Kingdom Hearts brought the big guns to its 20th anniversary, returning with two big reveals. In addition to another mainline entry, Square Enix also teased a mobile title, Missing-Link. Both of these titles look immensely enjoyable on the surface level. As with any Kingdom Hearts game, though, there's more than meets the eye.
This series has a plethora of plot threads, particularly in this prequel era. It's no surprise that Missing-Link seeks to add more. The trailer offers several small clues to what the narrative may go or which characters/concepts may pop up. As usual, players might be too confused to notice them all, but that won't stop them from speculating right up until the release date.
7 Scala Ad Caelum
This seems to be the main setting of the game. Scala ad Caelum is the city from the end of Kingdom Hearts 3, but its origins stretch back much further. A place called Daybreak Town once existed here, but a universal catastrophe caused immense flooding. The survivors built the new city on top of the preexisting foundation.
Players see this in Kingdom Hearts Union χ. The title "Missing-Link" and the taglines within the trailer indicate bridging the gap. This could possibly mean the time between the aforementioned χ game and later entries like Dark Road.
6 A Heroic Image
At one point, the trailer's hero gazes at a statue depicting a mysterious youth holding a Keyblade. This is Ephemer, a leading figure in Union χ. He sought to uncover the secrets of the universe, questioning the will of higher powers like the Master of Masters and Book of Prophecies. His journey eventually led to him founding Scala ad Caelum.
Such exploits prompted his followers to erect this statue in his honor. This further cements the game's setting. It obviously takes place after the aforementioned χ, firmly within the restored city.
5 Xehanort's Keyblade
The Keyblade with the creepy eye is immediately recognizable, as Xehanort uses it to inflict untold misery throughout the Kingdom Hearts series. He's not the wielder here, though. Instead, a mysterious hooded figure holds it. Who is he?
Fans' first thought might be the Master of Masters, the enigmatic manipulator from Back Cover. However, this game occurs long after he vanished. It could be his loser disciple, Luxu, but he lost this Keyblade to Xehanort. Because of that, Missing-Link is probably set before Dark Road, where the villain learns to wield the mystical weapon.
4 D-Links
The combat of Missing-Link appears mostly unchanged from Kingdom Hearts 3, but the hero occasionally conjures images of the series' other characters before performing the attacks of said characters. Essentially, players will call on these figures to shift combat styles and execute special moves. This brings back a mechanic long thought forgotten.
Namely, it echoes the D-Links from Birth by Sleep. Here, players can briefly channel the characters they meet along their journey. This not only alters how they fight, but also gifts them new abilities. It's a gimmick that quickly vanished from the franchise, but Missing-Link brings it back. That's probably due to the word "link" in the title, as it makes no sense from a narrative standpoint. The characters summoned aren't even born yet.
3 An Old Bedtime Story
The trailer's narration recounts the tale of how the universe came into being. It began in darkness, and a precious light was found. People coveted that light, leading to a destructive clash. They then rebuilt and repopulated. Considering the setting of Scala ad Caelum, this story's presence is appropriate.
What lends it greater importance is that it's the same legend that Kairi's grandmother related to her. It's featured so heavily here that one wonders if Missing-Link will tie into either character. Kairi is key (pun intended) to the series going forward, so this game's events might affect the modern narrative in that way. It's similar to how Birth by Sleep set the stage for Xehanort to clash with Sora and company.
2 Corona
In addition to Scala ad Caelum, the hero also fights in a forest area. Players may recognize this as the kingdom of Corona from Tangled. Sora and friends spend time both fighting and frolicking here in Kingdom Hearts 3.
It's unclear what significance it has to this story, especially in the prequel context. The game is obviously set too far back to involve Rapunzel or any other movie characters (with the possible exception of Mother Gothel). Then again, the environment may be meaningless to the narrative. The game already uses many assets from KH3. Therefore, Corona could serve as nothing more than an arena.
1 Multiplayer
Blink and you miss it, but Missing-Link looks to take advantage of mobile accessibility. During the battle with Darkside, viewers can spot another Keyblade wielder in the bottom-right corner of the screen. No party members exist anywhere else in the footage, so this individual could be another player.
Introducing multiplayer into Kingdom Hearts would be a simple, yet, sizable leap in gameplay. The closest the series had come up to this point was acknowledging all the Union χ players during the climax of KH3. How well this hack-and-slash combat translates to team-based gameplay remains to be seen. The franchise's flashiness is chaotic enough with just one player.