The Kingdom Hearts franchise wouldn't be where it is today without Final Fantasy — specifically, Final Fantasy VII. Released at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Final Fantasy VII Remake centers on Cloud Strife, a former SOLDIER working as a mercenary for the eco-terrorist group Avalanche. At the request of his childhood friend Tifa Lockheart, Cloud must prevent the Shinra Electric Power Company from exploiting the planet's Mako — its life source — for profit. Gameplay involves spell casting, team-based combat, and an enhanced Active Time Battle (ATB) system that allows the use of special attacks, magic, and items. It has everything a Kingdom Hearts fan could want, plus additions to certain characters' stories. Available on: PS5, PS4, PC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERgrFVhL-n4

The World Ends With You

The World Ends With You is the goth/emo cousin of Kingdom Hearts. The Nintendo DS RPG was created by Square Enix in collaboration with Jupiter, the developer behind Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and characters were designed by Tetsuya Nomura, the creator of Kingdom Hearts, blending alternative and Y2K style. The plot involves Neku Sakuraba, an antisocial teenager from Shibuya, and his deceased peers being forced to play the Reapers' Game over the course of a week (or more) to determine whether they should return to life or transcend to a higher spiritual plane. Each mission has a time limit, but it's not tied to the passage of real time for the player, and certain sections are locked until you complete a nearby Reaper's requests. Fighting the Noise creatures that Neku scans is rhythmic, and your game's efficiency depends on the pins and clothing you wear. It's a clever design scheme that imparts some life lessons along the way. Neku and his crew even visited Sora and Riku in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. Available on: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Switch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqy444_Cfyk

Epic Mickey

Directed by Warren Spector in collaboration with Walt Disney Animation Studios, Epic Mickey blends unexpectedly macabre design with Disney's expected color palette, scattering pieces of Disney history throughout. The game revolves around Mickey Mouse as he saves Wasteland, a world created by Yen Sid where forgotten characters and concepts live — like the obscure Disney character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit — after accidentally destroying it with his brush. Just as King Mickey wields the Keyblade in Kingdom Hearts, this version of Mickey wields a brush that grants him the power to draw or erase objects to help players through levels. Enemies can be dealt with by erasing them from existence or befriending them. The Wii game was Disney's attempt to reinvent Mickey from a pleasant and cheerful character into a more mischievous and adventurous one. It gave Disney the opportunity to use Oswald for the first time since 1927, after buying him back from Universal in 2006. Available on: Nintendo Wii https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkgHSTqOnj4

NieR: Automata

Developed by PlatinumGames, the studio behind Bayonetta and Astral Chain, NieR: Automata is still related to the Kingdom Hearts series by being published by Square Enix. Set thousands of years after the original, NieR: Automata contains branching stories about a post-apocalyptic proxy war between man-made androids and an army of Machines from an alien world. Automata's group of heroes includes combat android 2B, scanner android 9S, and renegade prototype A2, who navigate the desolate landscape to find value in life and understand why people kill in the first place. The plot is as convoluted as Kingdom Hearts', and hack-and-slash combat takes time to master, but the good news is that you get help from a flying robot named Pod, whose attacks range from simple shots to heavy hammer strikes. Not bad company for traversing a dark world, right? Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJxNhJ8fjFk

Final Fantasy XV

Like Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy XV went through a challenging development cycle. It started as a PS3 spin-off titled Final Fantasy Versus 13, only to have its scope and name changed to be the next mainline Final Fantasy for PS4 and Xbox One. The plot revolves around Noctis, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Lucis, as he's accompanied by his friends to Altissia, where he's scheduled to marry Lunafreya, only to embark on a mission to rescue the Crystal of Niflheim and save the world of Eos from eternal darkness. Final Fantasy XV's battle system was inspired by Kingdom Hearts 2, with Noctis' moves limited to basic attacks, defense, warp-striking, and item usage — all while fighting in the current environment rather than transitioning to a separate arena. Eos can be explored on foot, by Chocobo, or by the Regalia, Noctis' royal car that lets you play music from across the Final Fantasy series, including Afrojack's "Braver." A collaboration between Hikaru Utada and Afrojack — when? Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, PC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8lRv-GXoTo

Persona 5 Strikers

Persona 5 Strikers is like Kingdom Hearts in the sense that you're tasked with saving people's hearts from complete corruption. A year after the events of the original Persona 5, Joker and the other Phantom Thieves of Hearts have their summer vacation plans disrupted by an investigation into mysterious events involving people and their shadow selves. Just as Sora wields multiple Keyblades, Joker wields multiple personas, which he can acquire as random drops or by defeating mini-bosses in dungeons. Persona 5 Strikers thrives on action-based combat and hack-and-slash gameplay, and just like in Kingdom Hearts, active group members can be swapped out with waiting members outside of battle. Available on: PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH0-THtNjTE