Summary
InKingdom Hearts, the story of every single game - console, portable, mobile, or anywhere else - matters. Don’t listen to those who tell you otherwise. Even ReCoded, a game that merely features a data version of Sora, rather than the real one, has details important to the future of the series. If you don’t keep up, you’re going to be at least a little bit confused.
Butwith Missing Link confirmed to be cancelled, it’s left many fans wondering: what’s going to happen to the game’s story? Judging from the trailer and two beta tests the game had, the story did look promising. Itintroduced new characters, Freya, Remus, and Nept (who are members of the Baroque Society), the concept of ‘drifters’, and the ability to travel to the astral plane for the first time.
In a2022 interview with Game Informer, Nomura even confirmed that Missing Link would be closely tied to KH4 and the series going forward:
Compared to our past mobile releases, it’s a lot closer to the series and also connected in many ways to Kingdom Hearts 4. The easiest way to get more new information and hints about Kingdom Hearts 4 would be first to play Missing Link.
Is It All Just Going To Be Folded Into KH4?
Clearly, everything that was planned for Missing Link was going to be important. So where is all that going to fit now? Unless another bridging game is announced, or Missing Link is somehow reworked entirely, it seems the only place for this story to go is into KH4, and hopefully not to its detriment.
One of the biggest problems fans had with KH3 was its pacing, and how it handled bringing together the series’ various storylines and characters from a number of different games. There was a lot to wrap up, and not a lot of time to do it.
With Missing Link and its story now being scrapped, I’m hoping (with all my heart) that we don’t see a repeat.
Maybe Missing Link Should Stay Missing
Kingdom Hearts is at its best when it has a concise narrative to tell - 358/2 Days is the perfect example of that - and Kingdom Hearts 4, starting a new saga, is the perfect opportunity to create that kind of story-driven, intimate magic again. While it has some things to wrap up (what the heck is in the black box?), it has all the room it needs to tell its own new story. It doesn’t need Missing Link’s baggage.
While it’s sad to see Missing Link’s potential go to waste, I’d rather lose that than squander what KH4 has to offer. Maybe we’ll see Missing Link’s story in another form in the future, but I hope its cancellation doesn’t mean KH4 has to pick up all the pieces.
