Dark Road final update releases on August 26
- Details
- Published on August 8, 2022 @ 10:36 am
- Written by Sign
Square Enix has finally released the recap video for the Kingdom Hearts 20th anniversary event. Included with it are some surprise snippets of Kingdom Hearts Dark Road's final update, which will be releasing on August 26th!
This update will deliver a playable offline mode, as well as the rest of Xehanort's journey, from his days as a young student of Keyblade mastery, to his infamous time as a seeker of darkness.
【お知らせ】
— キングダム ハーツ DR公式 (@KHDR_PR) August 8, 2022
お待たせしております『KHDR』オフライン版アップデート(Ver5.0.0)は2022年8月26日に配信が決定いたしました！
先ほど公開された『KH 20th ANNIVERSARY EVENT』当日の模様と併せて未公開シーンをご覧ください。
▶️https://t.co/fXfLgUpL8M#KHDR #KHUX #_KH pic.twitter.com/NHnnBhAK0O
COMMENTS
Good to know. I had almost forgot about Dark Road. Perhaps now we'll finally learn the identity of the old guy who dropped dead on Destiny Islands. I will not let that go, I need answers on this very pressing manner. But anyway I'll be sure to mark it on my calendar and see what happens. I do like Dark Road, I just wish it was released in better circumstances. And I wish I got to know Xehanort's classmates a little more too.
Ayy they actually did it! In a way it’s really a marvel they’re managing to push through and actually release Dark Road as a free game after Union X got shut down. Glad we’re getting something to tide us over.
Nomura from the 20th recap event: “I’m sure that people have their doubts about all kinds of things - but a lot of mysteries will become clear if you play [Dark Road]. I’ve solved quite a few mysteries here.”
The UX tradition of releasing stuff at the end of the month remains.
Finally. Can't wait to find out how Xehanort became bald. Among other things, lol
It's like they've read my mind, a few hours ago I was thinking they should make an announcement this week after the last one passed without any news.
I was hoping for the update to be released mid august but at least they're going to meet the august deadline and it hasn't been delayed again.
I'm glad Dark Road will be playable, that will be more entertaining than a bunch of cutscenes. I hope they remove the absurd excessive grinding to level up, it makes no sense now that it's an offline game.
I can't wait to see if the ending gives it a good closure or it's more questions than answers as usual.
If they get rid of the crazy grind, I might try playing it again
Out of curiosity, does anyone have any experience with other idle games? How does DR's grind compare?
A baby…he is precious. ? no, KHDR staff why have you made Xehanort so precious.
Also I’m so glad I got my iPad so I can play this on there. My phone is too vital to have it constantly running KHDR. Really hope they got rid of the insane grind, too. We can’t even buy cards so hopefully we can all just run through it without too much hassle.
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Not the first to make this observation, but it’s a nice touch that it appears the Robed Person and Babynort lived in the shack on Destiny Islands.
It is interesting that the robbed man was involved in Xehanort's life and raised him to a degree. From the way his death scene was portrayed I assumed he just watched him grow from a distance
Ugh, I want to see who the old robbed guy is even more now. Who is this mystery person? What if it's a female? What if it's a old lady Skuld or something like that? This is the biggest mystery left by Union X and I will not rest until I know who that is. Sora and friend's are playing on their burial grounds for crying out loud!
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Not the first to make this observation, but it’s a nice touch that it appears the Robed Person and Babynort lived in the shack on Destiny Islands.
The play island was Xehanort’s home oh no ? I love this so much
Out of curiosity, does anyone have any experience with other idle games? How does DR's grind compare?
I‘ve only dabbled with other idle games but DR’s grind and gameplay did strike me as particularly offensive (though that may be because I was eager to advance the story content). I’m imagining they’ll adjust the balance and make it more engaging for the 5.0 release since there’s no gacha/P2W option anymore, it’d be pretty silly if they didn’t, but…. ?
I literally was thinking about KHDR just a few days ago and been wondering if we'll get any news yet. Then here we are.
Completely forgot this game existed. I will only believe it when I see it.
Gotta second the notion that I literally forgot about the fact there still being outstanding stuff from Dark Road, lol.
Of course I'll follow the story content once videos of it are out but more or less on the side.
Also looks like we can add another Nort to the collection, can't we? Union X finale gave us Babynort and now we got Toddlernort, or would Kiddienort be more fitting there?
Don't really know, what I do know however is that Nomura seems to be really determined on keeping Xehanort around in some form despite KH III supposedly closing the lid on him and also at least to some degree trying to go on a sort of drum-up-sympathy path for him despite most of the series' suffering so far being his doing.
I certainly agree with those who think that this stuff should have been explored either before or during KH III rather than afterwards.
Gotta second the notion that I literally forgot about the fact there still being outstanding stuff from Dark Road, lol.
Of course I'll follow the story content once videos of it are out but more or less on the side.
Also looks like we can add another Nort to the collection, can't we? Union X finale gave us Babynort and now we got Toddlernort, or would Kiddienort be more fitting there?
Don't really know, what I do know however is that Nomura seems to be really determined on keeping Xehanort around in some form despite KH III supposedly closing the lid on him and also at least to some degree trying to go on a sort of drum-up-sympathy path for him despite most of the series' suffering so far being his doing.
I certainly agree with those who think that this stuff should have been explored either before or during KH III rather than afterwards.
I'm disappointed they skipped Fetusnort. They could have showed him controlling his mother from within, giving her the yellow eyes. She literally would be his first ever vessel to manipulate and control. Richard Epcar can even voice her when he's in full control of mother.
On the topic, Nomura will never get rid of Xehanort. I'm expecting him to appear in KH4 in some shape or form. Realistically Dark Road should have been the story they focused on after DDD/0.2 over Union X as it would have been timed better. Union X could happen after or something. It feels like Nomura loses interest in too many of his old ideas when new ones pop up as shown with so much of the mobile titles in KH3. But yeah, Xehanort ain't going anywhere. He's probably a main staple like Sora and Riku at this point.
I certainly agree with those who think that this stuff should have been explored either before or during KH III rather than afterwards.
Realistically Dark Road should have been the story they focused on after DDD/0.2 over Union X as it would have been timed better.
But isn't this exactly how Nomura originally planned it? Dark Road was supposed to be an independent game, it got cancelled by some necktie clowns, and then much later was reinstated as UX add-on?
But isn't this exactly how Nomura originally planned it? Dark Road was supposed to be an independent game, it got cancelled by some necktie clowns, and then much later was reinstated as UX add-on?
More or less. It was something Nomura wanted to do before KH3 but didn't have the opportunity. If the UX team hadn't approached him, asking to let them work on another game, DR would have never seen the light of day.
It's not really anything to do with UX as that was always a lower scale project, whereas this Xehanort backstory would have ideally been a console game, judging by how Nomura talks about it.
I wouldn't be shocked if this was planned (Maybe not officially but in nomura's kind) to be released after ddd but square enix basically forced him to focus on kh3 with x on the side.
keep in mind there was a mysterious project that was, indeed, shelved. It was either BBSv2 (because ??? why else would they make that secret ending that amounted to nothing lol) or Xehanort (or it was also a part of BBSv2)
Oh BBSv2…what you could have been. Happy for 0.2 but I will always dream of a game that reflected on Riku’s experiences in the year gap and what Kairi did at the Twilight Town Mansion…and a proper Xehanort game because I wanted to play as him in a 3D game ?
Okay, I’m done whining.
keep in mind there was a mysterious project that was, indeed, shelved. It was either BBSv2 (because ??? why else would they make that secret ending that amounted to nothing lol) or Xehanort (or it was also a part of BBSv2)
From everything I’ve gathered, my impression has been that Nomura intended for BBSv2 to be sort of experimental in its structure, jumping around chronologically and between characters to fill in various “blank points” in the story. Whether that would have amounted to a cohesive game is questionable but I still would’ve drooled over it lol. But SE execs probably weren’t sold on the concept. It seems to me that Nomura is finally fulfilling a spin on that original idea now with Dark Road and Missing-Link—he even talks about them both as games that connect or solve outstanding mysteries across the series. Of course, the KH universe has evolved dramatically since the early 2010s, so I doubt these games would touch on things like Riku during the CoM-KH2 gap, but it’s not impossible IMO. Nomura clearly has some stories he’s wanted to tell and ideas for connecting these “fragments” to each other.
But yeah I will forever mourn BBSv2, RIP
I am so incredibly excited for this game, it's unbelievable. I really hope I am not ruining it for me through expectations. But everything we've seen from it so far makes me believe that they'll be able to do something they haven't achieved since 0.2 and that would be have a decent character study.
I think not having Disney Worlds with an actual plot to follow or rather not being so chained to the specific plot of the worlds. I am especially hopeful that the other characters get their time to shine - that's something that I feel Union χ really failed on. But Xehanort's classmates and perhaps even the upperclassmen will get some stuff to do, judging by the trailers.
I'm also very intrigued that the game seems to go ALL the way into Birth by Sleep. That is way beyond where I thought it would end. Unless they're literally going until his death in KHIII. Which would be very cool, actually.
I am so incredibly excited for this game
Same. I’ll always have my complaints about the presentation of these mobile games (at least give us voice acting, yeesh), but dang we’re getting a full KH game in 2 weeks. Feel like I’ve been dangling on a narrative edge for the past 2 years; I know this won’t address everything, but my desire to know what happens is through the roof. Pretty hyped.
I need to find my iPad and get to charging it. Hopefully it releases at the time the previous UX updates went out. If it does, I can get playing at 5pm on that Friday and hopefully finish the game by the end of the night.
Because I asked it on Twitter:
Xehanort's mother is also Sora's mother.
Xehanort's mother is also Sora's mother.
Wouldn't Riku's mother make more sense, since Nomura is having Toddlernort's hair match KH3 Riku's hair? :ROFLMAO:
Xehanort's mother is also Sora's mother.
Sora, I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
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I'd be surprised if the big twist wasn't that MX himself was a vessel for one of the 13 "Progenitor Darknesses", specifically Super/Pride. Was it really MX's plan to split his heart into empty vessels and create 13 selves? Or was it Darkness's will expressing itself through him? We know that without physical form they lose their individual will and that they needed vessels to continue to exist.
I dunno, ever since I saw the Union X finale, I thought that whole plot made way more sense if it was part of the Dark Seeker Saga. Xemnas and Saix just had something really inhuman about them. It would be perfectly believable for me to think that their personalities were simply the result of Darkness puppeteering their bodies, even if they themselves were unaware of this.
This is interesting. I always wondered how Master Xehanort constituted pure darkness. If he transferred only his darkness into 12 empty vessels, wouldn't himself still be part light?
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I'd be surprised if the big twist wasn't that MX himself was a vessel for one of the 13 "Progenitor Darknesses", specifically Super/Pride. Was it really MX's plan to split his heart into empty vessels and create 13 selves? Or was it Darkness's will expressing itself through him? We know that without physical form they lose their individual will and that they needed vessels to continue to exist.
I dunno, ever since I saw the Union X finale, I thought that whole plot made way more sense if it was part of the Dark Seeker Saga. Xemnas and Saix just had something really inhuman about them. It would be perfectly believable for me to think that their personalities were simply the result of Darkness puppeteering their bodies, even if they themselves were unaware of this.
I hope they don't go this route. If it turns out Xehanort was just a vessel for Darkness it robs him of his agency, which is something his character does not need, especially since he's suppose to be the main antagonist of the Dark Seeker Saga. You can make a villain's backstory interesting without stripping him of his free will. If it turns out this was all Darkness's plot then what does Xehanort have? Honestly this is one of Square Enix's problems with their villains at times. Xehanort would become the KH version of Golbez.
Three more days fellas. We are getting closer and closer to see what made the boy become a man, and the man turn into a tyrant. Lets hope it can beat Xenoblade 3's N in tragedy!
I think so, yeah. That's the idea that Nomura seemed to be trying to convey with the ending of KH3. It was all a callback to KH1's ending.
Xemnas's last words were about how being human takes incredible strength. Xehanort sold his soul for power because he thought the world needed someone strong to stand up and lead. His true nature wasn't evil. But his heart was weak. Darkness swallowed his heart, took over his mind/soul/will, and used his body as its vessel. But deep down there was a light that never went out.
That tiny bit of light was reawakened once Xehanort remembered his childhood with Eraqus. It's only after that that he gives Sora the χ-Blade.
MX probably wasn't splitting his own human heart into 13 vessels. It was Darkness that was swallowing their hearts, like it did with him.
I hope they don't go this route. If it turns out Xehanort was just a vessel for Darkness it robs him of his agency, which is something his character does not need, especially since he's suppose to be the main antagonist of the Dark Seeker Saga. You can make a villain's backstory interesting without stripping him of his free will. If it turns out this was all Darkness's plot then what does Xehanort have? Honestly this is one of Square Enix's problems with their villains at times. Xehanort would become the KH version of Golbez.
I don't want "Darkness" to be the reason for Master Xehanort's entire plan. However, I would like to see Xehanort believe he was in control or even manipulating "Darkness" into doing his bidding.
I can see Master Xehanort being so dedicated to his cause, that he might actually put Darkness into himself, just so that he could execute the plan in the future. They can maybe even use Darkness as the explanation for the actual appearance of the Guardian (that Ansem has). I know it's supposed to be Terra - but why present that way, let alone help during the fight? Maybe they can even explain that Darkness was becoming too much of a burden for Master Xehanort to keep at bay, so he needed to dump it on another heart (Terra) while keeping Darkness inside himself, so that he could eventually do the split.
Yeah, basically I rather see Master Xehanort use Darkness as a tool in his crazy experiment/plot rather than have Darkness just lead Xehanort down some "destined path".
I don't want "Darkness" to be the reason for Master Xehanort's entire plan. However, I would like to see Xehanort believe he was in control or even manipulating "Darkness" into doing his bidding.
I can see Master Xehanort being so dedicated to his cause, that he might actually put Darkness into himself, just so that he could execute the plan in the future. They can maybe even use Darkness as the explanation for the actual appearance of the Guardian (that Ansem has). I know it's supposed to be Terra - but why present that way, let alone help during the fight? Maybe they can even explain that Darkness was becoming too much of a burden for Master Xehanort to keep at bay, so he needed to dump it on another heart (Terra) while keeping Darkness inside himself, so that he could eventually do the split.
Yeah, basically I rather see Master Xehanort use Darkness as a tool in his crazy experiment/plot rather than have Darkness just lead Xehanort down some "destined path".
I hear you. The main reason I don't want Xehanort to be controlled by Darkness is there is enough Union X influence in his motivations and plot already. He met the Master of Masters, and he had Luxu lurking over his shoulder making sure everything was going to happen, which is fine. But we have too many "vessels" in this series and not enough evil masterminds of their own. Couldn't Xehanort just develop his own strong level of darkness to start all this? I mean he already is using Darkness as his own tool via Vanitas.
do we know what time?
I imagine 3pm JST and 12am PT. I think those were the previous times updates would drop.
The app might update earlier, but the download for the story content should arrive in-app at those times. Well, I'd hope for that. The iOS app store can show the app as updatable for some and not for others until later so that'd be annoying trying to wait for it to randomly say it's updatable aha.
Can I just skip everything and watch cutscenes for the entire game?
I hear you. The main reason I don't want Xehanort to be controlled by Darkness is there is enough Union X influence in his motivations and plot already. He met the Master of Masters, and he had Luxu lurking over his shoulder making sure everything was going to happen, which is fine. But we have too many "vessels" in this series and not enough evil masterminds of their own. Couldn't Xehanort just develop his own strong level of darkness to start all this? I mean he already is using Darkness as his own tool via Vanitas.
I'm personally hoping that Luxu was guiding Master Xehanort to this result. Not that Luxu told him what to do, but Luxu sort of gave him breadcrumbs to lead the way. Like maybe show that Luxu did something that caused Master Xehanort to learn about heartless/nobodies on his own.
That way you get that Luxu's hand was in this "destined" result, but also Xehanort gets development because he stumbled upon the information Luxu wanted him to find, but Xehanort's own insane usage of that information is what resulted in the current outcome.
Tomorrow is just around the corner, y’all ?
In a way, this is the perfect game/story to truly conclude the Dark Seeker Saga and Xehanort's character. I'm really interested to see how much they cover in Birth by Sleep. I would specifically be interested to see if they include how Xehanort and Braig really met.
Fingers crossed that it's not a Japan only launch with Global coming at a later date.
Fingers crossed that it's not a Japan only launch with Global coming at a later date.
Thankfully not!
We're happy to announce that #KHDR's offline mode update (Ver. 5.0.0) will be released Aug. 26, 2022! |
Guys I’m so ready ?
Yay, can't wait to finally see how Xehanort went bald!
App store update is out on Android in Japan. Hope the rollout to all regions and stores is quick
Habbening any moment guys. Just wanted to say before it drops and I wake up to the shitstorm of new info and chibi artwork, that Xehanort did NOTHING wrong and his only miscalculation was that he was being Madara'd the entire time. Because as we know, Luxu and MoM both made sure that MX would be beaten by Sora. Remember that Nomura saw more of himself in Xehanort at the early stages of KH3 than he did in Sora, and that he made Sora purposefully suffer in KH3.
A Nomura sketch to celebrate would be cool.
A Nomura sketch to celebrate would be cool.
You got your wish
Do you know when you'll be able to upload the videos? ??
Do you know when you'll be able to upload the videos? ??
Sign will have them up soon!
Good luck, Sign! ☆
Just finished watching and oh BOY was that both underwhelming and overwhelming. Spoilahs ahead.
[SPOILER="Muh spoilahs 4 KHDR"]Depending on who blue robe was talking to, either Xehanort is a blueblood like Eraqus, or SORA is Ephemer's great great great great (greatx14?) grandson. Well, it'd have to be Sora considering Xehanort was the Dark Seeker. [/SPOILER]
Additionally, telling this backstory of Xehanort in a fkn chibi game is a cardinal sin. I can't take KH seriously because of these obtuse and alien methods of writing.
So uhh [SPOILER]We've gone from the Keyblade War being in the "distant age of fairy tales," to just 4 generations removed from Xehanort. Did I get that right? I mean, my own great great grandparents would've been born a little over 100 years before I was, so that's hardly the ancient past.
I can't really tell everything else that's happening through all the scattered snippets of spoilers, but it also looks like the passive role of Xehanort's ancestor may be all Skuld gets relegated to, since it doesn't look like she'll be subject X after all. [/SPOILER]
How many episodes & quests are in the update?
How many episodes & quests are in the update?
5 episodes, and maybe like 40-50 quests?
okhi12
August 8, 2022 @ 12:42 pmOffline