Over almost two decades of development, the relatively simple story from the originalKingdom Heartshas seen enough twists and turns to make jumping into the series feel confusing to newcomers. Now, withKingdom Hearts: Melody of Memoryprepared to recapthe series, there is a laundry list of information for players to catch up on as the next phase of the story begins to dive into the Master of Masters saga.
One issue with the way that this new era ofKingdom Heartsis kicking off, however, is that the story of the Master of Masters, the Foretellers, and the new Union Leaders is currently stuck in a browser/mobile game. As far asUnion Xgoes, the game itself isn’t bad by the standards of free-to-play titles, but with how much important priming for the next phase of the series is in the game, it can be difficult and frustrating to wade through the filler.
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Disney Worlds in Union X
A common critique ofKingdom Hearts 3when it released was that the Disney Worlds in this game seemed even more inconsequential than they had in previous titles. This criticism mostly comes from the way that the framing device of the game focuses on Sora trying to regain an ability that he suddenly has access to once he’s finished doing everything else. However,Kingdom Hearts 3at least attempted to connect the worlds together by having Organization members pop up in each location, somethingUnion X’s storylineunfortunately lacks.
The basic premise ofKingdom Hearts: Union Xholds itself back from the player character’s adventures through Disney-based locations that have any real impact on the overall story. To put the concept in simple terms, players aren’t actually traveling to the worlds that players visit in the regularKingdom Heartsseries as Sora, instead visiting projections pulled from the far future. This means that every Disney world the player visits has little to no bearing on the series overall, which turns a huge amount of the adventuring through familiar locations into filler.
The Plot is Easy to Lose in all the Filler
Now, for anyone familiar with the current story ofUnion Xwould know, there is one world that actually has a more direct influence on the overall story of the series. This would be the storyline of Maleficent that appears in the Enchanted Dominion world, which after finishing is revealed to have included a non-digital/projected version of the classic Disney villain who had traveled through time after the events of the first game. Getting into the series' concept of time-travel, for one, is something that has drawn a lot of complaints, as well as Maleficent’s story-arc inUnion Xhas, although it does go a way toexplain Organization XIII’suse of the story mechanic.
While this specific subplot does have a much larger effect onKingdom Heartsas a whole, possibly hinting at the origins of Vanitus, it is easy to miss anything involving Maleficent, as the reveal that she isn’t a projection doesn’t come until after beating her. At the same time, there is also an ongoing storyline that simply goes through the entire story ofWreck It Ralph, intercut with the main plot involvingEphemer andUnion X’s new Union Leaders. There is just so much to keep track of now, and when it takes a few hours to make it through the missions that lead to new cutscenes, it turns what should be the fun and engaging process of keeping up with the story into a chore.
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A recent addition to the series, theside-storyKingdom Hearts Dark Road, has released three chapters now, and the first two were very concise story beats setting up for Xehanort to become the Seeker of Darkness. However, the third chapter hit a stride where the story started to run into some of the same familiar issues with filler that the baseUnion Xis currently plagued with. The short adventure through Wonderland is somewhat tied back into the overall story, but the only beats that really have any impact on the series are in the very beginning and very end.
That isn’t to say that there isn’t anything of note to be taken fromDark RoadChapter 3, as it does continue to explore the strength and origins of new Heartless that have begun overrunning worlds. The real issue is that while Chapters 1 and 2 both answered questions with each cutscene, fully animated inUnion X’s chibi style, Chapter 3 is filled with unnecessary conversations withAlice in Wonderlandcharacters that go nowhere. There are revelations at the end pertaining to the nature of worlds, and the passage of time from place to place, explaining away certain plot holes from the main series, but this only comes at the very end.
A New Back Cover Could Help Solve this Issue
In the lead-up toKingdom Hearts 3, Square Enix recognized that the story being explored inUnion Xwas going to have an impact on the future of the series and releasedBack Coveras a part of2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. The hour-long movie goes through the events of the originalKingdom Hearts Chi, which covered the story of the Master of Masters, his Foretellers, and the Keyblade War. WhileChiwas eventually rereleased asUnchained X, which is nowUnion X, theBack Covermovie is a quick way to bring players up to speed with the important events of the mobile game byquickly recappingKingdom Hearts’origin story.
This is something that Square Enix should definitely consider doing again whenpreparing forKingdom Hearts 4, since the important information found inUnion Xmight go ignored by some fans. If aBack Cover 2is able to recap the events currently happening inUnion X, between the new Union Leaders, the Darkness inside Ventus, and multiple characters coming from the past to the present, it can do away with the game’s filler problem. Not everyone has the time to dedicate to a mobile game to wade through a sea of filler for a few tiny islands of lore, but plenty of series fans would be happy to sit through an hour of HD footage, especially if fans finally get a better look at the Keyblade War.
Kingdom Hearts Union Xis available now on Android and iOS.
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