RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Disney and Square Enix showed up for the Deep Dive into Kingdom Hearts panel at D23 2026 to show off an extended gameplay trailer for Kingdom Hearts 4 that features a first look at a playable King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.
No one expected Sora to show up in the world of Pixar's Coco, Keyblade in hand, when the legendary crossover franchise made a surprise appearance during yesterday's Disney Entertainment Showcase. That only made Mickey, Donald, and Goofy showing up as playable characters in today's new four-minute trailer even more of a shock.
Gameplay for Goofy and Donald seems to mostly fall in line with what we've come to expect from Sora. Outside of one segment that saw the two Disney icons sledding through the Underworld, they can be seen using abilities and teaming up to fight off Heartless enemies.
King Mickey, meanwhile, has received some special attention. The first clip shows him walking around from a third-person point of view before switching to origami-like visuals featuring 2D and 3D gameplay. It looks heavily inspired by Nintendo's Paper Mario, though how long all of these sections will be remains to be seen.
Another surprise saved for today's lengthier look at the game is Riku, who shows up in the video's final moments. He doesn't stick around for too long before the video comes to an end, but it looks like he'll be teaming up with Sora for at least part of Kingdom Hearts 4's events.
Elsewhere during the panel, series creator Tetsuya Nomura refuted claims that the game would eventually be delayed outside of its 2027 launch window. It's been a big weekend for Kingdom Hearts fans, as Disney and Square Enix have also confirmed plans to release an anime series based on the franchise at some point in the future.
Kingdom Hearts 4 is still on track to launch in its late 2027 release window for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S. While we wait for updates, be sure to check out everything announced from the panel here .
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
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