Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Premium Prologue was really just a taste of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep 0.2 in which I played as Aqua trying to rebuild the bridge to the Castle of Dreams. In essence, a lot of the captured footage in the below E3 trailer was what I experienced firsthand.
Out of all the games on show at the preview, this one was the most disappointing in terms of content. It cannot be denied that the game is looking great; the textures and atmosphere of the teaser were fantastic. That being said, I wanted to get a much greater feel for the storyline of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep 0.2 before the December release date and I walked away empty handed.
I will say that the influence of the realm of darkness on this world is conveyed beautifully. Crystallised darkness, glowing particulate effects and a whole lot of mist compliment the galaxy-like backdrop and make you feel adrift in time and space.
The battle system contained elements of both Birth by Sleep and what we have seen of Kingdom Hearts 3 so far.
I was ecstatic to see a 3 slot command menu, the use of the scan ability, and a decent sized set of HP, MP and drive gauges.
The magic in the sequence is crisp, highly detailed and integral to activating additional battle components for Aqua. Spellweaver also made it’s return, although functioned very differently to how it did in Birth by Sleep.
I am hoping against hope that there is much, MUCH more to Birth by Sleep 0.2. If this isn’t the case, Kingdom Hearts 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue is going to remain a means for me to play Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD with a few extra goodies. I can’t help but feel disappointed that for the 11th year since Kingdom Hearts 2 we are still going to get a remake of old content instead of Kingdom Hearts 3.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep 0.2 is interesting, but if there isn’t even a fraction of a full length game involved in it I believe fans will be incredibly disappointed too. I say the same for the additional foretellers story that is going to form the remaining component of the game.
The tension built by the introduction of the foretellers, the advent of a second keyblade war and how/ what our heroes are going to face still remain the biggest draw cards for this franchise and all reside in Kingdom Hearts 3. I hope for all our sakes that the wait is almost over, as this taste of things to come only generated more infuriatingly delicious questions without answers.
About the Author
Jakob Quilligan
Jake hails from Bendigo where his console of choice is the PS4, closely followed by the Nintendo 3DS. Anime and volunteering tend to keep him occupied, though his staffy/ rotty/ husky cross named Iris keeps him busy first and foremost.
