Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue Reviews

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue continues the story and creates an intriguing lead up to 3, all while being wonderful on the Steam Deck.

If you enjoyed past Kingdom Hearts compilations and want a little more, Final Chapter Prologue is here to offer some extra Disney magic.

While it is nice to see the portable titles make their way to home consoles, you can tell that this was just another distraction from the bigger issue for Kingdom Harts fans. While this game does fill that hole in the collection nicely, it’s not really worth a full retail price, or even a slightly lesser discounted price. These side stories aren’t going to give us any huge insight into the game series and is completely skippable. While it is an enjoyable romp if you do buy it, this is a game I’d recommended for hardcore fans only.

Kingdom Hearts 2.8 is thoroughly enjoyable, even as a newcomer, but it requires a lot of homework via YouTube clips and Wiki. The characters are varied and vibrant, and the lineup includes some classic headliners. It's a great taste of what's to come in Kingdom Hearts III, but I feel it's priced a bit high for what it delivers.

Overall Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is a collection well worth every penny. Dream Drop Distance is a fun entry to the franchise, but not without its issues; Kingdom Hearts X is a fun little movie, especially for those invested in the franchise’s lore and mythos; and A Fragmentary Passage is a wonderful tease of what is to come, by introducing new elements and setting the stage up for Kingdom Hearts 3.  If you’re looking for your Kingdom Hearts fix, look no further, but you may have to wait a while until they announce the release date of Kingdom Hearts 3.

What’s in a name? In this instance everything you can expect from this game as well as the HD remaster of one of the franchise’s better spin off titles. KIngdom Hearts HD 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue is comprised of the following 3 elements:

Final Chapter Prologue is an important link between the older parts of Kingdom Hearts and the upcoming "3", but it is completely unsuitable as a starting point for players who would like to get acquainted with the series for the first time.

While giving players the chance to replay Sora's latest adventure in HD and adding important story information through Aqua's story and a movie this game does more to set up Kingdom Hearts III than enjoy it's own worth. A great addition for fans of the franchise that might leave new players scratching their heads.

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue may be saddled with a ridiculous title, but the package offers plenty to enjoy. It may not be the most welcoming of games, thanks to Kingdom Hearts being amongst the worst offenders for convoluted narratives, but the HD remaster of Dream Drop Distance combined with a glimpse of what is to come for the franchise makes this more or less essential for fans.

While Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue suffers from Square's scattershot approach to what has been included in the collection, it nevertheless remains a must-have for Kingdom Hearts fans, especially those who didn't have access to Dream Drop Distance the first time around because of the franchise's odd migration to and from Sony and Nintendo devices seemingly at a whim. Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue might not be the best iteration of Kingdom Hearts we've ever seen, but it does an admirable job of preparing gamers for the next main series chapter while providing an enjoyable experience in its own right.

While the gaming community shared a collective groan when Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue was announced, the remake is one of the best HD packages the Kingdom Hearts series has ever produced. Holding two entirely-knew Kingdom Hearts experiences and a criminally underplayed title in the franchise, Final Chapter Prologue is a collection that every likely Kingdom Hearts III player should experience.

Kingdom Hearts 3 seems as if it may finally be coming in the relatively near future and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue serves as an excellent appetizer for those waiting.

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.

After various spin-offs and re-releases, the buildup to Kingdom Hearts III has been nothing if not drawn out. Kingdom Hearts II launched more than a decade ago, and a whole new generation of gamers can play the early entries thanks to HD remasters on PS3 (and later this year on the PS4). Final Chapter Prologue should be the last new remaster before Kingdom Hearts III; it includes Dream Drop Distance (originally a 3DS exclusive) for the first time on the big screen. Additionally, an episode starring Aqua and a mini-movie, which shows how this crazy journey all began, are both new for this entry. As convoluted as the Kingdom Hearts storyline is, after playing through this collection, I have a clearer understanding of the narrative leading into Kingdom Hearts III. Even without the extra story context, Final Chapter Prologue is fun on its own, and Square Enix did a wonderful job making this a worthwhile collection and not just a port of Dream Drop Distance.