Every Kingdom Hearts Game Where You Don’t Play as Sora

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As a passionate fan, I can’t help but wonder when we might finally get our hands on Kingdom Hearts 4. Announced during the series’ 20th anniversary back in April 2022, it seems like we’ve been waiting with bated breath ever since. The game has largely kept quiet since then, save for a flurry of news that came more recently.

This news burst followed the cancellation of Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link, another mobile entry announced at the same event. In response, a collection of tantalizing images for Kingdom Hearts 4 was shared on social media, leaving fans like myself to pore over every detail. While it’s still unclear what this means for future updates in the near term, at least we have this intriguing sneak peek to keep us going.

In the images, some elements like two lights moving towards what is labeled as ‘Darkside’ or a close-up of a telephone remain mysterious and hard to understand, but others are clear. The new “Build” menu option in Kingdom Hearts 4 can still be seen, this time with text in both English and Japanese, suggesting that all Heartless will adopt new shapes to fit the more realistic art style of KH4. What stands out most is what seems to be a screenshot of a stage where King Mickey can be played as he jumps around platforms. It’s surprising to have confirmation of a playable character other than Sora, though it’s not uncommon in this series.

Kingdom Hearts Games Where Other Characters Briefly Step In

In simpler terms, only Sora is playable throughout most of the Kingdom Hearts series, with the exception of a brief moment when control switches to Sora’s Heartless form, which is still technically Sora. Other characters like Mickey Mouse and Riku take over for short periods in some games, such as Kingdom Hearts 2 or during specific attacks in the final Xemnas fight. In Kingdom Hearts 3, there are segments where you control Riku and Aqua, but this is not a common feature throughout the game.

Kingdom Hearts Entries Played Entirely As Other People

In addition to the main Kingdom Hearts games featuring Sora, there are also several titles that focus on other characters. For instance, Kingdom Hearts Union Cross and its successor, Dark Road, introduced custom player avatars and followed a young Xehanort respectively. Birth By Sleep has Aqua, Ventus, and Terra as the main characters, while Aqua takes center stage in Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage. The most unique case is probably 358/2 Days, where Roxas is the only character in the story mode, but players can control Organization XIII members and some of Sora’s friends in Mission Mode. Interestingly, you can only unlock Sora himself by completing the entire story.

Kingdom Hearts Titles With Other Protagonists Joining Sora

As a gamer, I’ve been lucky to see more games where characters like Sora share the spotlight, either for a bit or throughout the entire game. The series really kicked off this trend with Chain of Memories and its 3D remake, giving Riku his own story in Another Side, Another Story. Dream Drop Distance followed suit, but had Sora and Riku’s halves running simultaneously instead of one after the other. In Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded, I got to team up with Cloud and Hercules in turn-based combat during a stretch in Olympus Coliseum. Different songs in Melody of Memory even bring different characters into play. And, in Kingdom Hearts 3 ReMind, I’ve been given plenty of opportunities to control other heroes instead of just Sora!

What This History of Playable Characters Means For Kingdom Hearts 4

From my perspective as a devoted fan, I’m eagerly awaiting insights into how the rotating playable characters in Kingdom Hearts 4 will unfold, considering Sora’s central role. The initial gameplay trailer should hopefully shed light on whether any other heroes will join Sora in the limelight. If there are, it seems they might not be as prominent as Riku was as a co-protagonist in previous games, allowing Sora to solidify his presence in the new setting of Quadratum.

Intriguingly, we can expect brief appearances from characters like King Mickey throughout Kingdom Hearts 4, similar to their roles in Kingdom Hearts 3. This approach keeps the game feeling fresh while keeping the focus on Sora’s latest adventures in this fourth installment.

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2025-05-23 04:30