Kingdom Hearts Re:Mind DLC Review
A worthy addition to the main Kingdom Hearts 3 story
Kingdom Hearts Re:Mind is a paid DLC. It expands on the story of Kingdom Hearts 3 during the moments before the final battle.
Now before we get into the review I want to make clear that this will only be reviewing the paid DLC and it’s contents. The free update that came along this morning, hours before the DLC was released at midnight tonight is covered in another post.
That out of the way, onto the review!
Plot
The plot of Re:Mind is pretty simple. It basically tells the story of what happened to Sora during the final battle of KH3 as he worked to save Kairi and bring her back.
We see how he does it and learn more about the Organisation’s plans. It goes more in depth to the story of how every Kingdom Hearts game is linked and everything is now coming to a close. But that’s only briefly mentioned and only slightly touched on.
At it heart this is the Sora and Kairi story. And more specifically what Sora does to save her after her supposed “death.”
Gameplay
The gameplay of Re:Mind is just the same as KH3 with a major difference: you can choose who you want to play as in major battles. Depending on how high a level you’ve raised Sora to this can make the main part of the DLC either easier or harder.
I played as Riku once and found it super challenging. Then switched to my beefed up Sora and every battle was a breeze. You can decide if you want to challenge yourself or not.
Initially you face off against the organisation members in the maze again, just like in the normal story but with the option to choose characters, and new cutscenes thrown in. There are also bosses that show up between these bosses you have to fight in order to protect each of Sora’s friends’ hearts.
There’s a big battle near the end where you need to play as all 7 guardians of light one after the other which is fantastic! Having them all help each other, dodging and guarding at the right moment. It’s classic Kingdom Hearts turned up to a million.
You can explore Scala Ad Caelum at some point in the game as you search for pieces of Kairi’s missing heart. These pieces are found by winning battles and completing side quests that aren’t all that challenging at all but they are fun. I’d say the exploration of Scala Ad Caelum is the key thing here.
The final boss is fun and a challenge, especially if you choose to play as Kairi and not Sora.
I will say that alot of people will probably point out how linear the gameplay is most of the time but it didn’t bother me at all. The straight forward approach to the gameplay made sense considering the storyline (which I won’t get too deep into because it’s major spoilers.) It’s not linear for the sake of it, it’s linear because it makes sense to be.
Extra content
Even after the main DLC part is over there’s more. You can start another mode which delves deeper into the story of what happened after KH3. Even eventually end up fighting the data versions of Organisation XIII. These battles are not for the faint hearted. Even with buffed up Sora I had a real task on my hands, which is fantastic. There’s a good extra 5 to 6 hours on there on top of the 3 to 4 hours for the main DLC.
Overall thoughts
Re:Mind made me fall in love with KH3 all over again. Sure. Like most KH fans I had my grumbles when it was first released. But those issues were quickly and expertly solved. This DLC is the cherry on the cake.
This is exactly what companies should be aiming for when they release DLC. If you’re not massively invested in KH story and don’t want to do the extra battles you don’t have to. It’s purely optional. You miss out on nothing if you don’t buy it. But that’s not gonna stop me recommending it.
None of it feels half baked or rushed. It feels like a ton of work has gone into it. You can see it even in the smallest of cutscenes.
Take heed video game developers this is how you do DLC and not treat your fanbase like they’re stupid.
