Kingdom Heartsis just about the most unique gaming experience you’ll ever come across. The whiplash of battling in a hyper-intense hack-and-slash battle with a monstrous villain, only for Donald and Goofy of Disney fame to give you an emotionally charged pep talk minutes later, is both surreal and fantastically fun.
Five Final Fantasy Worlds Sora Should Visit in Kingdom Hearts 4
The game is a Disney meetsFinal Fantasyfever dream, and the same can be said of every world you visit. However, a question begging to be answered is, whichKingdom Heartsworlds stand out from the rest? Well, being a lifetime KH fanatic, I aim to answer this question once and for all!
This is just a quick one. I will only include one version of any particular world, so only the visit that stands out the most will be listed here.
10The Caribbean (Kingdom Hearts 3)
Shiver Me Timbers, Heartless!
I’ll start things with the one and onlyKingdom Hearts 3world you’ll find on this list. While the graphical fidelity and production value of the third entry in the series were phenomenal, looking back, KH3 was a massive letdown in so many ways. So, by extension, a lot of the worlds within KH3 were style over substance. However, one world took a big swing, and I feel it really paid off.
The Caribbean, the Pirates of the Caribbean-inspired world, and a second visit by Sora and the gang to this franchise really pulled out all the stops. This world, compared to pretty much all others in the series, was enormous and allowed players to sail the seas, explore distant islands, and generally felt as if Kingdom Hearts had a crossover withAC Black FlagorSea of Thieves. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, but for the audacity to try something like this and pull it off, I have to have this on the list.
9Deep Jungle (Kingdom Hearts)
Can you hear Phil Collins? Just me?
This one will be a little controversial because Deep Jungle, the Tarzan world from KH1, is a world that is hard to navigate, showcases what makes the platforming in this game feel so dated, and it can be very difficult to work out where to go to progress the story. And yet, despite all of these hangups most players have, I can’t help but have a soft spot for this world.
It has one of the finest world tunes in the entire series. It features one of the coolest, toughest early bosses in the game in the form of Clayton. It’s a world with lots of great set pieces, including a vine-surfing section, and Tarzan is also a great optional party member. If you don’t agree, I get it, but for me, this is one of the most impressive and immersive worlds in the series, and for me, it earns a spot here.
8Destiny Islands (Kingdom Hearts)
‘I’ve Been Having These Strange Thoughts Lately…’
We go back to Destiny Islands a few times throughout the series, but nothing quite compares to the opening gambit of the entireKingdom Heartsseries as you take a Dive To The Heart, and then explore the glorified tutorial area of Destiny Islands. It’s not somewhere you’ll be hanging out for too long, but even still, this early-game experience will stay with you forever.
Whether it be meeting the curious hooded figure at the door, the race with Riku to name your raft, and then promptly naming it ‘RIKUSUX,’ or hanging out with marqueeFinal Fantasycharacters that never turn up again like Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie, it’s just a wonderful, wholesome opening to the game that suddenly turns dark and rips you from your home. It might be fueled by nostalgia, but Destiny Islands is where it all began, and as such, it deserves a mention for sure.
7The Colosseum (Kingdom Hearts)
Earn The Right To Call Yourselves Heroes!
While a lot of people will have enjoyed the Underworld and Olympus adaptation of this ever-recurring world, my personal favorite is the first-ever visit to the Olympus Colosseum. This was a pocket-sized world that essentially existed to give the player the chance to take on various Colosseum challenges, yet even still, this world managed to deliver a great storyline regardless.
However, the real reason this world earns its spot is because it plays host toone of the toughest and most memorable bosses inKHhistory.If you may beat everything the Colosseum has to offer, you can have the opportunity to take on the One Winged Angel, Sephiroth himself. It’s a true test of your abilities, and the cherry on top of what is a standoutKHworld. They go to this well so often, and there’s a reason why. It’s bloody brilliant.
6Halloween Town (Kingdom Hearts 2)
Checking In With The Pumpkin King
I’m a sucker for anything Tim Burton, and The Nightmare Before Christmas is right up there with my favorites. So given the opportunity to visit this one inKingdom Heartswas a genuine joy. However, it was the revisit inKH2that really showcased this world’s true potential. As this return to Halloween Town also allows you to visit Christmas Town and enjoy one of the finest Disney-aligned subplots the series has to offer.
Does Disney Own Kingdom Hearts?
Is Square Enix in charge at all?
Then, when you throw in the overall presentation of the world, the new and improved costumes for Sora and the gang, the fact that you may replace Donald with Jack, who ironically acts as a better mage throughout your time in Halloween Town, and the fact that this is easily the most faithful collaboration in all of KH, and you have a world that exhibits exactly why Kingdom Hearts is such a magical, unique franchise.
5Enchanted Dominion (Birth By Sleep)
Maleficent’s Finest Hour
I’m not a fanboy ofKingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleeplike mostKingdom Heartsfans, but I can’t deny that Enchanted Dominion is a wonderful addition to the franchise that allows us to see the origin story of Maleficent, so to speak, as this is the point where she gets wrapped up in all this ‘princesses of heart’ nonsense. And unlike a lot of worlds that promise a lot and never deliver, this one is fitting for the evil witch herself.
On your three visits, you are treated to spectacle after spectacle, such as the first hint of Terra’s fall to the darkness, a brilliant fight against the Wheel Master, and, of course, a fight against the Dragon Maleficent akin to the fight within Hollow Bastion inKH1.Birth By Sleepis a game that excels due to its story and writing rather than the worlds and gameplay, in my opinion, but this world is a definite exception.
4Agrabah (Kingdom Hearts)
Easily The Best Disney-Themed World Of All
Of all the Disney worlds inKingdom Hearts, I think most fans will agree that your first visit to Agrabah is a great time, and the best the series has to offer. There’s so much to love about this world. There’s the excellent design where the Market Streets of Agrabah are concerned. There’s the Cave of Wonders, which is effectively like a little dungeon crawl excursion. Plus, there’s the fight with Jafar and Igor that’s pretty great too.
There are just so many little details that have gone into making this such an authentic Disney recreation, and even though they couldn’t snag Robin Williams to put the icing atop the cake, Dan Castellana does a wonderful job filling in as Genie, as he often does in most roles. Sadly, theKH2return to Agrabah would end up being a letdown by comparison, but hey, at least our first foray into Aladdin’s world was something special, right?
3Twilight Town (Kingdom Hearts 2)
What Is This Obsession With Sea Salt Ice-Cream?
We enter the top three, and it’ll probably come as no surprise that all worlds from here on out are completely uniqueKingdom Heartscreations, beginning with Twilight Town. This may be controversial as this world often gets a lot of heat due to this area serving as a mandatory, two-hour-long tutorial where we play a character that barely features in the game ever again. Which, believe me, I get, because it’s the bane of my life on every replay.
However, you have to give props to this world, because even if you are like most people and completely missedChain of Memoriesand358/2 Days,this segment does the unthinkable. It makes you care about Roxas, Axel, and so many different characters, all in the limited time it has to work within.
It’s also a beautiful world to explore, has some fun gimmicks like Skateboarding mini-games, and there’s Vivi, which is always a plus. It makes replayingKH2a slog, but you can’t deny, it bridges the gap betweenKH1andKH2masterfully, making it a top-tier KH world in my eyes.
2Hollow Bastion (Kingdom Hearts)
Welcome To Heartless Headquarters
Before we crown our winner, our runner-up is the first visit to Hollow Bastion, a place that you may also know as Radiant Gardens, the refuge for those who lost their home worlds. Under Leon’s watchful eye, it becomes that, but before that, it was the base of operations for The Heartless and played host to one of the coolest locations in the originalKingdom Hearts.
Aside from being a true work of art visually with the cascading waterfalls and whatnot, it’s the place where you come face to face with Riku, team up with The Beast to navigate the maze-y underbelly of Hollow Bastion, and it’s where you’llbecome a heartless, rescue Kairi, and fight Maleficent in dragon form. It’s jam-packed with memorable moments, and whileKH2’s iteration is special as well, I think this one tops it, but only just.
1The World That Never Was (Kingdom Hearts 2)
One Of The Best Gaming Finale Locations Ever!
You can talk until you are blue in the face. You will never convince me that The World That Never Was is not the coolestKHworld. It’s the place whereKingdom Hearts 2’sepic story reaches its crescendo. Where the trio unite after so long apart. The place where we take on the vast majority of Organization XIII, and maybe with the exception of Luxord, all of those fights are amazing.
There’s the incredible fight with Roxas within the Dive to the Heart. The endless chain of set-pieces that is the end battle with Xemnas, and generally speaking, it’s such a surreal, dark and ominous setting that is fitting of the final gauntlet it houses. Everything that Kingdom Hearts has done hereafter has been an attempt to build to a finale like this world gave us, and while Scala Ad Caelum and a few others had their moments, nothing tops this. But fingers crossed,Kingdom Hearts 4finally manages it.
