Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind Review

1. Game: Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind
2. Consoles: PS4 (reviewed), Xbox One
3. Publisher: Square Enix
4. Developer: Square Enix Business Division 3

A Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind review code was provided by the publisher.

The closing moments of Kingdom Hearts 3 gave players closure at the end of an epic struggle between light and darkness. Once the series’ ultimate big bad was handed defeat, an unfinished story thread still lingered and alluded to the main premise of the next chapter in the Kingdom Hearts saga. In a surprise move, that cliffhanger moment is given its resolve with the release of a story expansion entitled Re:Mind. This director’s cut of sorts returns to the conclusion of the central adventure and expands upon each story beat that sprung up during the Guardians of Light’s final crusade against the evil Organization XIII. While Re:Mind provides interesting plot points, additional Keyblade wielders to play around with, and a few new entertaining boss fights, its overall quality is brought down by the repetition of previously completed events and a boss rush mode that stands in the way of this DLC’s most interesting encounter.

After Kairi’s heart is taken and her physical form is seemingly lost forever, Sora decides to take on a dangerous new mission – adopt an incorporeal form in order to travel back in time to the game’s climax and find a way to restore her. As you make your way through those moments once again, you’ll witness new cutscenes that delve into the plights of some characters and get to the bottom of their inner turmoil. These moments provide some additional backstory cinematics and also lead to new boss encounters that are fun in their own right. Once you’re tasked with revisiting a portion of the game that features multi-character clashes, you’re given the ability to choose other characters besides Sora. This character select option is a welcome one – playing around with the Keyblade abilities wielded by other series’ favorites helps freshen up this section of the DLC.

Not all of Re:Mind’s main campaign segments are all that interesting, however. Two gameplay sections, in particular, are more of a chore than a fun endeavor. One basically equates to an annoying and overly long fetch quest, while the other acts as a minigame that quickly chips at your patience the longer it goes on. These intervals are a blemish on an otherwise fun retread of the main game’s previous events. Two moments that stick out in a more positive manner see Sora’s fellow Keyblade wielders engage in a sky skirmish against the Darkness and a two-person battle that closes out the first part of the DLC. Those boss encounters play the part of giving longtime fans a better ending portion than the one that came before it. Kingdom Hearts 3’s final story explanations and battles see a decent uptick in quality thanks to Re:Mind.

When it comes to the next two portions of Re:Mind’s content offerings, one of them acts as an entirely too hard roadblock to the much better Secret Episode. The Limitcut Episode (which comes with a criminally short cameo by some popular Final Fantasy characters) throws players into repeat battles against members of Organization XIII. These revisited boss encounters would be fun if they weren’t so insanely difficult – don’t expect to make a dent in any of them if your Sora isn’t near or at his highest experience level. It’s a major bummer having to farm your way to level 99 in the main campaign just so you can come back and have a chance against the Limitcut Episode’s overpowered enemies. If you do manage to overcome those super hard mode fights, you’ll be treated to a final battle encounter that raises a ton of intriguing questions about the future of Kingdom Hearts. Getting to that encounter isn’t any fun, but experiencing what that mind-bending battle has to offer is a fine way to bring Re:Mind to a close.

Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind Takeaways

Re:Mind may be more of a rehash of Kingdom Hearts 3’s final moments. But it offers a closer look at each of Sora’s friends and gives players the chance to actively put their Keyblade skills to the test. The newly implemented boss fights (especially the final clash against a mysterious fellow that may point to the next Kingdom Hearts adventure) are all worthwhile. However, a few of Re:Mind’s gameplay moments bring the fun to a screeching halt. Plus the Limitcut Episode’s infuriatingly high difficulty curve is more annoying than challenging. The New Game+ add-on’s and fresh picture-taking options are fine, but they don’t do a whole lot to outweigh Re:Mind’s weaker portions. This DLC expansion is fine in parts and wholly disappointing in others.

Our Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind Review Score: 6 out of 10

See Also:

• Kingdom Hearts 3 Review: A Newcomer’s Perspective
• All Upcoming RPG’s of 2020
• How to Get the Oathkeeper & Oblivion Keyblades in Kingdom Hearts 3

 

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