The game works over KH1 base, focusing on the action part and making it fast-paced, embracing a philosophy in which giving players possibilities and agency is the core. It removes the clunky delays attacks and abilities had in the first game, "mana" management, adding rhythm and unpredictability to enemy behavior, setting aside exploration and platforming, adding different transformations with different uses and movesets, making summons more relevant, and making magic and transformations/summons combo with other attacks. It has some issues: the critical mode (hardest diff) readjust damage done and taken (getting killed with +/- 2 shots) in an unimaginative way that works just fine as the game is about timing, but doesn't add a differential challenges. And some bosses, mainly heartless ones, are a complete waste of time, they offer no challenge at all even sometimes make you stay still waiting to do something.

Additional note: I haven't talked about the narrative, tone, themes, emotional aspects of the game because I despise most of what has to do with those. I don't think emotion and conflict can be separated from their formal parts, as it would mean to look at it as a hollow container lacking any kind of meaning. I still appreciate the "shonen" spirit of it though. With that said this may be a hypocritical statement I've fallen to, I don't know, I don't have a proper conclusion to this one.