Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece Review – Optimized for Steam Deck Glory

Salal Awan June 21, 2024

The Kingdom Hearts series had made its long-awaited debut on PC through the Epic Games Store. It has taken even longer for the series to become available on Steam, one of the most popular PC storefronts. This delay is significant because playing games natively on the Steam Deck requires a certain level of official compatibility, which Steam ensures. This eliminates the need for users to tweak settings or use workaround methods to run the Epic Games Store versions of Kingdom Hearts on the Steam Deck.

Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece is a comprehensive collection that includes almost every major Kingdom Hearts game released to date, with the notable exception of Melody of Memory. Although Melody of Memory, a spin-off focused on rhythm-based gameplay, remains exclusive to the Epic Games Store, all other major titles are now available on Steam.

What distinguishes this late release on Steam is the significant improvement in compatibility and performance, particularly on the Steam Deck. All the included games are now natively playable on the Steam Deck without requiring any special tweaks or adjustments. Even Kingdom Hearts 3, known for its demanding graphics, runs smoothly at 60 FPS on the Steam Deck.

Having previously played the Kingdom Hearts series on PC through the Epic Games Store, I was curious about how the Steam release performed on Valve’s handheld device, the Steam Deck. I was pleasantly surprised by these ports, as Square Enix has streamlined the settings to such an extent that they function almost as native releases. No additional tweaks are needed to achieve acceptable performance, except Kingdom Hearts 3, which is locked to 30 FPS by default. Adjusting this limit in the settings menu allowed the game to run at 60 FPS. While there could be occasional performance drops during high-render scenes, these were minimal and did not significantly impact gameplay.

Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece includes two different collections along with Kingdom Hearts 3 and its significant post-game DLC, ReMind. The first collection is Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5+2.5 ReMix. This collection features Kingdom Hearts 1, Kingdom Hearts 2, Birth by Sleep, and Re: Chain of Memories. It also includes all the story cutscenes from 358/2 Days and Re: Coded, which were originally released as lower-budget handheld games. Although these games were not fully remastered or remade for the modern consoles, the included cutscenes are sufficient for understanding their narratives.

Playing through the first Kingdom Hearts collection provides thorough preparation for Kingdom Hearts 3 and its DLC. Additionally, players can further immerse themselves with Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, which includes two key titles: Dream Drop Distance and the short prologue, Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage. Dream Drop Distance is a remastered version of a game initially released on the Nintendo 3DS, while A Fragmentary Passage serves as a brief introduction to the mechanics and story elements of Kingdom Hearts 3, bridging the narrative gap between previous installments.

Playing through the first Kingdom Hearts, it is evident that the game feels dated in several aspects. Nevertheless, it still boasts an outstanding soundtrack, making it worthwhile to revisit for the nostalgia of its original PlayStation 2 release. In my experience, the game performed flawlessly, with no significant issues. This holds for Kingdom Hearts 2 and the subsequent titles in the series as well. The controls are well-suited for these games, and, notably, the ports support an unlocked frame rate, enhancing playability on higher-performance PCs. Although I did not test the frame rate limits on older games using the Steam Deck, there is no apparent reason why it should not handle up to 90 FPS.

Kingdom Hearts 3, the most modern game in the collection, also plays beautifully. While there are occasional minor frame drops, these do not significantly impact gameplay, and the game runs smoothly without major stutters often associated with the Unreal Engine. The cutscenes are visually stunning, though I found it peculiar that there was no option to toggle HDR on the Steam Deck OLED. This may be a bug or require adjustments in other settings, as the HDR option was available but greyed out in my case.

Overall, I wholeheartedly recommend Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece for PC. It is one of the better ports released by Square Enix, with the games optimized to run perfectly on the Steam Deck. Given the previous disappointment over the lack of native handheld ports for the Kingdom Hearts games, this collection fulfills the dream of portable Kingdom Hearts gameplay without relying on cloud streaming.

Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece Game Information

Price: $89.99
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Platform: PC (Reviewed)
Disclaimer: A review code was given by the publisher

Score

Summary

The release of Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece on Steam is a significant improvement, especially for Steam Deck users, offering better compatibility and performance without the need for extensive tweaks.