E3 2018 is less than a month away, and Kingdom Hearts fans have been especially excited for the event, as Square Enix has promised that Kingdom Hearts 3 would be a big focus for them at the show. While a few looks at the game have been shown throughout the past couple years, not many people have been able to actually experience the game hands-on for themselves. Square Enix did promise earlier this week that coverage from the recent Kingdom Hearts 3 preview event would be made public this week, and it looks like they have indeed delivered with new information about the game.

Many outlets, such as Eurogamer, have published their coverage of the hands-on Kingdom Hearts 3 preview event today. For all who attended, their experience with the game was limited to two sections: a smaller section set in the Hercules-themed Olympus Coliseum world and a larger section set in the Toy Story-themed Toy Box world. The Hercules section only consisted of a boss battle with the Rock Titan from the 1997 animated film. This fight takes place along a cliffside, with the Titan perched at the top hurling large rocks down below to Sora, Donald and Goofy.

As Sora, players begin scaling up the mountain in an auto-run mechanic. Multiple sources noted some camera issues with this portion of the battle, given the non-traditional gameplay, but were all still able to reach the Titan at the top. After delivering many melee attacks at the Titan, players as Sora are able to defeat him when the “Attraction” ability appears in the player’s menu. These are special attacks that are based on famous Disney theme park rides, with the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad being the particular Attraction during the Titan battle. With this battle taking place at night, the train appears as a free-flying vehicle with multicolor lights akin to the Main Street Electrical Parade from the Disney parks that Sora can ride. This allows Sora to shoot fireworks at the Titan to finish him off.

The second portion of the Kingdom Hearts 3 event was set in the Toy Story world. It introduced Sora, Donald, and Goofy to Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Rex, and Hamm in Andy’s Room. This section featured more of the game’s story, including the implication of an Organization XIII member being behind the appearance of Heartless in Andy’s neighborhood, and also some meta-humor, such as Rex geeking out over Sora and company being video game characters.

Previous footage already showed Andy’s room, his neighborhood, and the local toy store locations where fans can fight Heartless, but this hands-on experience allowed players to witness all of the new combat features this time around. We’ll now have the ability to switch between keyblades during battle and transform them for different uses. For example, the Toy Story-themed keyblade can transform into a giant hammer and a drill, while the Monsters Inc. themed keyblade can turn into claws.

Link attacks also return, with one during this demo allowing the player to summon Wreck-it-Ralph, who helps Sora smash enemies with his large fists. The demo takes the player to a toy store that features both Western and Japanese-centric toys, with some Final Fantasy creature toys reportedly appearing in store windows as cameos. Eventually, the section ends with Sora and the team fighting a Japanese-style gothic doll boss. The preview event certainly revealed a lot about the game, and Square Enix has promised that a big announcement regarding the release date for the game will be coming next month, most likely around E3. Certainly, when this news comes, we will all feel Simple and Clean.

What do you guys think about all this news from the Kingdom Hearts 3 preview event? Let us know in the comments below! Be sure to stay tuned for the latest Kingdom Hearts news, such as the voice actors behind Organization XIII members hinting at their return, here on Don’t Feed the Gamers! Follow us on Twitter to see our updates the minute they go live!