Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance

Genre: Action-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance is an Action-RPG first released on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012. A remastered version of the game was later released as a part of the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue Compilation on PlayStation 4 in 2017, which was ported to Xbox One in 2020, and ported to PC in 2021. A streaming-only version of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue was also released on Nintendo Switch in 2021, but as of this writing in 2022, the Nintendo 3DS remains the only way to play this game in dedicated handheld form without resorting to streaming.

You would think that a franchise combining Square Enix’s popular characters with the family-friendly worlds of Disney characters would aim for something simple and accessible, but by now it’s well-known that Kingdom Hearts is very much the opposite of that – its story is such a convoluted mess of characters, factions, secret identities and whatnot, that I suspect even diehard fans of the franchise still struggle to understand it all. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll just note that Kingdom Hearts follows series protagonist Sora and his at times troubled friend Riku as they take something called the Mark of Mastery exam denoting the two of them as true Keyblade Masters and protecting two parallel versions of worlds in preparation for the return of series antagonist Xehanort… I think. Look, I’m trying my best here.

Anyway, where mainline Kingdom Hearts games tend to follow the trio of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, Dream Drop Distance separates Sora and Riku from this group, with each being sent to their own version of each of the worlds they’re meant to protect. That’s not to say this game is distancing itself from its popular Square Enix and Disney franchise ties, though – right from the start, players run into characters from The World Ends With You, and the game features worlds based on Disney films including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tron: Legacy, Pinnochio, and others.

While Dream Drop Distance is yet another “interquel” or “side-story” in a series full of them (It takes place chronologically after Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded and leads into Kingdom Hearts III), but a lot of effort has gone into ensuring that it doesn’t look like a lesser affair. Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance is gorgeous on the Nintendo 3DS. It features detailed 3D models with fantastic animation, gorgeous and colorful environments, and the game makes full use of stereoscopic 3D to provide players with plenty of spectacle. The series’ fantastic music and superb voice acting is also present here, with many Disney characters (though not all) being voiced by their regular voice actors.

However, while the presentation and story here is very much in line with the Kingdom Hearts series as a whole, the gameplay aims for something different. It starts with Action-RPG mechanics that are roughly similar to the mainline games, but with special abilities shuffling through a “deck”, a mechanic that seems to be a callback to the Game Boy Advance game Chain of Memories. In addition to this, there’s the new “Drop” system, which pushes players to swap back and forth between Sora and Riku regularly (a mechanic that slows down the game’s pacing and that can get old pretty quickly), there’s a Dream Eater system where players can raise Pokemon-like monsters to fight by their side and power them up, and a “Flowmotion” system, where players can dash into environmental objects and some enemies to gain access to more powerful moves.

It’s… a lot. They could have halved the mechanics they push into this game and expanded on them and it still would have made for a full and unique experience. With everything the game throws at you, it is extremely easy to find yourself confused. Thankfully you don’t have to engage with all of these mechanics – flowmotion is both super-satisfying and powerful enough that you can lean on it more heavily and let the other gameplay elements take a back seat. However, the clutter of so many different gameplay mechanics definitely makes this a dizzying experience all the same.

Another element I have to mention here is the game’s camera. I get that being on a handheld system with fewer buttons limits just how much could be done with the camera, but even so it’s pretty frustrating here. Having a Circle Pad Pro or a New Nintendo 3DS for a second analog input does help, but even then, you’ll feel like the camera struggles to keep up with the fact pace of the action, and in particular it seems too close to that action when you get surrounded by enemies, often finding yourself jumped from behind that camera.

Still, while Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance lives up to its series’ reputation for being hopelessly convoluted in its story and compounds that by being needlessly convoluted in its gameplay, it also lives up to its series’ reputation for being a massive, impressive Action-RPG that’s nothing if not ambitious. As much as I gripe about this game’s frustrating camera, convoluted plot and gameplay, and excessive mechanics, I am still enthralled by its amazing spectacle, its wonderful depth, and the thought and quality that went into seemingly every corner of the game. If you’re a fan of Action-RPGs and especially if you’re a fan of this franchise looking to play Kingdom Hearts on the go, Dream Drop Distance is a must-have.

tl;dr – Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance is the 3DS entry in Square Enix’s series that combines its own stable of popular characters with Disney’s instantly-recognizable franchises. This is no scaled-down experience either – Dream Drop Distance features the same sort of grand spectacle and deep gameplay as console entries in the series… as well as the same sort of convoluted storytelling. In addition, there are some ambitious (and at times confusing) game mechanics here to shake things up. Add in a frustrating camera, and you have a game that’s at turns bewildering and delightful. It’s far from perfect, but this is nevertheless a delightfully ambitious entry in the franchise, and one that both series fans and Action-RPG lovers should consider a must-have.

Grade: B+

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