KINGDOM HEARTS III RE:MIND

Written by Danielle Karthauser

I may be suffering from Kingdom Hearts Stockholm syndrome...

I should state on the record that I am a massive Kingdom Hearts fan and will always be at bat for the series. This is something important you should know before I get into this brief review / analysis of the Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC, Re:MIND, because this will be a short piece and it deserves something much more introspective which will come later down the line when I tackle the game in the magazine. Basically, I’m not too optimistic about the whole thing and I want to talk about why.

Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:MIND released in January 2020, one year after the original game’s release. It is described as “the other tale that unfolded during the climax of Kingdom Hearts 3” and promises new story moments, playable alternate party members, and more exploration in certain areas. It is sold for $30, unless you want the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra -World of Tres- concert video which adds another $10 to your purchase. For purposes of transparency, I purchased the Concert DLC and have played through the entire campaign as well as Limit Cut and the Secret Episode. I did not dabble with the EZ/Pro Codes and only played with Data Greeting minimally.

Let’s first talk about the Re:MIND campaign. This promised to provide answers to the lingering questions from the ending of Kingdom Hearts 3. In some regards, it delivered. But what the story mostly accomplishes is reminding me that when it comes to Kingdom Hearts, I have a bit of Stockholm syndrome. I imagine we all do. We keep coming back and are always led to believe the story will finally be satisfying. But it never reaches the mark. Re:MIND does very little to properly tell a full and complete story. Most of the time it retreads the end game with overlong cut scenes and sad excuses for, “See! That is why this character did this thing!” The first time I played through, I ended up skipping a lot of cut scenes because it seemed like I was watching the end of the game all over again. I understand the need to do some retelling for context, but having a majority of your cut scenes do the same thing as before is not good or interesting.

If there is one good story element I can take away from Re:MIND, it is that it manages to make Sora’s tragic ending much more satisfying. Sora’s time jumping and expedition to save Kairi are considered taboo, and so it makes sense that Sora pushing those boundaries would force him to disappear at the end of the game. The original game has very little explanation for Sora’s disappearance, and this makes me frustrated that Re:MIND wasn’t just part of the main game. The obvious reason for this is time constraints and games are difficult to make. However, Re:MIND really shouldn’t be a separate campaign. To avoid the monotony of the retreading scenes, it should just have been implemented into the main game, as Kingdom Hearts has done in the past with Final Mixes.

Adding to this, the game only has nine save slots. Re:MIND requires a slot and so does the following episode, Limit Cut. That is three slots total for a complete Kingdom Hearts 3 experience, a third of a player’s save slots. It would have been nice if the game provided more with the DLC. This could have been fixed had it been patched into the main game.

Gameplay in Re:MIND was overall very enjoyable. The new reaction commands were a ton of fun and I loved the group fight toward the end! I enjoyed playing as different characters but don’t enjoy the fact that they come with limitations to the base game such as no airstepping, no shotlocks (sometimes), etc. Sora is the character that I have built up throughout the game and it can be frustrating to lose the freedom I had with him. It would have been nice to see these elements implemented when playing as alternate characters. It also would be nice to have a small menu before playing as them to customize their shortcuts based on the items and spells they have available. Being able to play as Aqua and Riku again was great, but having the option to play as Roxas and Kairi was even better.

That being said, I fear that making Kairi a playable character in one instance is meant to erase all of the damage her character has taken throughout the series lifetime. One good moment does not erase the bad. In addition, I found her frustrating and could not beat Xehanort with her on Critical Mode. I switched to Sora.

Finally being able to explore Scala ad Caelum was also a real treat, though it is still somewhat limited. I’m still confused as to why this was not in the base game seeing as it is such an integral part of Xehanort’s character that is the set up at the start of the game and the framing device for the game. This comes back to my notion that Re:MIND should just be part of the regular Kingdom Hearts 3 campaign.

There is one aspect of the DLC that I just can’t critique at all and that is the music. Yoko Shimomura is a god and should be praised for her amazing score. It is just as amazing as her past work and seems to understand the story far better than those writing it. That being said, I am curious as to where the Kingdom Hearts 3 soundtrack is. I seriously don’t understand why Square Enix is sitting on this while fans are ripping the audio themselves and sending it out in the world for free. They would buy it in a hot second! I would buy it in a hot second! Yet it has almost been a year and a half. I would have rather been offered the digital soundtrack instead of a concert performance for my $40.

Now let’s talk about Limit Cut and the Secret Episode. This is where the Re:MIND DLC really shines. As in Kingdom Hearts 2, Kingdom Hearts 3 brings back data battles in the Garden of Assemblage. I’ve never been one to do the bonus content in most games. The most I’ve completed for Kingdom Hearts is the mushrooms in Kingdom Hearts 2 on Standard Mode. To properly talk about my experience with Limit Cut and why I decided to give it a shot, I first have to talk about playing Kingdom Hearts 3 on Critical Mode. I decided to play through the base game on the hardest difficulty because doing so would acquire the Oblivion Keyblade. Doing this is not for everyone, however playing on Critical Mode was such an enjoyable experience for me. It made me a better player and made the game much more enjoyable. By the time I finished, I was very skilled with Kingdom Hearts 3’s combat and so wanted to try Limit Cut since I was on a role. I was afraid that if I took a break and tried these mega bosses later, I wouldn’t do as well. So I went into Limit Cut on Level 99 Critical Mode and fully expected to get my ass handed to me. But at least I had a chance.

These bosses, including the secret boss, may be the most difficult challenge I’ve ever faced in a game (next to Celeste of course). According to Tai Tasue, the co-director of Kingdom Hearts 3, the secret boss was said to be “hard enough to make you cry” by play testers. That really can be said of all of these bosses. When I first attempted them, I practically died instantly. Some took hours and hours to finally master and beat. I watched the top players beat these bosses with no damage on Level 1 to try to figure out where their openings were. It was stressful at times, I won’t lie. I’m not sure if it is something I want to do again. But I’m glad I did it once on Critical Mode. Beating these bosses is highly satisfying and worth the money for the DLC if you like a really hard challenge.

There really isn’t a legitimate story in Limit Cut, just enough of one to allow the episode to exist. The Final Fantasy characters are back but they might as well have stayed obsolete for this game as they serve very little purpose. Why they weren’t included in the base game is once again very confusing to me. I know Nomura and the team addressed that, but their response is baffling. They claim to want to focus on original characters, as if that is a reason to not have side characters in a game that relies heavily on side characters. There easily could have been a place for them. Shoving them in this DLC really does them a disservice.

Overall, I can say I had a very enjoyable experience with this DLC. I will never stop returning to Kingdom Hearts, but the big issues still exist. This DLC offers little in the way of satisfying story content and is not worth the price for the average fan. Not only is the DLC determined to be inaccessible with it’s extra save slots and high price point, but in it’s story which does not do much of anything at the end of the day. For a story that was meant to conclude things, it leaves us with more questions than answers. This has become the Kingdom Hearts way and I am continually disappointed at the wasted potential.