Kingdom Hearts 3 first made waves when it was revealed during E3 2013, but that was just a small step in the game’s development. The truth of the matter is that development on the game dates back as early as 2006. So one might say it’s lucky that we’ve only known about Kingdom Hearts 3 for four years and not a decade. And since that fateful June day in 2013, people have had but one question: what is the Kingdom Hearts 3 release date?

Well, the good news is that you’re much closer to playing the game now than you were four years ago, but unfortunately, you’re still going to have to wait a bit longer. At Disney’s own D23 expo this year, Square Enix confirmed that the game had a window of 2018 for the release date for Kingdom Hearts 3. Yes, that’s an entire year. Anything more specific – such a month, or at least a quarter – still eludes us. So they probably don’t even know themselves, and the game is likely nowhere near done, and if it were to be delayed into 2019 at this point, that shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Rumors! What are the new Disney worlds?

That doesn’t mean there won’t be a hefty assortment of Kingdom Hearts 3 rumors to tide us over until then. Some of what we know aren’t even rumors, they’re concrete facts. Square Enix also revealed at D23 this year that a Toy Story world would be featured in the game, but be prepared to stifle your Disney excitement, because there will be fewer worlds dedicated to Disney than there were in Kingdom Hearts 2.

In addition to Toy Story, we know of two other brand new Disney worlds, including the Kingdom of Corona from Tangled and Big Hero 6’s San Fransokyo. Also included are the returning worlds of Olympus from Hercules, Twilight Town, and Mystery Tower.

There’s no telling what else might be included. Disney has a lot of properties to draw from, way more than they did fifteen years ago. But don’t get your hopes up for Marvel or Star Wars. Both Disney and Square Enix have been quite tight lipped on those lauded universes. Star Wars is still such a recent acquisition that including it in Kingdom Hearts 3 seems like a long shot. But you never know.

But maybe do get your hopes up. If I were making Kingdom Hearts 3, those would probably be the very last worlds that I’d reveal, and considering that there still might be over a year left before the Kingdom Hearts III release date rolls around, who knows what else could be revealed before then?

So what else do we know?

Kingdom Hearts 3 will pick up where Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance left off. Sora, and his buddies Goofy and Donald, are off in search of the seven guardians of light and the “Key to Return Hearts.” Meanwhile, good ole King Mickey and Riku are off on their own search for the previous keyblade wielders. They’ll be needed to help stop Master Xehanort, who is trying his darndest to balance both light and dark.

If you’re keen on anything Final Fantasy or Disney, but somehow never played any of the Kingdom Hearts games and the above has left you scratching your head and wondering if you’re the only sane person left in the world, then you can get caught up on the PS4 with the Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 Remix and Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. And if playing through games more than a decade old, no matter how spruced up they are, is not your cup of tea either, you can find plenty of story overviews on Youtube.

As for the look of the game.

This time around, director Tetsuya Nomura has opted for a more painted style for the game, powered by Unreal 4. This type of art style wasn’t possible before with the PlayStation 2’s hardware. The game actually switched engines to Unreal 4 about a year into development, which is one of the many reasons it’s taken this long to come out since it was revealed in 2013.

Still, though, four years is a long time to wait for any game, especially a sequel that is twelve years in the making, and though we don’t have a concrete date yet, the Kingdom Hearts Three release date could be as early as four months from now. Perhaps that will help you sleep at night. Just don’t think of the inverse, that the game might be 14 months from now.