Kingdom Hearts 4 finally shows its hand at D23: playable Mickey, Donald and Goofy, a Coco world, and a 2027 date
At D23 2026, Square Enix gave Kingdom Hearts 4 its biggest showing yet. Mickey, Donald and Goofy are now playable alongside Sora, the Pixar film Coco is the first confirmed Disney world, and the game is targeting late 2027, a date the directors insist will not slip. It is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Switch 2, with a Kingdom Hearts anime heading to Disney+ as well.
Kingdom Hearts 4 got its biggest reveal yet at D23 2026. The headline is that Mickey, Donald and Goofy are now playable alongside Sora, each with their own style. Coco is the first confirmed Disney world, the game is targeting a late-2027 release the directors say will not be delayed, and it is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Switch 2. A Kingdom Hearts anime for Disney+ was announced too.
Kingdom Hearts fans have spent years waiting for real news about the fourth main game, and at D23 2026 they got a lot of it at once. Across Disney's Entertainment showcase on 14 August and a dedicated Kingdom Hearts Deep Dive panel the next day, Square Enix laid out new playable characters, the first Disney world, a firm release window and, for good measure, a television spin-off. Here is what actually got confirmed.
What did Kingdom Hearts 4 reveal at D23?
The short version, from the D23 trailers and panel:
- Mickey, Donald and Goofy are playable, not just Sora, each with a distinct combat and traversal style.
- Coco is the first confirmed Disney world, revealed in a trailer at the 14 August Disney Entertainment showcase.
- Release window: late 2027. The directors were emphatic it will not slip, co-director Tai Yasue called a 2027 launch "a 100 percent thing", not "an 80 percent or 90 percent thing".
- Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2.
- Engine: Unreal Engine 5.
- A Kingdom Hearts anime is coming to Disney+.
- Riku appears at the end of the extended Deep Dive trailer, though no gameplay was shown for him.
Playable Mickey, Donald and Goofy is the biggest shift
For a series that has almost always put the Keyblade in Sora's hands, letting you actually play as the rest of the trio is a genuine change. Each gets their own identity in combat: Donald casts magic, Goofy wields his shield, and, per the trailer, the two are playable individually as they search for Sora.
The most eye-catching of the three is Mickey. His segment sends him through a book world inside Scala ad Caelum, the series' clockwork keyblade city, and the standout trick is that it moves between full 3D and flat, 2D paper-style sections as he goes. It is a much bigger role than Mickey's rare earlier playable moments, a second-chance revive mechanic in Kingdom Hearts 2 and a secret character in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and it is exactly the kind of set-piece the series uses to show off a new engine.
When does Kingdom Hearts 4 come out, and where?
The headline date is a late-2027 release window, and the team went out of its way to shore it up. Series director Tetsuya Nomura said the game "will be out in 2027 without delays", and co-director Tai Yasue was just as firm, calling a 2027 launch "a 100 percent thing". That is worth noting in a year when big games have slipped repeatedly, so two directors publicly planting a flag is a deliberate signal.
On hardware, the game is confirmed for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2, a full modern line-up rather than a single-platform launch. It is built on Unreal Engine 5, the generational jump the series teased when Kingdom Hearts 4 was first announced.
Coco, and a story that hints at trouble
The first Disney world shown is Coco, Pixar's Land-of-the-Dead story, and Square Enix used it to plant a theme: the reveal leaned on ideas of memory and forgetting, complete with a new Día de Muertos costume for Sora. Kingdom Hearts has always folded each Disney film's ideas into its own plot, and "forgetting" is a loaded one for a series whose lore runs on hearts, memories and identity.
The extended trailer also carried a quieter tease that not everything is well with the main trio, with Sora seemingly not recognising Donald and Goofy. It is a hint rather than a plot reveal, so treat it as flavour for now, but it is the kind of thing that sets the fandom theorising for months. (For where Kingdom Hearts 4 sits among the rest of the release calendar, see our rundown of the biggest games still coming in 2026 and 2027.)
A Kingdom Hearts anime is coming too
Beyond the game, Square Enix and Disney confirmed a Kingdom Hearts anime/TV series for Disney+. No release details were given beyond the announcement. The likely play here is straightforward: it looks aimed at putting the franchise in front of Disney+ subscribers who may never have touched the games, ahead of a mainline launch. It is the same playbook big game brands increasingly run, using a streaming adaptation as a funnel back to the games.
Frequently asked questions
When is Kingdom Hearts 4 coming out?
Square Enix is targeting a late-2027 release window, and the game's directors said it will not be delayed, co-director Tai Yasue called a 2027 launch "a 100 percent thing" and director Tetsuya Nomura said it would arrive "without delays". No exact date has been given yet.
What platforms is Kingdom Hearts 4 on?
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2, running on Unreal Engine 5.
Can you play as Mickey, Donald and Goofy?
Yes. D23 confirmed all three as playable alongside Sora. Donald casts magic, Goofy uses his shield, and Mickey gets a standout book-world segment inside Scala ad Caelum that shifts between 3D and 2D.
What was the first Disney world revealed?
Coco, Pixar's Day-of-the-Dead film, shown at the 14 August Disney Entertainment showcase, with the reveal emphasising themes of memory and forgetting.
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