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Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory will be getting a playable demo in mid-October, producer Ichiro Hazama announced during a live show at the 2020 Tokyo Game Show on Friday. More details, such as the exact date, and a potential western release, will be released later.
Some gameplay was also shown off, with Hazama and special guest Kasumi Ashizawa, a member of e-Sports team G-Star Gaming, playing through the game’s co-op mode. Ashizawa also took a spin through one level of the World Trip single player mode. The game will also feature online versus play.
The title is a departure for the series, swapping out the usual RPG trappings for a rhythm action game in the vein of the Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and Theatrhythm Dragon Quest games that were released for Nintendo 3DS in 2012 and 2015. Hazama and co-director Masanobu Suzui worked on those two titles.
Tetsuya Nomura is also a director and participated in Friday’s panel as a voiceover.
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Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a recounting of the famously complex Kingdom Hearts series set against the backdrop of over 140 songs from across the various Kingdom Hearts games. Players will control teams of three characters as they traverse through each world by pressing the correct button in rhythm to the music.
“The controls weren’t really that different from a normal game in the Kingdom Hearts series,” Ashizawa said. “Jump is jump and attack is attack.”
Of course, the most important part of a rhythm game is the music itself, and the work of famed series composer Yoko Shimomura gives the game a solid foundation to work from.
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Shimomura was also part of Friday’s show and said the game was a new experience for her. She’s used to having her melodies work their magic in the background of scenes. This time, a lot of her music is serving as an integral part of the gameplay itself.
“I always felt that music was supposed to be in the background but also help set the scene without standing out too much,” Shimomura said. “But this time my music is at the front, so it’s surprising.
“When I was able to see the game played a little while ago, the music was really front and center all the way through. I actually felt a little embarrassed,” she added with a laugh.
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory releases on November 13 for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
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