Finally, these many years later, Square-Enix is releasing Final Fantasy Versus XIII. That’s not exactly true, though. The PlayStation 3 exclusive action role-playing game, first announced alongside Final Fantasy XIII all the way back in 2006, is no longer the science fiction, urban fantasy it was. Far from it. Square-Enix’s Tetsuya Nomura surprised long-suffering fans during Sony’s PlayStation press conference at E3 2013 with a massive reveal that the game is, as was rumored, actually Final Fantasy XV.
In a wild gameplay trailer that saw lead character Noctis work his way through a crumbling building, fighting masked, sword-wielding soldiers and flying monsters, Square confirmed that it would continue the series on PlayStation 4 as Final Fantasy XV. This was actually the first major gameplay trailer released of the game in some three years, and the first ever officially shown to the public. It’s no surprise that after seven years of reportedly tortured development, the game has become a PlayStation 4 title rather than another game for the aging PlayStation 3.
More surprising, though, was the announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3. It’s also been seven years since the last major Kingdom Hearts game, with the beautifully strange Kingdom Hearts 2 on PlayStation 2. Sony showed only the briefest trailer of a teenage Sora battling Heartless enemies known from the series and ended with the statement that the game is “now in development.” Meaning it’s far from actually coming out any time soon. Still, after nearly five handheld releases in the series, it’s hugely exciting to see Kingdom Hearts 3.
