The Kingdom Heart series is coming to Steam in June

I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately…like, should I go back and replay the Hearts of the Kingdom series or not? Fortunately, Square Enix made this decision trivial by announcing the series’ release on Steam on June 13. To celebrate, and perhaps destabilize, an entire generation of adults for whom the first Hearts of the Kingdom the trailer was a transformative experience (i.e. Me)a trailer has been released featuring a brand new recording of Hikaru Utada’s “Simple and Clean.”

Those who buy Kingdom Hearts III + Re Mind DLC will also receive a special keyblade, “Dead of Night”, which looks rather slick in the blue and gray Steam logo. Each of the three games is itself a set of a set of K.H. games spanning platforms and console generations. You can find a full list of which games are in which pack here or on each game’s Steam page.

There’s also the fact that these games are releasing a week before Summer Game Fest, with Geoff Keighley posting about the game perhaps suggesting Kingdom Hearts IV could make an appearance. Bringing a new generation of players into the series right before sharing more information about the next entry seems like a smart idea.

It’s extremely hilarious that even though this Steam trailer lists the games in chronological order, the games themselves aren’t grouped that way. If you want to play like the trailer presents, you’ll have to watch first (because it’s a movie, not a game) Fourth cover on Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8, then jump to Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 play Birth through sleep before returning to KH2.8 play Birth through sleep – A fragmentary passage. Simple, right?

Speaking of simple, Hikaru Utada’s new version of “Simple and Clean” moved me to tears. I was one of those teenagers who wasn’t a huge Disney fan but loved Japanese pop, visual kei (think a Japanese version of glam metal), and Japanese rock. Hearing this new version of such a beloved song made me feel both 16 and 36 years old, but in a good way. This thing that I loved, that inspired the kinds of emotions that led me to my work today, grew with me, but not so much that it was unrecognizable to my younger self. And when I return to play these simple, clear games – some again and others for the first time – I hope I can face my fears from previous disappointments and remember the sanctuary I loved so much.