During XO19, Kingdom Hearts and Xbox fans got major news, all of the Kingdom Hearts series will be coming to the Xbox platform during 2020. Well, we finally got our first release date.
Based on a new Microsoft Store listing, Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue (from now on will just be referred to as KH 2.8), will be arriving on the Xbox One on February 18th, one week before the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 ReMind (read my review here). Of note, this listing only states the game will be available only on Xbox One and not PC. While we don't have a price just yet, it is surprising that they are announcing this bundle as a separate item, and not as an All-In-One package similar to the one announced last week only for the PS4.
So what is KH 2.8? It is the final collection originally released on the PS4 that led directly into 2019's Kingdom Hearts 3, featuring two playable games and a cinematic movie.
The first of the two games is Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD, a remaster of the 3DS title, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance featuring updated visuals and controls. In this game, you play as Sora and Riku as they are trying to become Keyblade Masters by taking the Mark of Mastery exam. During your journey, you will travel through worlds familiar and new to the series. Standout features of this game are the fast-paced flow motion mechanics where you can dash around enemies, grind rails, and jump very high to perform powerful attacks or just traverse each world. Also, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey are not party members, but instead you are joined by Dream Eaters which are cute little creatures that you can train, level up, and get great stat boosts from.
The second game is Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth By Sleep- A Fragmentary Passage, which was an exclusive title to this bundle. Touted as a technical demo for Kingdom Hearts and it's newly made appearances and combat on the Unreal Engine, you explore the Realm of Darkness as Aqua, after the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep. This quick 2-ish hour journey shows what Aqua has been doing in the Realm of Darkness during the 10 years between Birth By Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 1. This game also features a new "Challenges" system where you can complete specific requirements like, "find all the chests in an area", or "complete 5 perfect shotlocks in a row" to unlock customization items for Aqua.
The final piece of KH 2.8 is Kingdom Hearts X (read as key) Back Cover which takes plays many years before Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep. This is a cinematic version of the Japan exclusive browser game, Kingdom Hearts X, where you play as a keyblade wielder leading up to the events of the fabled Keyblade War (whose aftermath you see in the Keyblade Graveyard in 3). But you watch from the perspective of the Foretellers, powerful keyblade masters who lead separate factions of keyblade wielders. This movie shows us the Master of Masters revealing to his pupils, the Foretellers, that there is a traitor among them, the falling out and dissent among their ranks, all the way up to the fated Keyblade War.
Note: This story will be updated as we learn more about the price of KH 2.8, new features, and availability.