As anticipation for Kingdom Hearts 4 mounts, the next game in the long-running franchise presents the perfect opportunity for future spin-offs to get a fresh start. Kingdom Hearts 4 is set to be the 15th installment in the series, thanks to a variety of different spin-offs and secondary titles. Once the game finally releases, future spin-offs need to truly live up to the idea of being secondary to the franchise's main story.

There are high hopes for Kingdom Hearts 4, and as it's now been five years since Kingdom Hearts 3 was released, there are many hoping for an update on the release date for the next mainline game. As the franchise has now been going strong for over 20 years now, the various spin-offs have provided some great extra content, but the trend of adding major story moments to these smaller entries in the series has to come to a stop, and Kingdom Hearts 4 could provide a much-needed reset for spin-offs in the future.

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Kingdom Hearts Spin-Offs Need A Reset

Since Kingdom Hearts 4 is set to tell an all-new story about Sora's journey, this next chapter in the franchise shouldn't rely on spin-offs to tell the protagonist's journey as well. The main story should stay focused on the mainline games, while future spin-offs should only be meant to provide extra content and not franchise-defining lore.

Spin-Offs Should Remain Small

The whole point of spin-offs is that they provide some fun extra content for players. When major plot points start getting added to spin-offs, it can be frustrating to keep up with. Not everyone is interested in playing every single spin-off title, so adding major moments in these secondary stories can be difficult to keep up with over time. After 15 different games in the series, the story has started to become cluttered, and Kingdom Hearts 4 being a soft reboot for the franchise could help pave the way for more focused spin-offs that keep the overall story from becoming jumbled.

Spin-offs as a whole can be great, but they should remain small compared to mainline titles. With the Kingdom Hearts franchise being so popular, spin-offs after Kingdom Hearts 4 are almost inevitable, but the spin-offs should revolve around smaller side characters. Kingdom Hearts has many great supporting characters that could bring some exciting things to the table in regard to a spin-off game that would be interesting to explore. A potential Kingdom Hearts spin-off focusing on Goofy and Donald Duck could even lend itself to some fun extra content.

Keeping Kingdom Hearts' Story Focused

If future spin-off games insist on starring Sora, the secondary games would benefit from steering clear of adding important Sora plots to the game. When it comes to how Sora's story is handled, his journey should stay focused. Keeping Sora's storyline kept within the confines of the mainline games is the best way to create a well-crafted narrative for the beloved character. As Kingdom Hearts 4 sets out to make changes, this approach also needs to be mirrored with the spin-offs.

Self-contained adventures are what make spin-offs the most fun overall. When essential lore is added to spin-offs, it can hinder the enjoyment of future mainline games, since not everyone is invested in playing spin-off titles. Kingdom Hearts 4 has already broken a franchise tradition by allowing such a long window between releases, and this gives the upcoming mainline title a great opportunity to start things off fresh. Sora's story going forward should feel cohesive, and this can best be done by keeping his narrative exclusive to the main games.

Kingdom Hearts 4

Franchise

Kingdom Hearts

Platform(s)

PS5 , Xbox Series X|S

Developer(s)

Square Enix

Publisher(s)

Square Enix

Genre(s)

RPG , Action