Kingdom Hearts, the fan-favorite RPG mash-up series that’s traditionally been linked to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, is at long last arriving on PC. More specifically, four of the most prominent Kingdom Hearts games are coming to PC, and they’ll all be exclusive to the Epic Games Store.
This information was revealed during today’s Epic Games Showcase, which provides a sneak peak at new and upcoming PC games. There, the team at Epic announced that four specific Kingdom Hearts games will be coming to the Epic storefront, including Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 and 2.5 Remix, 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts 3.
If you’re unfamiliar with the series, three of these releases are collections: 1.5 Remix includes both Kingdom Hearts Final mix, a remaster of the original game, as well as Re:Chain of Memories, a remaster of its sequel. Likewise, 2.5 Remix includes remasters of KH2 and Birth By Sleep in addition to Re:Coded, a remix of the 2009 episodic mobile game. 2.8 Final Prologue bundles together remasters of Dream Drop Distance and Birth By Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage, plus a collection of cinematics known as X Back Cover. And then there’s Kingdom Hearts 3.
Each of these games will arrive in the Epic Games Store on March 30, 2021. Together, they encompass pretty much the best of what the Kingdom Hearts series has to offer. And, for series followers who can’t contain their excitement, each release is now available for preorder over on the Epic Games website.
Again, these games will be Epic Games Store exclusives, and that may rub some fans the wrong way. After all, nearly every Kingdom Hearts game so far has been an exclusive in one way or another. Typically, the games are only available either for PlayStation consoles or Nintendo portables; only Kingdom Hearts 3 bucked that trend with a multiplatform release. Coming to PC should have been a more open way for non-console gamers to hit the highlights, but now they’re being locked into yet another exclusive platform. For those keeping count, this is the same path that has been followed by both Crysis Remastered and the recent release of Hitman 3.
Still, it’s good to see the popular Disney/Square mash-up series finally making its way into the hands of PC players. As for whether or not the Epic Games Store exclusivity is simply a timed exclusivity so far remains unclear. Thankfully, this deal still opens the series up to an entirely new audience.
