Review Roundup: Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is great, but still not KH3

In September 2015, Square Enix revealed Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, the remaster of a number of the Kingdom Hearts games for the PlayStation 4. While Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 doesn't feature any of the main installations in the series, like the original Kingdom Hearts or Kingdom Hearts 2, it does feature three other games in the franchise.

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 is made up of a full-HD remaster of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, a completely new HD theater cinematic called Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover and a short brand new Kingdom Hearts playable episode called Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-.

Now that the game has released, the question remains on whether or not this game is a must buy or something best left on the shelf. According to most reviews, the game is fairly good – scoring anywhere from seven to nine out of 10.

GamesRadar

The games in Kingdom Hearts 2.8 make it well worth it for fans. I’m one of those fans. Kingdom Hearts χ [chi] Back Cover, the hour long movie tying into the iOS spinoff Kingdom Hearts χ, will flat out alienate everyone who sees it. There are no Final Fantasy or other Square characters in it. There are no Disney characters in it. By the end I’d figured out through inference that it was a backstory to the Keyblade War, a climactic event referred to in old games that caused the conflict between dark and light to get out of whack in the first place, but even that’s shaky based on what’s here. A series of vaguely connected dialogues between bizarre characters in animal masks running 'unions' of keyblade users who you never see, it is the most impenetrable thing creator Tetsuya Nomura has ever put his name on.

That’s coming from someone who found A Fragmentary Passage pretty stirring. Back Cover may be an emotionally dead curio, but it doesn’t take away from the quality of the games alongside it, though. Play these and the upcoming re-release of Kingdom Hearts 1.5+2.5 on consoles, and you’ll actually know what’s going on in Kingdom Hearts 3. What’s more, you’ll probably love them by the end.

4/5

Destructoid

While the new engine doesn't sport a consistent framerate and you can pretty much skip the Chi movie, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is a healthy enough serving of what's to come in Fragmentary Passage, and bundles in one amazing core entry that everyone should play. It's a massive risk if you aren't already invested in this wacky series, and as always, all eyes are on Kingdom Hearts III at some nebulous unknown time.

7.5/10

GameInformer

Trusted Reviews

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is a meaty and highly distinctive package which should delight cartoon-obsessed youngsters and those who live to play Japanese RPGs. But, despite the Disney involvement, it doesn’t feel likely to challenge the mainstream. In certain respects – albeit in the grand tradition of Japanese RPGs – it’s so complex as to be baffling.

In a way, it’s almost too awash with out-there ideas – which seems an odd criticism at a time when far too many games opt to play it safe. You feel that it could have profited from exercising at least a hint of restraint. Still, I doubt you’ll ever find many quirkier games.

3/5