Nintendo ever since he got his start on the GBA in 2005. When he's not busy playing games or writing, you can find him down at his local MMA training facility learning how to punish the unrighteous.

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