16 Years Later, the Best Kingdom Hearts Game Is More Essential Than Ever

Nobody here fights like Sora

The trio also provides perhaps the series’ single most satisfying version of its combat. The opening of the original Kingdom Hearts famously asks players to choose among a sword, shield, and staff, then sacrifice one of the remaining options. Terra, Ventus, and Aqua initially appear to reflect similar archetypes, but they don’t fit neatly into the role of fighter, rogue, and mage.

Terra’s heavy Keyblade swings give his attacks the weight of a massive sword. Ventus holds his Keyblade in a reverse grip, darting around enemies with rapid attacks and wind magic. Aqua dances across the battlefield, mixing graceful physical combos with the strongest command of magic. She initially feels less explosive than her buddies, but her attacks excel at controlling groups long before her best spells become available.

Birth by Sleep’s Command Deck system deepens those distinctions without becoming as busy as Kingdom Hearts 3’s transformations, team attacks, and other flourishes. Players equip individual attacks and spells, use them until they level up, then meld them into more powerful abilities. That process makes experimentation feel rewarding.

Filling the Command Gauge also activates temporary Command Styles based on how each character has been fighting. Terra’s Dark Impulse lets him weaponize the darkness he’s been taught to fear. Ventus’ Cyclone turns his speed and wind affinity into a veritable tornado. Aqua’s Spellweaver sends her levitating Keyblade spinning around the battlefield before she unleashes an elegant magical finisher. All three also get access to shared forms based on various elements like fire, which seems to strengthen the bonds between them while still delivering some stylistic flourishes.

Complicating the relationship between Light and Darkness

Image: Square Enix / Disney

The many distinctions between these heroes reinforce an excellent story preoccupied with identity: who these characters are, who they hope to become, and who their teachers expect them to be.

Terra’s fall feels a lot like that of Anakin Skywalker; he’s a hero-turned-villain, but Master Xehanort does more than tempt him with power. He deliberately cultivates Terra’s insecurity about the darkness inside him before stealing his body. Master Eraqus makes that manipulation possible because of his own dogmatic belief that darkness must be eradicated rather than understood. Upon learning that Xehanort intends to use Ventus to forge the catastrophic χ-blade, Eraqus decides that killing his own student is the righteous solution.

Later games prove how badly Eraqus misunderstands the human heart. Riku becomes one of the series’ most powerful and grounded characters only after he stops denying his darkness and learns to wield it without letting it define him. Terra never receives that guidance. He has been taught to interpret part of himself as evidence of failure, which proves fruitful for Xehanort to manipulate.

Image: Square Enix / Disney

Aqua alone earns the title of Keyblade Master at the game’s outset, and she spends the rest of the story proving why she deserves it. Her mastery isn’t merely a rank or measure of power. It positions her as the most experienced and wise of the three, which in turn makes her responsible for Terra and Ventus. After Ventus destroys the χ-blade and falls into a deathlike sleep, Aqua transforms their ruined home into Castle Oblivion to keep his body safe. When the possessed Terra begins sinking into darkness, she dives after him, sends him back to the Realm of Light, and takes his place in the abyss. Time after time, her competence empowers her to make the game’s greatest sacrifices.

Ventus’ fractured heart also leads to one of the franchise’s strangest mysteries. After Xehanort tears the darkness out of Ventus to create Vanitas, Sora’s newborn heart reaches out and helps fill in what is missing. That connection gives Vanitas the face of an older Sora, producing one of the series’ most unsettling reveals. When Ventus’ heart breaks again at the end of the game, it takes refuge within Sora.

This phenomenon is also why Roxas, the Nobody created years later from Sora’s body we meet at the start of KH2, looks like Ventus instead of Sora. It also helps explain why Sora and Roxas can each wield two Keyblades: They’re both connected to two distinct hearts and therefore can wield the weapons of both Sora and Ventus. Underneath all the talk of hearts, Nobodies, and metaphysical nonsense lies a surprisingly affecting idea. Appearance, memory, power, and identity can pass between people whose hearts are connected, and just because you’re a Nobody, it doesn’t mean you can’t be a somebody. Roxas may have Ventus’ face and spiky light-brown haircut, but he still becomes his own person.

The connection also gives Sora greater definition. He isn’t the most disciplined or technically accomplished Keyblade wielder. He’s also, quite frankly, kind of an idiot (albeit a lovable one). Aqua earns mastery before Birth by Sleep truly begins. At the start of KH3, Riku eventually achieves it, while it seems almost impossible for Sora (even though the qualification are murky at best). Sora’s unique power is his willingness to open his heart to other people and connect with them, and all that began when he unknowingly sheltered Ventus and essentially prevented him from dying outright.

This “side story” feels essential to Kingdom Hearts 4

Birth by Sleep was easy to dismiss as a handheld side story in 2010, particularly in a series that scatters seemingly essential chapters across the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, mobile phones, and Nintendo 3DS. Thankfully, all of it is so much easier to play today. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix is included in Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, available on PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, and the Epic Games Store, with a cloud version on Nintendo Switch. The remaster presents the game in HD at a smoother frame rate and includes additional battles along with a playable Secret Episode following Aqua through the Realm of Darkness. A new Kingdom Hearts Collection [I–III] release is also coming to Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows on Oct. 8.

That makes this an ideal time to reconsider the game’s reputation as supplementary homework. Newcomers alienated by the franchise’s more childish Disney excursions can begin with its earliest major story and most human conflict. Returning players preparing for KH4 can revisit three heroes who have finally reentered the fight. The Disney worlds are still here, but for once, they are visiting Kingdom Hearts, rather than the other way around.