Kingdom Hearts IV will feature a relatively limited number of worlds, but director Tetsuya Nomura says this is a deliberate choice as the development team focuses on making each location more detailed and expansive. Nomura discussed the game’s world design in an exclusive interview with Famitsu following the Kingdom Hearts IV panel at D23 2026.
Nomura explained that the team is putting significantly more detail into individual worlds, which has resulted in a lower overall number of locations. “This is the case with this game. That’s why the total number of worlds isn’t very large,” Nomura said.
Some fans may have expected the panel to reveal more locations, but Nomura explained that showing worlds too quickly would leave the team with less material to reveal in the period leading up to release. As a result, some locations that were originally planned for a later reveal were shown earlier, with the developers keeping other information for future announcements.
Nomura also stressed that the worlds shown at D23 represent only a small portion of what Kingdom Hearts IV will contain. The number of locations revealed so far should therefore not be taken as an indication of the game’s complete world selection.
The recently revealed Coco world provides an example of the more detailed approach. Kingdom Hearts IV co-director Yasushi Yasue described its city as an extremely large three-dimensional environment designed around exploration and traversal.
Players will be able to move vertically through the city and use various attractions to navigate the environment. Yasue also teased additional details about the journey through the world that the team is not yet ready to reveal.
Coco will also influence gameplay, with Sora able to use a guitar during combat alongside his Keyblade. Musical elements will be incorporated into battles, while cooperative techniques involving characters from the world will also feature.
This approach suggests that Kingdom Hearts IV is focusing on making individual worlds substantial environments rather than simply increasing the number of locations. The development team is also holding back some worlds and details for future announcements.
Kingdom Hearts IV is currently scheduled to release in the latter half of 2027. Nomura has said the game will not be delayed, while Yasue described development as progressing more smoothly than at any previous point in the series.
