Kingdom Hearts 3 arrives in 2018, to fans’ relief

Kingdom Hearts 3 will launch sometime in 2018, a new trailer for the game confirms.

Director Tetsuya Nomura debuted the footage during D23, a biennial conference devoted to all things Disney. Buried at the tail-end was two words fans have longed for since Kingdom Hearts 3 was announced four years ago: “coming 2018.”

We don’t know much more beyond that, of course. But even a release window is enough to sate Kingdom Hearts fans, who will have waited 12 years for the game. Kingdom Hearts 2 launched in 2005. The series’ first entry hit PlayStation 2 in 2002, 15 years ago; Square Enix has celebrated its anniversary throughout the year, including with a trailer during E3 2017.

The 2016 release of similarly missing-in-action, highly anticipated PlayStation games only stoked Kingdom Hearts’ fanbase even further. With The Last Guardian and Final Fantasy 15 — another Square Enix production — finally out on PlayStation 4 after a decade of diminishing patience from fans, Kingdom Hearts 3 remains the final holy grail for fans of Japanese games.

Admittedly, some remain skeptical that the game will arrive on time:

Of course, Square Enix reserves the right to delay Kingdom Hearts 3. But the latest trailer gives us hope that we’ll finally get to check out the game next year. Now that we know that Pixar has a presence, bringing a Toy Story-themed world to the franchise, we’re even more impatient for the role-playing game than ever. Watch that new trailer below to see why.