Image credit: Square Enix

Footage of the cancelled Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link has appeared online, just over a year since development on the game ended.

This footage, hosted over on social media site X and embedded below, seemingly shows the cinematic intro of the game. A squad of astronaut-looking characters drop into a dark watery area before being assailed by a giant Heartless. They then soar into action, flying at a giant monster with jetpacks and striking it with keyblades. You can watch it below.

While short, this footage brings up a bunch of big questions surrounding what actually is going on here. Not much is actually known about the game. We know it was a mobile game that began development in 2022. In terms of where it would have existed on the bulky Kingdom Hearts timeline, it would have connected Kingdom Hearts Union X and Kingdom Hearts Dark Road. It would have focused on the "blank era", which largely remains a mystery.

Here's the Switch 2 announcement trailer for Kingdom Hearts 4.Watch on YouTube

The game was cancelled last year as the development team believed it would be "difficult for us to offer a service that players would find satisfactory over a long period of time". Since then, Square Enix's focus related to this series has been solely spent on Kingdom Hearts 4.

That game, which has been largely absent from the public sphere over the past few years, has seen increased movement recently. This includes a Switch 2 trailer shown at a Nintendo Direct in June, which showed off new gameplay to much acclaim.

While it's nice to see a little bit of what Missing Link was going to be, it is bittersweet to see this footage. What we see looks awesome and wild, so seeing it piecemeal makes me long to see more. Who knows? Maybe that wish will be granted one day.

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