Square Enix to develop Kingdom Hearts III on Unreal Engine 4

Get ready to see a whole new Sora and gang as Square Enix has decided to develop Kingdom Hearts III on Unreal Engine 4. This is a strange move for Square as they generally use their own engines to develop games and Epic Games owns Unreal. While unusual, it is not unheard of. In fact, the last game made by Square Enix using a non-inhouse engine was The Last Remnant for XBox 360 and PC developed with Unreal Engine 3. This is also exciting news because Unreal Engine 4 is…well…unreal! For those who do not remember or missed it, here is a rendering of the Temple of Time from Legend of Zelda created in Unreal Engine 4.

It is breathtaking and also obvious why Square Enix would like to develop a game with it. Kingdom Hearts fans may have to wait a little longer to beat back the heartless, but do not fret as it seems SquareEnix and Epic Games have a good working relationship. Talking with game creator, Tetsuya Nomura explained to Famitsu, translated by Kotaku, “Development is steadily proceeding as planned. Due to the impact of changing the game engine to Unreal Engine 4, which we did for various reasons, there is some difficulty rendering images. And with the full support of Epic Games, we’ll be able to progress smoothly.” Fans anticipate what should be a beautifully created game of a beloved series. The current release date is unknown, but suspected to be released next year. Expected platforms include PS4 and Xbox One.