Earlier this week, Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road website dataminers discovered the existence of a then-unannounced project called Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory. Luckily, Kingdom Hearts fans didn't have to wait long to find out more about the project, as Square Enix has officially announced Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory for release later this year on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Prior to the announcement, some fans believed Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory to be the next step in the KH story, with Kairi as the protagonist. However, it appears as though the game is a rhythm game instead, not unlike Square Enix's Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy. Based on the trailer, it looks as though Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory will mainly be retelling the Kingdom Hearts franchise's sprawling, complicated story, with Sora, Donald, and Goofy completing rhythm mini-games along the way.
While it looks as though Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory will mainly be a retelling of the Kingdom Hearts franchise's story, that doesn't mean it won't have some new story content as well. The theory about Kairi playing a role seems to still be partly true, as the trailer suggests fans will learn more about Kairi's fate post-Kingdom Hearts 3. Whether or not that is actually the case remains to be seen, however.
Square Enix should have more to share on Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory in the months ahead. In the meantime, it's not the only new game in the Kingdom Hearts series that fans of the franchise have to look forward to.
Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road, a new mobile game, is also in active development and looks to further flesh-out the franchise's story. Dark Road will focus on the likes of Xehanort, providing more context for his origin. Neither Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road nor Melody of Memory have confirmed release dates at the time of this writing, though, so it's unclear when fans will be able to dive in.
Beyond these smaller-scale Kingdom Hearts projects, one has to imagine that Square Enix has a full-fledged Kingdom Hearts 4 in mind as well. Kingdom Hearts 3 was a big commercial success, so it's a virtual guarantee that a new main series game will be released at some point down the line.
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory will launch in 2020 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
