Highlights

  • A Kingdom Hearts 3 dataminer uncovered a hidden detail that links the game to Final Fantasy 15, suggesting a deeper connection between the two.
  • Yozora, a character in Kingdom Hearts 3's Re Mind DLC, has a secret ability called "Shift Break" that is reminiscent of Noctis's Warp Strike move in Final Fantasy 15.
  • Yozora's resemblance to Noctis in Kingdom Hearts 4 could hint at a stronger connection between the games.

A Kingdom Hearts 3 dataminer recently uncovered a hidden detail that would have connected the game to Final Fantasy 15. Kingdom Hearts is a crossover between Final Fantasy and Disney’s line of animated classic films, telling an original story of a boy named Sora traveling the worlds of said moves alongside his friends on a quest to defeat the forces of darkness. This quest reached its zenith in 2019’s Kingdom Hearts 3, where Sora and his allies battled the evil Master Xehanort and his Organization 13 minions for the fate of the universe.

WARNING: This article has SPOILERS for Kingdom Hearts 3

This battle was greatly expanded upon in Kingdom Hearts 3’s Re Mind DLC, which added new boss fights to the game’s climax alongside a pair of new story campaigns that detailed what happened to Sora after he mysteriously vanished in Kingdom Hearts 3’s ending cutscene. This culminates in the “Secret Episode” chapter, in which Sora encounters and duels a sword-wielding teen named Yozora. Yozora quickly drew comparisons to Noctis Lucis Caelum, the young hero of 2016’s Final Fantasy 15 - which was initially meant to be part of the Final Fantasy 13 series before being refitted into a standalone mainline entry.

RELATED: What Kingdom Hearts 4's Lost Master Arc Could Imply

The similarities between Kingdom Hearts 3’s Yozora and Final Fantasy 15’s Noctis might run deeper than their similar hairstyles and taste in black leather battle attire, as a dataminer by the Twitter username of TruebladeSeeker recently uncovered a secret ability that was dummied out of Yozora’s Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC boss battle. Named “Shift Break,” this move has Yozora teleporting around the map by tossing his sword - just like Noctis could in Final Fantasy 15. In fact, the name “Shift Break” is what Noctis’s Warp Strike move was called in the original Japanese version of Final Fantasy 15, and Yozora’s uncovered attack is nearly identical in the footage TruebladeSeeker shared.

Much about Yozora is still shrouded in mystery, but it is believed that he will serve as a supporting protagonist in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts 4. Before his intense boss battle against Sora, Yozora makes a brief cameo appearance in the Verum Rex game trailer in Kingdom Hearts3’s Toy Story world, and the Nameless Star in the Final World asks Sora to help him find his missing heart. It still isn’t clear how this request will play into Sora’s sudden appearance in Quadratum or the larger Lost Master Arc that will begin in Kingdom Hearts 4.

Fans have been hoping that Kingdom Hearts 4 will include more Final Fantasy elements following their diminishing role in the last few entries, and it seems like Yozora carries some strong connections to Final Fantasy Versus 13, the planned spin-off that eventually became Final Fantasy 15. Director Tetsuya Nomura might have had an even deeper connection planned between Yozora and FF15’s Noctis judging from this hidden attack that would have seen the former teleport around the battlefield just like the latter.

Kingdom Hearts 3 is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.

MORE: The Kingdom Hearts Franchise Silently Broke a Massive Tradition

Source: Noisy Pixel