Reynatis’ protagonist sure looks familiar…
Kingdom Hearts fans have pointed out how similar Reynatis, a new game revealed during the Japanese Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase, is to Verum Rex from Kingdom Hearts 3.
Earlier this week, we had the first Nintendo Direct of 2024, which turned out to be a Partner Showcase focusing on third-party titles. Although there are usually only a few small differences between the Japanese version of the Direct and the Worldwide one, this Partner Showcase had two massive announcements that were only shown to players in Japan.
The first of those was the confirmation that Mother 3 is finally being ported to the Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy Advance library. The second was the reveal of Reynatis, an action RPG that hasn't been announced to be released outside of Japan. Beyond looking stylish as all heck, it's drawn a lot of attention from Kingdom Hearts fans.
Those fans all seem to unanimously agree that Reynatis looks incredibly similar to the world of Verum Rex, also known as Quadratum, that we were introduced to in Kingdom Hearts 3 and that will play a big role in Kingdom Hearts 4. Not only does Reynatis take place in a modern-day Shibuya (complete with the 109 symbol that The World Ends With You loves so much), but the protagonist, Marin, looks incredibly similar to Yozora.
Marin's grey hair combined with the plaid patterning on his clothes makes him look like a dead ringer for Yozora, even if he's rendered in a more cartoony style. The comparisons don't just end at the characters either, as the third-person action RPG gameplay and the world of Reynatis look very similar to Kingdom Hearts and what we saw of Verum Rex in the cinematic trailer for it shown during the Toy Box world. There's even a shot at the end of the trailer that looks what like a Gigas emerging from a portal.
As highlighted by Twitter user HMKilla , Reynatis' developer, Takumi Isobe, even claims to have been inspired by Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, making the comparisons even more accurate.
Of course, Reynatis also looks like it has a lot of its own things going for it, but it's hard to deny that there's a big Verum Rex vibe going on here. That's definitely not a bad thing, and Kingdom Hearts fans actually seem quite excited for the title and want it to release worldwide. Right now, it's nothing more than Kingdom Hearts fans being hungry for something similar, but it does make for some fun comparions.