Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind + Concert Video (DLC)

Note: The following review contains spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III.

When I played Kingdom Hearts III last year, I liked it overall, but thought it had something missing within the comparatively weak storytelling and mishandled gameplay. A free Critical Mode patch fixed this, but the idea of paid DLC was still officially on the table. This came to fruition with Re Mind, a $30 expansion ($40 if you want exclusive concert footage) that promised additional story content related to the ending of the game, along with some additional bonuses. Naturally, I pre-ordered the $40 version and played it as soon as I could to see if it could fill in that part of game that felt incomplete. While it did accomplish that to some extent, it felt overpriced for the amount of content I got.

Determined to rescue Kairi, Sora uses the power of waking to travel to The Final World, where Chirithy tells him that if he continues with his plan, he’ll disappear for good. Sora, ready to accept this consequence, travels back in time to the Keyblade Graveyard shortly before the final battle with the Real Organization XIII. Without a corporeal form, he traces the hearts of other guardians of light and learns new truths through experiencing their battles firsthand.

The story presented in this DLC does an admirable job of trying to rectify issues players had with what was presented in the base game. Some plot holes and conveniences are finally explained and help make certain twists more palatable, like how Xehanort was able to fill out the ranks of the Real Organization XIII. There’s also a payoff that gives the finale of the base game, Sora’s mysterious disappearance, more context.

One thing that helps with this goal of the DLC is the ability to finally play as characters other than Sora outside of very specific moments. During the Keyblade Graveyard’s boss rush, you’re now able to pick between Sora or another character for the fight, which allows players to get more into their heads and also offers a different kind of challenge if the player was overleveled as Sora. If that wasn’t enough, there are also new bosses added into the mix to help flesh out what happened at certain points during the fight at the Keyblade Graveyard, including what happened between Lingering Will and Terra-Xehanort and what the other guardians were doing while Sora was off fighting Xehanort.

You can finally play as other characters in the Keyblade Graveyard.

Speaking of the fight with Xehanort, one of the highlights of this part of the DLC is the ability to finally explore Scala ad Caelum, an area that was mostly glossed over in the original release. Now, players can explore the full map, including a much larger second area that contains a number of puzzles, including one underground, that are required to advance the story. This area also includes its own set of chests, which contain items that can be carried over to the base game. I almost wish there were more to do, as it’s fairly short in spite of the sheer size of the city, but I suppose they had to take lore into account when designing it.

Even with all there is to do in Re Mind, however, it actually doesn’t take very long to complete. Depending on how you play, you’re looking at anywhere between three to five hours of content. While the new story segments did do a good job explaining away some of the confusion from Kingdom Hearts III, it still didn’t feel like it went far enough. Considering that you’re essentially playing through the Keyblade Graveyard again, it honestly feels like they could’ve just added a lot of what’s in here to the base game, especially the ability to play as other characters during the final boss rush, without putting it behind a paywall.

Once you’ve finished the Re Mind episode, however, there’s still more to do. Completing Re Mind unlocks the Limitcut episode, which attempts to address the criticism of lack of difficulty in the bosses of Kingdom Hearts III by adding 13 superbosses. These superbosses, representing the members of the Real Organization XIII, also come with a massive difficulty spike in comparison to their original counterparts, which can come as a huge shock to those who are either used to Kingdom Hearts III’s general difficulty level or not hardcore gamers. Defeating each of the bosses properly can easily take dozens of hours, though if you’re underprepared, you can still hop between Limitcut and the base game from the Load menu.

Limitcut tries to continue the story past the finale of Kingdom Hearts III, but is still very minimal in its presentation and leaves itself very open-ended. Even the returning Final Fantasy characters, one of the biggest draws of the DLC, don’t have much in the way of screen time and are mainly there as a vehicle for the extra story content to work. It’s worth noting as well that the setup for the 13 superbosses is nearly identical to the Garden of Assemblage from Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, in which players could fight more powerful Replica Data versions of every member of Organization XIII.

Final Fantasy characters return during the Limitcut Episode.

Completing Limitcut also unlocks one more surprise, a Secret Episode featuring an all-new secret boss. I won’t spoil anything, but this particular boss is a true test of the player’s skill and beating it leads to a twist that may very well inform the future of the series. That said, whatever story is there is pretty vague, likely to keep fans intrigued through speculation.

Sora faces a new boss during the Secret Episode.

Of course, there are other perks to owning the DLC. One thing that’s now locked behind the paywall is the addition of a Premium Menu, which allows players to customize the game’s difficulty through EZ and PRO Codes, which you can adjust at any time. EZ Codes can add modifiers like HP/MP Regen, permanently cutting shop prices in half or the ability to one-shot all enemies and bosses, among many others. By contrast, PRO Codes can add challenges like No Formchanges/Grand Magic, No Cure, and HP/MP Slip, among many others. The Premium Menu also rewards players for using either set of codes by offering merits for completing certain tasks, often with handicaps.

Some of the PRO Codes available through the Premium Menu.

While the Premium Menu can add a fresh spin to the game, you have to start a new game if you want to use them, and even then, you can only select either one of the sets or none at all. The only way to switch between EZ and PRO codes with ease is to unlock the ability to do so by completing the game with either set.

Interestingly, use of EZ and PRO Codes can still carry over to the DLC content, since they’re tied to the individual save file (you have to select a save file with game clear data before starting the Re Mind, Limitcut or Secret Episodes). I’ll admit that for the sake of seeing all the story content of the DLC, I took advantage of this by speedrunning a new Beginner Mode save with EZ Codes to one-shot my way through the game and all the new superbosses. Beating the Secret Boss this way also felt very hollow, so I did my best to fight it on equal footing, which in this case meant minimal handicaps. If it means anything, it should say something if I was kept on edge throughout the whole fight even with HP/MP Regen turned on.

There’s also one invaluable piece of advice I’d like to give about the Secret Boss. If you have a Kupo Coin and manage to get far enough in the fight without using it, the boss has the ability to steal it and the use it to revive themselves with half health on death. This came as a complete shock to me when it happened, so I want any readers to be aware of it going in.

One last thing included in the DLC package is the Data Greeting feature, which allows you to create your own photos. There’s a lot of customization, including location, characters, enemies, items and visual effects, though there’s a limit to how many of each thing you can have in one environment at a time, along with some additional limitations on availability. The possibilities are nearly limitless, so this seems like the right tool for the more dedicated users to create any scenario they can think of.

There are plenty of options available for making your own pictures.

If you choose to spring for the more expensive $40 version of the DLC, you’ll also receive footage from the November 30, 2019 -World of Tres- concert. The total runtime of the footage is about a couple hours long and you can choose to watch it all at once or individual songs. Since I had seen the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra -World Tour- version of the event, I’d say this footage is worth it for fans who had either seen a version of the orchestra without Kingdom Hearts III music or who had otherwise not been able to attend the event. Only then would it maybe justify paying the additional $10. I should warn you, however, that paying $40 for this version of Re Mind is the only way to get it, even if you already bought the $30 version.

Before I end this review, I want to bring up that due to the passing of Rutger Hauer in 2019, the role of Master Xehanort was passed on to Christopher Lloyd. Christopher Lloyd is a talented actor and does a great job in the role for the DLC, and even has repeated lines from the base game re-recorded for continuity, but I’ll admit that most of the time I still heard him as Doc Brown from Back to the Future. I’m sure that like Rutger Hauer, however, I’ll get used to his take on the character.

While the content of Re Mind is a solid package, I don’t feel there’s enough to justify the $30 or $40 price point, especially considering this is Kingdom Hearts III’s form of a Final Mix. If the price points were $20 and $30, then this would be easier to recommend to more fans of the series, including those who liked Kingdom Hearts III in spite of its flaws. Otherwise, this is better suited for the already hardcore fans of the series and people who just can’t get enough challenge.