20 Years Later And Kingdom Hearts Is Still A Cringe-Inducing Masterpiece
I probably wouldn’t be in this line of work or the shameless weeb that I am today if my estranged father hadn’t bought me Kingdom Hearts instead of GTA: Vice City as a kid.
He declared Rockstar’s masterpiece as being far too violent, instead pointing me towards a game that appeared to be “just like those Final Fantasy things you like” and featured a number of familiar Disney characters. I wasn’t holding the credit card, so I had no say in the final decision, so I picked up Kingdom Hearts and things were never the same again.
Related: Elden Ring Needs A Proper Co-op Mode Without Invaders
It felt like a small decision at the time, but thinking back it was one of those moments that would define my entire life. Like if I was Ashton Kutcher in the Butterfly Effect and went back in time to stop that from ever happening I wouldn’t be writing this article right now. Except instead of accidentally killing a baby by blowing up a mailbox I prevented a lifelong obsession with JRPGs. Part of me isn’t sure which is worse to be honest.
As Kingdom Hearts celebrates its 20th anniversary I want to look back on one of gaming’s most polarising franchises. Tetsuya Nomura’s weird and wonderful creation is revered and derided in equal measure, and there seldom seems to be any deviation from these two perspectives. You either adore Kingdom Hearts with every fibre of your being or watch from a distance at all of the losers trying to convince themselves that the plot makes any sense at all. It doesn’t, and that’s coming from a fan who has played every single game out there.
Kingdom Hearts is kinda bad. It always has been, and I think making peace with its mixture of melodramatic characters and nonsensical storytelling is required to truly fall
Read more on thegamer.com
