TheKingdom Heartsfranchise inspires a lot of passion in its fans. For whatever reason, the crossover between Disney and Square Enix properties really strikes a chord with some people. A combination of nostalgic animated fun and early 2000s edge draws the community back in no matter what direction the series takes. Most ofKingdom Heartsis now available on all major platforms, even if the PC and Switch versions aren’t perfect. The series is the most widely available it has ever been, and everyone is enjoying the old games in the wait forKingdom Hearts 4.
To help in those efforts, mod production has gone into overdrive. There have been mods swapping models on emulated PS2 copies for years, and native PC ports have opened the doors for so much more to be done.Kingdom Hearts 3, being the last mainline entrywith the most stable port, has tons of small patches that add new attacks or smooth out aspects of the game like Improved Movement and Re:Style. While those are worth celebrating, they don’t completely alter the playthroughs in the way some other mods do. TheKingdom Heartsfanbase is as active as ever on all fronts, and the mods they’ve come up with are nothing short of game changing.
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Kingdom Hearts 3 Multiplayer Mod
One of the best reasons for a casual fan to getKH3’s ReMind DLC is the chance to play as the extended allied cast. Riku, Aqua, Roxas, and Kairi are all playable alongside Sora, but only in certain story segments. Mods can fix this, and they can bring Sora’s other friends along for the ride. However, this doesn’t become remarkable until one sees several players bringing different characters into battle together. The upcomingKingdom Hearts 3Multiplayer Mod by Jackmoonward and Luseu comes with a custom character selection menu, multiple new PvP modes, and the expected co-op play with splitscreen and potentially more than two players. Asmultiplayer is rare inKingdom Hearts, this is a welcome addition.
KH2FM Vanitas Mod and KH2FM: Project Aqua Mod
Even with large-scale custom characters in development like Xion and Yozora, playing ascharacters beyond Sora inKingdom Heartsis nothing new. Mods for that are plentiful thanks to the old PS2 modding scene. It is from that very source that two of the most impressiveKingdom Heartsmods emerged, those being theKingdom Hearts 2 Final MixVanitas Mod and theKH2FM: Project Aqua Mod. These are both made by Xaddgx Absol Brasse, and offer entirely unique characters with custom allies, Drive Forms, and postgame content to challenge. Project Aqua has not been released yet, and it’s unlikely that either mod will be brought to the PCKingdom Hearts 2, but they will remain freely available for those with the hardware to run them.
KH2 Garden of Assemblage Randomizer
Next comes one of the most well-known ofKingdom Heartsmods, that being the Garden of Assemblage Randomizer mod. This project was formed by the union of two PS2KH2FMprojects, a randomizer from Valaxor and a fast travel hub made by sonicshadowsilver2 using the room where the Data Organization 13 battles were accessed. The resulting mod became a speedrunning sensation and was successfully ported over to PCKH2. Now, equivalents are being worked on by various modders forKingdom Hearts 1and3. As there are countless run options are available after several years of communal development, Garden of Assemblage will continue to stand as one of the more influentialrandomizer mods.
Kingdom Hearts Re:Fixed
New ways to play are great, but it’s important that the base experience is the best it can be. TopazTK’sKingdom HeartsRe:Fixed endeavors to not only bring the PC ports up to par, but enhance them in several ways. Right now, the mod only applies toKH1 Final Mix,KH2 Final Mix, andBirth by Sleep Final Mix, thoughRe:Chain of MemoriesandDream Drop Distancecould receive support in the future. Re:Fixed does not alter the content of the games, but instead ensures that every game will run at a smooth 60 FPS or beyond. Frequent auto-saves with extra slots, dual voice track options, Discord Rich Presence integration and Open Broadcaster Software optimization have all been added. This, combined with a number of other tweaks for each game and a general increase in stability, makes Re:Fixed a must-have mod for anyone doing aPC playthrough of the olderKingdom Heartstitles.
