Kingdom Hearts III
"Kingdom Hearts III" was released worldwide in January 2019. Upon release, the game was met with generally positive reviews from critics.
Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Following the first "Kingdom Hearts", Nomura was worried that players would be unhappy that Sora would start "Kingdom Hearts II" as a weak character with few powers who once again had to be leveled up like the first title. Therefore, Nomura developed the plot of "Chain of Memories" to explain how Sora loses his abilities in Castle Oblivion and then starts anew. Additionally, with "Chain of Memories" a new mystery regarding Sora's memories of Twilight Town was added, which would be explained in "Kingdom Hearts II". The team in charge of "Kingdom Hearts II" expressed difficulties in animating Sora's "Valor" Drive Form for having a completely different motion except in Sora's walking animation, which is shared with his regular motion. After finishing "Kingdom Hearts II", Nomura wanted to give Sora a rest from the series in order to focus the following games on other characters from the series. Moreover, the events from the endings of "Coded" and "Birth by Sleep" hinted a new mystery regarding Sora's character, which will be revealed in "Kingdom Hearts III". Although Nomura stated in March 2010 that Sora would once again be the focus of the next "Kingdom Hearts", he will share it with another character with great importance. In response to rumors saying that Sora's story would end in "Kingdom Hearts III", Nomura answered that Sora is the protagonist of the series and that his role will end once the series ends. For this game, Nomura was interested in giving Sora a new costume, but was worried about doing so because of the popularity of the character's "Kingdom Hearts II" outfit. In the end, he decided to create a new one as "Kingdom Hearts III" was a new numbered title.