Video Game News: Kingdom Hearts III is finally finished, says Tetsuya Nomura

Considering how long we've been waiting for a true sequel to Kingdom Hearts II, today has got to be a pretty exciting day for fans of the franchise. Not only did a great new trailer drop online today, but so did this bombshell of an announcement: Kingdom Hearts III has finally been finished.

In a tweet posted earlier today that also debuted the trailer above, series director Tetsuya Nomura announced that the game has finished development. Which means that after five years and delay after delay, KH3 will actually hit its release date of January 29, 2019. Probably.

I'm proud to unveil an extended version of the trailer that's been playing in NA cinemas. And guess what? We've wrapped up development of #KingdomHearts III!If you haven't had the chance yet, now would be a good time to prep by playing 1.5+2.5 & 2.8. See you next month! - Nomura pic.twitter.com/NvZYBut3WI

— Kingdom Hearts (@KINGDOMHEARTS) November 20, 2018

To be fair, "finished development" is still a few steps away from "going Gold". As Twitter user @kevinwedler reminded all of us, "there is still tons of QA and testing [to be done]" to prevent the game from "[ending] up a buggy mess." Still, it's a heartening development for a game a lot of us thought would never even get made.

Not really, for all we now main development is done, but now there is still tons of QA and testing so it won't end up like a buggy mess. Gold means the actual disc is printed.

— Kevin Wedler (@kevinwedler) November 20, 2018

The very cinematic trailer (it was literally made to play at movie cinemas in North America), 'Together', jumps back and forth between game worlds featured in previous games - like Hercules and Pirates of the Caribbean - with brand new levels, including some based on Pixar films for the first time.

Fans with a PS4 can catch up on the series with Kingdom Hearts 1.2+2.5 Remix and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, which includes all of the previous games and movies in the order in which you'll need to play/watch them understand just what the heck is going on. Square Enix is also selling both titles merged into one with Kingdom Hearts: The Story So Far. Fans with an Xbox One can go to a friend's house, I guess.

Kingdom Hearts III will release next year for both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One.