The Star Wars franchise has long been a popular request among fans for Square Enix to include in the Kingdom Hearts series, with theories around its inclusion in Kingdom Hearts 4 having possibly been teased. While there is plenty to pull from in the Star Wars canon to develop a new Disney world in Kingdom Hearts 4, introducing the galactic franchise into Kingdom Hearts could come with plenty of positive and negative aspects.
Most players looking at Star Wars in Kingdom Hearts 4 often point to the interesting designs that might be possible, and even a number of fan-made concepts for Lightsaber-inspired Keyblades, which would be absolutely incredible to see. However, several issues arise when taking a closer look at Star Wars canon and deciding on where and when within the franchise to have Sora, Donald, and Goofy start fighting heartless and clashing magic with the Sith.
Pro: Lightsaber Keyblades
To start off strong, one of the best ways that fans imagine Kingdom Hearts and Star Wars crossing over is to look at how the reward Keyblade might look. The most popular designs spread by fans often involve Keyblades with a Lightsaber handle and a laser making up the neck and teeth of the key. After the introduction of Kylo Ren's Lightsaber with the laser guards, some interpretations have also included a similarly shining guard that would wrap around Sora's hand.
Considering the way that the Keyblades in the latest Kingdom Hearts games have evolved to take on complex and flashy designs, a Lightsaber theme would fit right in with the series so far. So, even without diving into the introduction of Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader, the aesthetic of including Star Wars in Kingdom Hearts is already enough to capture fan attention. Just seeing what Square Enix might make the official design for a Star Wars-themed Keyblade would be an exciting reason to see the series explore the galactic empire.
Con: It's Hard to Choose Which Star Wars Era Best Fits Kingdom Hearts
With Kingdom Hearts now being a 20-year-old franchise, it has aged through several different eras of the Star Wars series of trilogies. This means that fans that were old enough to have played the original Kingdom Hearts at launch and stuck around could easily be familiar with all three trilogies in Disney's Star Wars canon. As a result, the decision of what point in the series to introduce Sora is very much up in the air, especially with Disney's involvement in development.
While some fans might hope that the original trilogy would be the obvious choice, it's more likely that Disney would want its most recent Star Wars outing to join Kingdom Hearts 4 in order to get the most bang for its buck. That being said, the success of some recent Disney Plus projects like Mandalorian and Andor could warrant the Luke Skywalker era being the more concentrated focus for now. Then there is the problem of choosing which planet would make for the best locale for the player to explore in a Star Wars world. In fact, most of the franchise's most iconic locals like Endor or Tatooine could be difficult to differentiate from any other forest or desert.
Pro: The Death Star in Kingdom Hearts
One of the best aspects of including Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts is the way that key locations from popular franchises become explorable set pieces for Sora and friends to run through. So, while choosing any specific planet from the Star Wars canon might not quite hit the necessary vibes, running around through the Death Star could make for an incredible set piece. Even as just a background for a Gummi Ship mission in Kingdom Hearts 4, seeing the Death Star appear would be an incredible view with the series' modern graphics. In fact, older games have already made Gummi locations with similar designs.
Even better than a Gummi Mission that uses the Death Star as a backdrop would be having the location appear as the primary story location for a Star Wars world. A compressed version of Star Wars:A New Hope could capture the full essence of the Star Wars series in the few hours available for each Disney world. This could also mean teaming up with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo for the first part of their full adventure before exploring other parts of the original trilogy in future Kingdom Hearts titles.
Con: Kingdom Hearts Could Rob the Death Star of its Fangs
As impressive as the Death Star in Kingdom Hearts sounds, the family-friendly series could easily fall short when it comes to the impact of the moon-sized space station. With Disney worlds being the only planets to choose from, it isn't likely that Square Enix will be allowed to fire off the Death Star's Superlaser at anything substantial. Of course, the Death Star doesn't need to blow up a planet to be intimidating, but the power and resources that the megastructure represents throughout the original Star Wars trilogy don't hit quite as hard when it can't fully flex those weapons.
If the Death Star is only allowed to become a location to fight Heartless instead of the fully operational space station, it wouldn't exactly be making the best use of the Star Wars property. There is a reason that even a half-built Death Star was enough of a threat in Return of the Jedi to stir the entire rebellion into action, and stripping the fangs from the war machine hurts that powerful incentive. This could be one reason why many Kingdom Hearts hasn't included some Disney franchises, including the more violent Star Wars and its more consistently deadly stakes.
Pro: The Unreal/Unity Engine Era of Kingdom Hearts is Perfect for Live-Action
As has been seen in the ship battles in the Caribbean in Kingdom Hearts 3, the series' recent jump to the graphics available with Unreal Engine has made adapting live-action properties better than ever. Muted colors for Sora, Donald, and Goofy help them blend in with detailed character models that properly adapt Jack Sparrow and Will Turner into 3D graphics. These models aren't true-to-life, but they are much more appropriately designed to fit inside a video game that was never going to be able to emulate live-action actors.
In the same way that Pirates of the Caribbean is at its best in Kingdom Hearts 3, the current model for building new titles can accomplish live-action adaptations better than ever before. This means that Kingdom Hearts 4 is the perfect time to bring Star Wars into the series since Square Enix has managed to make this type of property blend in perfectly with the rest of the game. So, the wait for Star Wars fans could help prove that it was worth the years of development to make sure that Kingdom Hearts 4 beats out Kingdom Hearts 2 when it comes to which worlds might work moving forward.
Kingdom Hearts 4 is in development by Square Enix.