'Kingdom Hearts 3' Release Date & News Update [WATCH TRAILER] - Unreal Engine Announced; New Characters Details?

Kingdom Hearts 3 is easily one of the most anticipated games due out next year. Tetsuya Nomura, former director of Final Fantasy XV, announced recently that he is still working on the final character list and hopes to include all of the characters fans expect--and maybe a few they don't.

Marvel Comics & Star Wars Characters?

Rumors have begun to spread that in addition to the usual mix of Disney and other franchises' characters, this time around KH3 could include characters from the Marvel or Star Wars universes. Of course, it all comes down to licensing, which all comes down to money. And Disney has a lot of control over what Nomura can and can't include in the game, alongside their characters.

Regardless of which characters make the final cut, Nomura promises the game will be better than ever and that the "battle will surely last longer."

"In Kingdom Hearts 3 as well, I am scheming many challenges that Sora and his friends must overcome, because I myself cannot lose either," explained Nomura, "and in preparation for the great battle that lies ahead, we have this one book that looks back on their entire journey."

Unreal Engine

Nomura also announced recently that for some reason Square Enix made the decision to migrate Kingdom Hearts 3 from their own Luminous engine to the Unreal Engine 4. Nomura acknowledged that the switch was not without issue: "Due to having switched to Unreal Engine 4 for various reasons, we're having trouble on some parts as far as rendering goes, but with help from the folks at Epic Games, progress is going safely."

 This switch, which ultimately will probably do KH3 some good, would not seem to bode well for Square Enix's other big franchise, Final Fantasy XV, which is still currently being built on the Luminous engine.

KH3's switch to Unreal 4 could also indicate that a PC release for the game could be on the horizon. Previously, it was thought that KH3 would initially be compatible with gaming consoles only and not PC.

Look for Kingdom Hearts 3 to launch sometime in Q2 of 2015.