No prior knowledge of the series is needed
Square Enix has announced thatKingdom Hearts Unchained χ,the mobile port of its browser-basedKingdom Hearts χ, will be coming to iOS and Android in North America this week.
#KingdomHeartsUnchained χ is coming! Check out the latest interview from Tetsuya Normura!https://t.co/iNzaxNHm05pic.twitter.com/fwAb6kKne2
— kh_ux_na (@kh_ux_na)August 01, 2025
The announcement was part ofan interview with series director Tetsuya Nomura, who explained whatUnchainedis, and how it fits into the spider’s web that is theKingdom Heartsnarrative.
Chronologically,Unchainedis the very first game in theKingdom Heartstimeline, taking place before both the first game and the PSP prequelBirth by Sleep.In the interview, Nomura said thatUnchaineddoesn’t require any previous knowledge for the series to get into it.
Nomura also discussed howUnchainedfits into the upcomingKingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue(yeah, that’s an actual title of a game). It most directly relates to theχ Back Covercinematic, as both it andUnchained χtell pretty much the same story, but from different perspectives.
Nomura also hints atUnchainedhaving a connection to the two games included2.8 Final Chapter Prologue,0.2 Birth by Sleep(a sequel toBirth by Sleep)andDream Drop Distance HD(a remastered version of the 3DS game). However, exactly what that relationship is hasn’t been made clear just yet.
This isKingdom Hearts, saying it’s difficult to keep track of the story would be a massive understatement.
Still,Unchained χlaunches for free on April 7 in North America on iOS and Android, and in theory you won’t need to have played the other games in the series for it to make sense. Maybe it’ll be a good primer for those who’ve yet to jump intoKingdom Hearts?
