At E3, Square Enix announced that Kingdom Hearts III was finally in development for the PS4 and Xbox One. The announcement was accompanied by a trailer that was pre-rendered target footage of what they wanted to achieve with the new title. Now Square Enix has released a new trailer at D23 Expo Japan that shows the first real gameplay footage.

In this first gameplay trailer, you can see that the combat has become decidedly more cinematic. Thankfully, it looks like they ditched the “Press Triangle to Win” mechanic that was so prevalent in Kingdom Hearts II. Instead, it looks like the cinematic actions that were once reserved only for finishing moves appear to be the norm in the latest title, and that’s only a good thing.

It should also be noted that the team seems to be playing around with what the keyblade can actually do. Instead of just getting new keyblades that change its appearance, Sora can instead transform the keyblade into two guns for ranged attacks. There will undoubtedly be other forms available as well.

It goes without saying, but all of the above footage is incredibly early. I really do hope we get something like that in the final product though. I was especially fond of the Rock Titan fight while riding the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction. In fact, it almost looks like we might actually get a Walt Disney Land or World level, and that would be just swell.

Oh, and if you’re new to this whole Kingdom Hearts business, Square Enix has you covered. It released Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX last month, and will be releasing Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX on the PS3 next year. Both titles have all the information you need to realize that the story makes absolutely no sense.

[Image: PlayStation/YouTube]