Back in 2002, Square Enix and Disney joined forces to produce a little game called Kingdom Hearts, which featured characters and locations from both Disney movies and the Final Fantasy franchise, to go along with original ones. The game was a massive hit and started a franchise of its own. Fast-forward to today, the Kingdom Hearts franchise now boasts ten installments, excluding remakes, remasters, and compilations.

The number is misleading, though; there have only been two "main" main games so far: the first game and Kingdom Hearts II. A third one, however, is currently in development and will serve as the wrap-up of everything that's happened so far. Kingdom Hearts III was first revealed at E3 2013, and you only need to watch the video below to see just how much it's overdue (courtesy of YouTuber Stephie Rawks).

Kingdom Hearts III won't be out until probably the latter half of next year, so in the meantime let's check out the things that we know about it so far and speculate about the possibilities.

The end of an era

According to director Tetsuya Nomura, Kingdom Hearts III will serve as the conclusion of the "Dark Seeker" saga, which most likely means that we'll finally see the last of Master Xehanort at the game's end. Time-wise, the game will pick up directly after Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, with Sora now a Keyblade Master. (If you recall, he initially failed the Mark of Mastery exam in Dream Drop Distance.) The premise will see Sora and his pals Goofy and Donald searching for the seven guardians of light and the "Key to Return Hearts".

In Dream Drop Distance, King Mickey listed himself, Sora, Riku, Ventus, and Aqua as members of the seven. The game also ended with Lea - the original identity of former adversary Axel - summoning a Keyblade, much to his surprise, and with Yen Sid calling for Kairi to take up arms. Both of which imply that the two will round up the seven. Terra and Roxas are out of the picture, despite Terra also being listed by King Mickey: the former is merged with Xehanort while the latter is merged with Sora.

The seven lights will go up against Xehanort's team, the thirteen darknesses, in what will most likely be a final showdown between light and darkness. If all these somehow seem complicated to you, well that's because it really is: the Kingdom Hearts franchise is notoriously well-known for its convoluted story. Since Kingdom Hearts III is sort of an ending, it's reasonable to think at least one of the good guys will bite the dust at the end.

Bigger gameplay - literally, combat-wise

The Kingdom Hearts games all feature an action RPG gameplay and that's not changing anytime soon. Kingdom Hearts III will still feature the same world-hopping mechanic present in previous games, with all-new worlds joining existing ones like Twilight Town (more on this later). However, the trailers that have been released so far focus more on the game's combat system. As seen in the gameplay trailers, it's still fast-paced similar to previous games, but it looks more fluid and feels somehow more open and unrestricted. Notably, Sora can now run on walls, perhaps to emphasize more freedom in movement.

The trailer above showcases Sora's ability to transform his Keyblade into, uh, non-Keyblade things, like dual bow guns and a rocket launcher. Magic now also leaves after-effects in the surroundings, like the Blizzard spell freezing the immediate area, which allows Sora to slide on the ice.

Perhaps the biggest addition, quite literally so, is the "Attraction Flow". This new feature functions like a summon attack and is based on the many theme park rides found in Disneyland parks, like the "Pirate Ship" and "Mad Tea Party" - both of which can be seen in the trailer, too. The game also features bigger boss battles, demonstrated by Sora fighting one of the Titans from Disney's Hercules.

As for other playable characters, there's no confirmation yet who else is available for you to control other than Sora. But based on previous games, it's a safe bet that Sora's best pal, Riku, is most likely playable. Kairi is a good candidate, too, if only to round up the Ventus-Terra-Aqua formula seen in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.

New worlds, new characters

The good news is that most of the worlds in Kingdom Hearts III will be new, and worlds based on hit Disney movies Big Hero 6 and Tangled are included. The latter is already showcased in the trailers, unless the Mysterious Tower, home to Yen Sid, somehow transformed into one that's suspiciously similar to Rapunzel's tower. Characters from those two movies are also in the game so, yes, you get to high-five Baymax.

The bad news is that there still won't be any worlds scooped up from Final Fantasy games. So, no, you still won't get to see Sora bouncing around Midgar or Balamb Garden. Final Fantasy characters are still in the game, though, most likely still hanging around Traverse Town. Maybe everybody's childhood crush Rinoa Heartilly will finally make an appearance, perhaps? After all, Kingdom Hearts II showed Leon (Squall Leonhart) reading a letter bearing his love's trademark angel wings. It'd be cool to see Rinoa included, though, preferably in full-on berserk sorceress mode raining down Meteors from-Okay, that's probably a long shot.

Aside from Big Hero 6 and Tangled, no other new Disney world has been confirmed. Although considering the massive success of the animated movie Frozen, Square Enix would be wise to include a world and characters based on it. Who wouldn't want to hang around with Olaf, right?

Disney's "other" properties

Perhaps the most interesting is the fact that Disney now owns Marvel Entertainment, Pixar, and Lucasfilm. This opens up a large opportunity for the developers to explore, assuming they get the green light. Worlds and characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe are probably the least likely to appear, because they'd probably shell out a boatload of cash just to have Robert Downy, Jr. in the game.

The same thing could be said about Star Wars. Legally, Electronic Arts hold the rights to produce Star Wars games. And that leaves Pixar as the most likely candidate. Kingdom Hearts III still deep in development, though, so a lot of things could change along the way. Let's just hope that the decade-long wait is truly worth it. Kingdom Hearts will be available for the PS4 and Xbox One. If you want to prepare yourself for the game, story-wise, you can check out the prequel Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ.