Mini Review: Kingdom Hearts Collection I~III (PS5) - Great Value for Newcomers in This (Almost) Complete Package

A Kingdom of games

Version Reviewed: PS5 Pro / European

Kingdom Hearts Collection I~III is perfect for those interested in delving into Disney and Square Enix's weird, wonderful, and often convoluted action RPG world for the first time, but for a longtime fan like myself, the lack of enhancements makes it hard to justify a purchase.

As the name suggests, this package includes every Kingdom Hearts title from the 2002 PS2 classic, all the way up to the most recent mainline instalment, Kingdom Hearts III. However, Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is not included, which is a shame, as there are some loose threads that may be important for the upcoming Kingdom Hearts IV.

The rest of the "spin-off" games are included here, though Square Enix has made it abundantly clear over the years that every game in the series contributes something towards the overall canon.

For this collection, Square has essentially re-released the previous two collections available on PS4, Kingdom Hearts 1.5+2.5 HD Remix and Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, in addition to Kingdom Hearts III with its Re Mind DLC included.

If you've never played the series, this is perfect; you get access to a lot of content spanning hundreds of hours, but there are no significant changes to any of the included games.

For instance, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 HD Remix already ran at 60 frames-per-second on PS4, and there are no changes to any of the six included titles. There can be an argument that the resolution is slightly sharper, though it may be difficult to notice in comparison to the previous releases.

Kingdom Hearts III is the game that has the most noticeable improvement, most notably regarding its frame rate, which fluctuated on PS4, but now runs at a mostly stable 60fps on PS5. Visuals are also slightly improved, though the stylised art direction already looked great when it launched in early 2019.

Overall, if you've never played the series, Kingdom Hearts Collection I~III is great value, but for those of you who've already sunk an absurd amount of time into Sora's Disney-filled adventures, it's harder to recommend.