In retrospect, I probably should have expected this. I’m a middle-aged man (with almost zero Disney nostalgia) playing Kingdom Hearts for the first time. I’m so far removed from this game’s core demographic, I might as well reside on an entirely different planet. And yet I played it... and yeah, it just wasn't for me.

So yeah. I found this one to be an interminable slog, with mind-numbingly repetitive combat, clunky mechanics, miserable platforming, claustrophobic level design, and a camera that skittered around in a nausea-inducing loop that often sent me to the medicine cabinet, looking for Dramamine. I admire how earnest and genuinely affecting some parts of it are (particularly the ending, which had me blasting “Simple and Clean” on repeat for weeks), but getting to those moments (and hell, finishing the game) often felt like an absolute chore.

At the same time, I'm vaguely curious about picking up Kingdom Hearts II sometime soon? Maybe that's a dumb idea.