Kingdom Hearts III Re:Mind (PlayStation 4) – Gaming Review

Can you believe it’s now been an entire year since Kingdom Hearts III was officially released? After what felt like a long time of playing HD releases of older entries, a mobile game, trailers and even a short 3-hour prequel entry detailing events to fill in the gaps of protagonist Aqua and her disappearance in the Realm of Darkness, (which essentially felt like a tech demo to showcase us what KH3 would be capable of, graphically and gameplay-wise) the game finally arrived. And now, here we are again in talks of Kingdom Hearts III once more, as the hugely anticipated Re:Mind DLC has just launched. And boy, there’s a lot to process here.

Re:Mind is story-based paid DLC, along with some bonus features thrown in, that help tie up some loose ends to the end of the original game, as well as also amending some iffy parts of the story that were also told to us. It’s a retelling of the same story and ending we already know, but essentially seeing things from a different perspective, while also adding even more after the final scene, making for a much more interesting narrative. It’s also a proper conclusion for both Sora and Kairi in their respective journeys in this madness that is the Dark Seeker Saga story. Kairi is finally given a proper chance to shine more than ever in this entire series and I couldn’t be happier.

Along with a retelling of the ending, some new features added in Re:Mind now allow the characters that aided you in the final series of boss fights that take place in The Keyblade Graveyard such as Riku, Aqua and Roxas, to be playable against these bosses. It’s a great feature that really adds to the experience. On my playthrough, I made sure to choose each character that was not possible to pick before, so that I could feel and experience everyone else’s gameplay style, which is highly recommended (I won’t lie, playing as Roxas again felt FANTASTIC. Oh how I’ve missed you, Roxas!). I don’t want to say too much but while fighting the many bosses you’ll encounter, there were two moments in this DLC part that just blew me away. Director Tetsuya Nomura knows exactly how to show off a dazzling and memorable experience and he certainly delivered in that respect.

Re:Mind features some moments that now are some of my favourite in the entire series. I’m happy they’ve been included to make the Kingdom Hearts III experience even better, including a hilarious new feature called ‘Data Greeting’. It’s simple but it allows you to position characters in any pose or facial expression with any background and setting to take photos. It doesn’t add to the story but it’s just a very fun feature to kill the time with. You can make up any kind of pose with any character and take a photo of the results, making very meme-worth entries that I’m sure the internet will be seeing very soon.

Scala Ad Caelum, the stunning last world where the final boss fight takes place in the original game, is expanded upon and provides more to explore. I wouldn’t say it’s something to get majorly excited about though, as it feels more like one gigantic room disguised as a city to move around in, but it’s certainly better than no exploration at all. I just wish we could explore all of Scala in the base game rather than just in the DLC only. But hey, I’ll take what we can get.

Alongside the Re:Mind chapter, there also includes the ‘Limitcut Episode’, an episode entirely devoted to thirteen different superbosses that will absolutely push players to their breaking point on how well they actually can play KH3. Here you’ll need to know every trick in the book to properly guard, attack and dodge to victory. These bosses play exactly like the data boss battles from the Cavern of Remembrance in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix so if you’re familiar with them, get ready to do the same thing all over again. They are NOT easy. You’ll also be greeted with a bunch of familiar, although very brief faces you’ve seen from the Final Fantasy series and whom have appeared in previous KH games such as Aerith, Leon, Yuffie and Cid, who are here to help with some more storytelling that takes place after the events of the main story.

For the most part, I had fun with these extremely hard boss fights, figuring out each one’s attack pattern and how they move. But it’s certainly a challenge and with a few that I fought against, I wasn’t too fond of if I’m being honest. It’s definitely more so for the hardcore fans of KH3 or gamers who basically really enjoy a boss rush mode but overall, I did like it.

And finally, what is easily the most fascinating chapter in the entirely of the DLC is the secret episode. Much will be kept quiet here as anyone buying this DLC should experience it for themselves, but I will say that this will keep Kingdom Hearts fans very hyped with countless fan theories bound to be discussed for a long time, at least until the next entry comes along. I’m still thinking about secret episode and I will be for a while.

For the Australians out there, the Re:Mind DLC comes with a price tag of $44.95. Do I think this DLC is worth that price? Honestly… no. This is great fan-service for the players and what feels like a good proper send off to the end of the Dark Seeker Saga story but for $44.95 AUS, I feel that’s pushing it. There’s much to enjoy here but maybe for $30 AUS instead, it might have been more feasible. Regardless, if you enjoyed Kingdom Hearts III very much, I don’t believe you’ll regret buying the DLC. You’ll be in for a very fun, confusing and wild ride.

Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind DLC is now available on PlayStation 4 and will be available on Xbox One on February 25, 2020.

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