This review contains spoilers
Kingdom Hearts Union χ is no longer available to play. It now only exists as an offline Theater Mode to view the story scenes, with its companion game Dark Road only being playable offline too. I’d make a joke about this being the ultimate example of exploiting FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), but this is a fine way to experience Union χ Dark Road’s story. Anyone who wants to brush up on the story before the next arc in Kingdom Hearts can just download it now. Still, I’d like to reflect on what was lost.
I'll start by talking about Union χ's half of the gameplay, since it came first and is easily the worse of the two games. I’d been looking for a free turn-based RPG to play on mobile, so I'm glad the game went that direction. Actually playing it, though? For a while it felt like there was no skill-curve. I either won each battle immediately or lost, based on the medals used in battle. The best medals were acquired randomly by spending an in-game currency, which was the game’s gacha. I came to the game pretty late in 2019 however. Spending on the banners that were up, using the small amount of currency the game deemed to give me for free, gave me ludicrously powerful medals. Those medals made the early-game missions so easy that they became tedious. It wasn’t like the act of playing out the missions and battles were that fun, as it just involved activating each medal in the order which they’re set. Thankfully, later missions, as well as the PvP and PvE modes, brought enough difficulty that thinking about which medals to use became necessary. The game went from being about tearing through everything with one powerful medal to using a sequence of powerful medals that made each successive one even more powerful. Until those medals stopped being effective against newer challenges. Then I had to go get new ones.
The gameplay’s core engagement came from managing the medals before each mission. Finding the right combinations of abilities and skills could easily destroy any Heartless or triumph over other players. It reminded me of Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories and its collectable cards. It was about finding the right strategy with the resources I had. Seeing other players’ load-outs helped me learn what I could/should be doing. Unlike Chain of Memories, though, there were so many other stats for the player to manage that it made the game feel over-designed. Keyblade level, sub-slots, player level, Spirit equipment, and so on. Union χ was one of the most cluttered games I've played.
Dark Road stripped away the excessive mechanics, which I find ironic. Dark Road brought more active gameplay by having the player choose cards from a hand to attack while the enemy attacks back. The act of quickly selecting the cards to get in as many attacks as possible made the act of battling more skill-focused. With the right cards, though, the player could turn on auto-battle, and the game instantly became an Idle game. Idle games benefit from having many mechanics to manage. All the management happened when not in battle, however. The only thing the player could do while idling was either leave the battle or turn idle off to choose cards manually. That said, leaving or losing battles led to a satisfying game loop of exiting a battle, spending the won BP to level up and my jewels to get new cards, and reentering battle to see how much longer I can idle. Dark Road was not the best idle game by any regard, but as an Idle-RPG hybrid, and another means for obtaining (or spending) microtransaction currency, it was satisfying enough.
Oh yeah, and there's the Classic Kingdom minigames. They're fine.
The visuals are unimpressive for mobile games nowadays, but the game wasn't unappealing to look at. It probably looked fine for a 2013 browser game. The main benefit to the simple 2D visuals was that it likely made developing outfits for the player character significantly easier. And now, the game features an insane amount of cool, cute, silly, and often garish costumes to choose from. When the game was alive, the outfits also had gameplay bonuses tied to them, resulting in many players looking like a mess. They dressed themselves for the sake of the grind rather than any aesthetic considerations. Most outfits needed in-game currency to unlock, and some even required an actual up-front payment, so those outfits could also serve as status symbols. I had fun seeing the ridiculous outfits, but they did conflict with the game's tone, so I stuck with dressing my own Keyblade wielder modestly. Honestly, getting to see my own character take part in the Kingdom Hearts story was a big draw for me.
The main reason I (and, from what I've read, everyone else) stuck with the game was the story. I started the game in late 2019. The existence of Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover and the references to χ in Kingdom Hearts III made it clear that the story was going to be important for later games. I wanted to be the one who could let my friends, the ones who actually owned PS4s and could play "real" Kingdom Hearts games, know what was up. Unfortunately, what was up was mostly filler. Even the scenes that weren't just the player character doing the plots of Disney movies only teased at the potential for future revelations, rather than furthering the story on their own. Heck, even the Disney worlds had filler. Looking at you, Agrabah.
But with the story now complete and every cutscene accessible to everyone, the plot can be appreciated in full and without filler. What's left is an ambitious story for a mobile spin-off game. This is disregarding how the story is, like other Kingdom Hearts stories, complicated. While Dark Road had occasional time-skips, it was relatively straightforward, especially compared to Union χ. Starting as just χ, its story ran for multiple years. It introduced multiple characters, twists, and new mechanics for the universe. Everything in Union χ was eventually explained, but following all of it was not easy. In a way, the story was more game. Kingdom Hearts makes its own kind of sense, and then it asks players to work it out. The series has always asked players to theorize with friends and as a community. There’s fun in relishing in the confusion, particularly when among other conspirators.
Kingdom Hearts Union χ Dark Road got players invested enough to follow the plot through the story’s framing. Union χ and Dark Road took place in the idealistic past. Those familiar with Kingdom Hearts recognized that this idealism doesn’t last. The age of fairy tales must end, and Xehanort must turn to darkness. It was a more tragic take on the typical Kingdom Hearts narrative.
The main Kingdom Hearts games depict lonely adults making mistakes, and a group of the next generation finding the correct path. In Union χ, the Foretellers fought among themselves and disappeared after their mistakes led the entire world to ruin. They left the children to struggle with the responsibility of just keeping themselves and each other alive. Topical. This set-up allowed for dramatic scenarios unique for the series. Take Ephemer. He started as a curious kid, eager to learn more about what's going on with the world and its future. But he was not eager to grow up. He struggled to make decisions that impact others. And when the Foretellers vanished, he suddenly got put in charge. The adult responsibilities proved too much. The Dandelions each went through emotional turmoil like this, and they eventually had to separate from each other to escape destruction. It was heart-wrenching seeing this group of friends separated. As χ became Unchained χ became Union χ, this innocent look at the past of the Kingdom Hearts universe was lost. It was replaced with the dark apprehension for the future.
Dark Road's story was no less impactful. Xehanort journeyed with his friends and learned about the nature of darkness and of the heart. He was cold by nature, but that did not make him a bad person. It was clear that he enjoyed his friends’ company. Then the story suddenly jumped ahead four years to show Xehanort grieving by their graves. With the light of his friendships taken from him, he turned to darkness as a method to fight the darkness of others. He forgot that connections with others let us change the world through sharing our light.
The very premise of χ initially centered around working with others. Together, players could form groups, complete quests, and compete in PvP. Most importantly, they could discuss the game, its systems and its narrative, inside and outside the game itself. I, however, didn't experience that part of the game. Even disregarding how late I jumped into the game. I tend to keep to myself in community-driven games like this. At most, I participated in Union Cross missions, where I was one part of a large group. This was mostly for the rewards, however, rather than any desire to play with anyone. I wanted to get strong enough that I could guarantee that I’d make it to the end of the story. Now that the game is offline, I regret that behavior.
What drove this home the most was being there as the game shut down. I experienced the final chapter half an hour before the server was shut down. I entered the game and saw the home-screen, usually full of other online players, completely empty. I saw the Dandelions get scattered across worlds. I watched Daybreak Town be destroyed by Darkness. I saw the words "An Oath to Return: Kingdom Hearts." And then the game was gone. The whole story of Kingdom Hearts Union χ can't be found in the offline theater mode now available. It was the story the players made with each other. My own story is of missing out on that. It wasn’t the loss of the connections with others, but the missed opportunity at those connections, that causes the ultimate FOMO.
In conclusion, if anyone knows any good Kingdom Hearts forums or Discords where I can discuss the story and lore with other fans, let me know!
I'll start by talking about Union χ's half of the gameplay, since it came first and is easily the worse of the two games. I’d been looking for a free turn-based RPG to play on mobile, so I'm glad the game went that direction. Actually playing it, though? For a while it felt like there was no skill-curve. I either won each battle immediately or lost, based on the medals used in battle. The best medals were acquired randomly by spending an in-game currency, which was the game’s gacha. I came to the game pretty late in 2019 however. Spending on the banners that were up, using the small amount of currency the game deemed to give me for free, gave me ludicrously powerful medals. Those medals made the early-game missions so easy that they became tedious. It wasn’t like the act of playing out the missions and battles were that fun, as it just involved activating each medal in the order which they’re set. Thankfully, later missions, as well as the PvP and PvE modes, brought enough difficulty that thinking about which medals to use became necessary. The game went from being about tearing through everything with one powerful medal to using a sequence of powerful medals that made each successive one even more powerful. Until those medals stopped being effective against newer challenges. Then I had to go get new ones.
The gameplay’s core engagement came from managing the medals before each mission. Finding the right combinations of abilities and skills could easily destroy any Heartless or triumph over other players. It reminded me of Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories and its collectable cards. It was about finding the right strategy with the resources I had. Seeing other players’ load-outs helped me learn what I could/should be doing. Unlike Chain of Memories, though, there were so many other stats for the player to manage that it made the game feel over-designed. Keyblade level, sub-slots, player level, Spirit equipment, and so on. Union χ was one of the most cluttered games I've played.
Dark Road stripped away the excessive mechanics, which I find ironic. Dark Road brought more active gameplay by having the player choose cards from a hand to attack while the enemy attacks back. The act of quickly selecting the cards to get in as many attacks as possible made the act of battling more skill-focused. With the right cards, though, the player could turn on auto-battle, and the game instantly became an Idle game. Idle games benefit from having many mechanics to manage. All the management happened when not in battle, however. The only thing the player could do while idling was either leave the battle or turn idle off to choose cards manually. That said, leaving or losing battles led to a satisfying game loop of exiting a battle, spending the won BP to level up and my jewels to get new cards, and reentering battle to see how much longer I can idle. Dark Road was not the best idle game by any regard, but as an Idle-RPG hybrid, and another means for obtaining (or spending) microtransaction currency, it was satisfying enough.
Oh yeah, and there's the Classic Kingdom minigames. They're fine.
The visuals are unimpressive for mobile games nowadays, but the game wasn't unappealing to look at. It probably looked fine for a 2013 browser game. The main benefit to the simple 2D visuals was that it likely made developing outfits for the player character significantly easier. And now, the game features an insane amount of cool, cute, silly, and often garish costumes to choose from. When the game was alive, the outfits also had gameplay bonuses tied to them, resulting in many players looking like a mess. They dressed themselves for the sake of the grind rather than any aesthetic considerations. Most outfits needed in-game currency to unlock, and some even required an actual up-front payment, so those outfits could also serve as status symbols. I had fun seeing the ridiculous outfits, but they did conflict with the game's tone, so I stuck with dressing my own Keyblade wielder modestly. Honestly, getting to see my own character take part in the Kingdom Hearts story was a big draw for me.
The main reason I (and, from what I've read, everyone else) stuck with the game was the story. I started the game in late 2019. The existence of Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover and the references to χ in Kingdom Hearts III made it clear that the story was going to be important for later games. I wanted to be the one who could let my friends, the ones who actually owned PS4s and could play "real" Kingdom Hearts games, know what was up. Unfortunately, what was up was mostly filler. Even the scenes that weren't just the player character doing the plots of Disney movies only teased at the potential for future revelations, rather than furthering the story on their own. Heck, even the Disney worlds had filler. Looking at you, Agrabah.
But with the story now complete and every cutscene accessible to everyone, the plot can be appreciated in full and without filler. What's left is an ambitious story for a mobile spin-off game. This is disregarding how the story is, like other Kingdom Hearts stories, complicated. While Dark Road had occasional time-skips, it was relatively straightforward, especially compared to Union χ. Starting as just χ, its story ran for multiple years. It introduced multiple characters, twists, and new mechanics for the universe. Everything in Union χ was eventually explained, but following all of it was not easy. In a way, the story was more game. Kingdom Hearts makes its own kind of sense, and then it asks players to work it out. The series has always asked players to theorize with friends and as a community. There’s fun in relishing in the confusion, particularly when among other conspirators.
Kingdom Hearts Union χ Dark Road got players invested enough to follow the plot through the story’s framing. Union χ and Dark Road took place in the idealistic past. Those familiar with Kingdom Hearts recognized that this idealism doesn’t last. The age of fairy tales must end, and Xehanort must turn to darkness. It was a more tragic take on the typical Kingdom Hearts narrative.
The main Kingdom Hearts games depict lonely adults making mistakes, and a group of the next generation finding the correct path. In Union χ, the Foretellers fought among themselves and disappeared after their mistakes led the entire world to ruin. They left the children to struggle with the responsibility of just keeping themselves and each other alive. Topical. This set-up allowed for dramatic scenarios unique for the series. Take Ephemer. He started as a curious kid, eager to learn more about what's going on with the world and its future. But he was not eager to grow up. He struggled to make decisions that impact others. And when the Foretellers vanished, he suddenly got put in charge. The adult responsibilities proved too much. The Dandelions each went through emotional turmoil like this, and they eventually had to separate from each other to escape destruction. It was heart-wrenching seeing this group of friends separated. As χ became Unchained χ became Union χ, this innocent look at the past of the Kingdom Hearts universe was lost. It was replaced with the dark apprehension for the future.
Dark Road's story was no less impactful. Xehanort journeyed with his friends and learned about the nature of darkness and of the heart. He was cold by nature, but that did not make him a bad person. It was clear that he enjoyed his friends’ company. Then the story suddenly jumped ahead four years to show Xehanort grieving by their graves. With the light of his friendships taken from him, he turned to darkness as a method to fight the darkness of others. He forgot that connections with others let us change the world through sharing our light.
The very premise of χ initially centered around working with others. Together, players could form groups, complete quests, and compete in PvP. Most importantly, they could discuss the game, its systems and its narrative, inside and outside the game itself. I, however, didn't experience that part of the game. Even disregarding how late I jumped into the game. I tend to keep to myself in community-driven games like this. At most, I participated in Union Cross missions, where I was one part of a large group. This was mostly for the rewards, however, rather than any desire to play with anyone. I wanted to get strong enough that I could guarantee that I’d make it to the end of the story. Now that the game is offline, I regret that behavior.
What drove this home the most was being there as the game shut down. I experienced the final chapter half an hour before the server was shut down. I entered the game and saw the home-screen, usually full of other online players, completely empty. I saw the Dandelions get scattered across worlds. I watched Daybreak Town be destroyed by Darkness. I saw the words "An Oath to Return: Kingdom Hearts." And then the game was gone. The whole story of Kingdom Hearts Union χ can't be found in the offline theater mode now available. It was the story the players made with each other. My own story is of missing out on that. It wasn’t the loss of the connections with others, but the missed opportunity at those connections, that causes the ultimate FOMO.
In conclusion, if anyone knows any good Kingdom Hearts forums or Discords where I can discuss the story and lore with other fans, let me know!
Reviewed on Jul 24, 2021