Kotaku Announces Year-Long “Guiding Key” Playalong to Replay All Kingdom Hearts Games Before Kingdom Hearts IV

Kotaku has unveiled Guiding Key, a year-long communal playthrough series designed to walk readers through the entire 25-year Kingdom Hearts franchise in the lead-up to Kingdom Hearts IV. The initiative, announced this week by Kotaku staff writers alongside friends from around the video game industry, invites anyone interested to replay the series piece by piece and discuss it along the way, culminating in everyone playing the upcoming entry together when it launches in late 2027.

The project arrives at a convenient moment for fans. The Kingdom Hearts Collection [I-III], which bundles nearly every mainline game onto modern hardware including Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, is set to launch on Thursday, October 8. That release gives players an unprecedentedly easy way to jump back into the saga of Sora and his friends after years when several entries were difficult or impossible to access outside their original consoles.

A Book Club for the Kingdom Hearts Saga

The concept follows a book club format, with each installment chronicling the staff’s journey through the story as it unfolds across decades of Square Enix and Disney storytelling. Rather than producing polished reviews, the series aims to be free-flowing in tone while still offering readers an anchor for their own playthroughs. Each post will open up avenues of discussion and critique, turning what could be a solitary replay into something more communal.

I want to replay all of Kingdom Hearts. I haven’t revisited the earlier games in a long time, and I figured with Kingdom Hearts IV roughly a year and change away, I have enough time to take this lengthy trip down memory lane that Disney and Square have been building for 25 years.

Kotaku writer announcing Guiding Key

The author notes that playing through such a sprawling series is itself a commitment, and nothing holds people more accountable to one another than shared participation. By inviting readers to submit questions and topics while highlighting their comments throughout the run, Kotaku hopes to transform what might otherwise be an overwhelming backlog into a shared experience.

A Rough Schedule Leading to 2027

The planned schedule spreads each game across monthly posts, with the mainline numbered titles given three months apiece to accommodate their length. The run begins in October 2026 with the original Kingdom Hearts and moves through the franchise’s chronology rather than release order where it makes sense.

Kingdom Hearts will be covered from October through December 2026, followed by Chain of Memories in January 2027. Kingdom Hearts II spans February to April 2027, while 358/2 Days and Re:coded land in May. Birth by Sleep follows in June 2027, with Dream Drop Distance and A Fragmentary Passage in July. The mobile-only Union χ Dark Road will be watched through rather than played in August, before Kingdom Hearts III and its Re:Mind DLC take August to October. Melody of Memory rounds out the catalog in November 2027, with the group finally reaching Kingdom Hearts IV later that year.

The schedule is expected to shift as new game releases compete for the writers’ time, but each post will include a quick list of sections being covered so readers can track their progress. Because some entries are not readily playable on modern platforms, the team plans to watch cutscenes for games like 358/2 Days and Re:coded rather than attempt full playthroughs.

Looking Ahead

The first introductory episode of Guiding Key is scheduled to go up Thursday, October 8, coinciding with the launch of the Kingdom Hearts Collection [I-III] on Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. For those who cannot keep pace with the full schedule, Kotaku emphasizes that following along with the writing will still be worthwhile even without playing every game.

The effort represents one of the most ambitious fan-facing replay projects tied to a single franchise in recent memory. As the countdown to Kingdom Hearts IV continues, Guiding Key offers both longtime fans and newcomers a structured way to absorb 25 years of storytelling before Sora returns on screen once more.