Kingdom Hearts 4 features characters from Kingdom Hearts Union X, a mobile gacha game that Square Enix shut down in 2024. Players who never experienced Union X now encounter these characters in Kingdom Hearts 4 without context or accessibility to their original game.
This reflects the franchise's long-standing complexity problem. Kingdom Hearts spans consoles, handhelds, mobile platforms, and spin-offs. Story details scatter across Kingdom Hearts Re.Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, Birth by Sleep, Dream Drop Distance, and a dozen other entries. Union X added another layer before its servers went live and then offline, locking its narrative behind a paywall and closure.
Union X ran from 2016 to 2024 on iOS and Android. The game explored the Keyblade War's mythology and introduced characters integral to the larger saga. Square Enix initially promised offline access after shutdown, which never materialized. Players lost permanent access to that story.
The studio now includes Union X characters and plot points in Kingdom Hearts 4. New players stumble into references without having played the source material. Veterans of the series face a familiar frustration. Director Tetsuya Nomura crafted a narrative so sprawling that following the main plot requires jumping between six different game platforms and services. Adding a now-inaccessible mobile game as canon deepens this accessibility nightmare.
Kingdom Hearts fans joke about the convoluted storytelling. Each new entry assumes knowledge of increasingly obscure entries. Union X's inclusion in Kingdom Hearts 4 exemplifies why newcomers bounce off the franchise. The story demands completionism across devices and services, some of which no longer exist.
Square Enix's decision to sunset Union X while keeping its characters relevant in Kingdom Hearts 4 creates an odd contradiction. The studio deems the story important enough to reference in the mainline game but not