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Kingdom Hearts III is now officially available in Japan! Director Tetsuya Nomura has tweeted a message in regards to the release, thanking fans for following the countdown and wishing they enjoy the new adventure with Sora. With this, he also stated that a new video edit of all the pervious countdown videos is now available. You can read a translation of his message below. Here is the video: For those purchasing the digital version, remember to install the patches for Update 1.01 and the Memory Archive today, as well as claim any DLC Keyblades you're owed! From January 26 at midnight JST, provided you have completed the game, you can also download and view the Epilogue video. From January 31 at 7:00 PM JST, you can start to unlock the Secret Ending. The wait for Kingdom Hearts III's global release on January 29 is merely a few days starting now. Will you be acquiring the Japanese version of the game now or are you waiting it out? Stay tuned for more info and the international release! Follow our coverage of Kingdom Hearts III here and on social media! Twitter Facebook Tumblr Discord KH13.com's spoiler policy on Kingdom Hearts III will be in effect from now until March 31, 2019. Our news coverage will include reports on officially released information (press releases, interviews, etc.); after Kingdom Hearts III's global release, we will report on basic game content such as the opening cinematics, artbook, trophy list, etc. while being mindful of spoilers on our website (via spoiler boxes/warnings) and on social media. As a member of the KH13.com forums, your avatars, cover photos, statuses, and thread titles must not contain spoilers. You are allowed to discuss spoilers freely in the KH3 Spoilers subforum. For more guidelines, including a guide to using spoiler tags, read our spoiler policy here. KH13.com’s Discord has its own rules and appropriate channels to avoid/discuss spoilers. Read the rules on the #announcements channel for more information! We would lastly like to say to fans avoiding spoilers to be extra careful on social media, especially comment sections. Thumbnails, titles, autoplay, recommended videos, and comments on Youtube can be especially dangerous and full of spoilers.

GAME UK will have a midnight release for Kingdom Hearts III! The launch will take place at the Stratford branch in London. The first 200 people will also receive a free goodie bag! The launch seems to be sponsored by Square Enix. Various GameStop branches in the United States have confirmed to inquiring customers that they will be having a 9PM (local time) release for the game. The main EBGames branch in Melbourne, Australia, will have a midnight release. Gamers Hideout branches in Malaysia will also hold a midnight release, during which they will host activities such as cosplay photo session & giveaway and photo op with Kingdom Hearts props. Inquire at your local store to find out whether they will have an early or a midnight release for the game! Kingdom Hearts III will release in Japan on January 25, and worldwide on January 29, 2019.

A 10-second promotional video has just been tweeted by the official Kingdom Hearts Twitter account focussing on the world of Big Hero 6! Along with brief cutscenes and gameplay from San Fransokyo, a new track - possibly the world's battle theme - played in the background. Watch the video below!

In what seems to be a countdown to the worldwide release of Kingdom Hearts III, the official Kingdom Hearts Twitter has been featuring brief videos for each world. Yesterday it was Olympus, featuring a new arrangement of the battle track 'Go For It'. Today, the 10-second video focused on Monstropolis, with a background music that seems to be a track featured in that world. This track sounds similar to another track, apparently the battle track from Monstropolis, featured in the recently published Monsters, Inc. animated short and Monsters, Inc. yo-yo promotional video. It could be part of the same track or a separate track entirely. Watch the footage below!

The Square Enix e-Store (Japan) has opened pre-orders for handkerchiefs inspired by Sora, Riku, and Kairi from Kingdom Hearts III! Roxas's iconic checkered design has also been implemented into a hadkerchief. Each handkerchief, along with featuring the characters' designs, also comes with a small charm representative of each character. They can be pre-ordered for ¥3,456 (approx. $32). They will release on April 20, 2019. See them in the gallery below!

A Kingdom Hearts III exhibition is currently underway at the Shibuya and Shinjuku stations in Tokyo, Japan. Amongst the exhibits are a showcase of framed screenshots and quotes from the worlds in the game. Thanks to fan @yuuna_kisaragi, who attended the Shibuya Station exhibit, we were able to compile these pictures - some of which are new and never seen before - and quotes from each world. You can see them below! Monstropolis The Caribbean San Fransokyo Kingdom of Corona Arendelle Toy Box Hundred Acre Wood Check out our album more more pictures from the exhibit!

Along with the newly released screenshots on the Square Enix Press Center, 4Gamer, along with other other Japanese publications such as Famitsu and Game Watch, have published another batch of screenshots and talked about the Ratatouille cooking minigame and other gameplay elements in Kingdom Hearts III. You can see the new screenshots in our album below. There are 8 Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts III (three of them returning from past games), and each has its own mini-game that players can enjoy. In Twilight Town, when looking for Roxas, Sora encounters Remy (from Ratatouille), who is about to be attacked by Heartless. Remy requests Sora to keep the Heartless away as he collects fruits. Remy thanks Sora by giving him fruits he collected. Remy is a chef at a restaurant in Twilight Town owned by Scrooge McDuck; Sora can start cooking with him in a mini-game using ingredients he already has. If he can succeed in making a good dish, it will be served at the table. Ingredients can be found in different worlds or at the Moogle Shops. A screenshot also shows Donald/Goofy calling out to Sora in the middle of gameplay. With the Gummi Phone, it is possible to take selfies with other characters as well as landscapes and make your own album of photos. For more screenshots recently released in a press release, see below. Translations were provided by KH13 staff @Mio-chan.

The worlds of Pirates of the Caribbean, Frozen, and Tangled were recently previewed by IGN as a hands-off demo by the Kingdom Hearts III co-director Tai Yasue. Jonathon Dornbush has published his impressions on the preview of these worlds, giving insight into new gameplay elements from the worlds. Below are some highlights from his review; they do not include any story-related spoilers. The Caribbean Jonathon described The Caribbean (he calls it Port Royal in the article) as a "mini Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag" and "one of the most intriguing Kingdom Hearts levels yet" due to its impressive levels of exploration. He talks of the many explorable islands that provide an incredible treasure hunting experience, which extends to beneath the sea. All means of travel - on air, water, land - and transitions in the world has been described as seamless. Underwater travel is also more agile than past games in the series, and in air, you can jump from one Heartless to the next freely. Combat styles change from world to world. Goofy's special bombardier attack involves him being swallowed whole by a sandworm Heartless in this world, only to attack from within. Magic attacks such as Blizzard, Thunder, and Water behave differently underwater. The fish in the sea can be brought back to Remy in Scrooge McDuck's restaurant in Twilight Town. Arendelle Jonathon briefly described a boss battle in this world. You can read about it in the spoiler box below. Yasue said that the development team collaborated with the Frozen team to design enemies true to the style of the world. The Heartless in Arendelle, which behave differently in air and land, were described by Jonathon to have a similar scope of entertainment as boss battles. Yasue showed one of the first sledding experiences in Arendelle, which branched off to numerous paths and offered many treasures. Jonathon commented that it felt a bit too lengthy. Kingdom of Corona Rapunzel's character and personality have been blended into the gameplay of this world. Scenes involving Rapunzel's wonder for the outside world can be triggered by, for instance, casting Aero on surrounding dandelions. Following Rapunzel as she wanders off by herself to a nearby lake will also trigger an interaction. Yasue said that activating these triggers are part of building up Rapunzel's trust in Sora. Following Rapunzel will also lead to combat scenarios and finding treasures. Jonathon commented that Corona's fights become "a crazy ballet of oversized household items swiping through the air and Disney characters hurling themselves at baddies." Some enemies in this world had armor to break through first instead of HP, and others had human-like appearances, showing a great deal of variety to be expected in enemy design. Did you enjoy our highlights? Then you will enjoy Jonathon's full review of these demos even more!