The reviews are in, and the Keyblade is holding up nicely on Switch 2 — mostly. Kingdom Hearts Collection I-III launches October 8 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2, and with the review embargo now lifted ahead of release, critics broadly agree: it is a great way to catch up on the series before Kingdom Hearts 4 — with one frame-rate-shaped asterisk.
What’s in the Collection
The compilation bundles the full saga from Kingdom Hearts Final Mix through Kingdom Hearts 3 and the Re Mind epilogue, plus the spin-offs: Re:Chain of Memories, Birth by Sleep, Dream Drop Distance, 358/2 Days (as cutscenes), 0.2 Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage and the Back Cover movie. Everything you need, in other words, heading into Kingdom Hearts 4 next year.
The Switch 2 release is the headline: this is the first native, non-cloud way to play the full saga on a Nintendo handheld, a vast improvement over the Switch’s old cloud versions. “Everything tends to look and run quite well on the system,” writes Siliconera’s Jenni Lada, who calls it “a very worthwhile selection” and “a great way to play and experience the events of 10 games in the series.”
Mostly 60fps — Except Where It Isn’t
The pattern across reviews is consistent: the earlier games run beautifully, while the more demanding entries wobble. Siliconera found Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2, Birth by Sleep and Re:Chain of Memories stable at 60fps with minimal loading times. The Outerhaven’s Kingdom Hearts Final Mix test held “a consistent 60 FPS at 1080p” in handheld mode, with Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix “buttery smooth” — but the site spotted frame drops in 0.2 Birth by Sleep, and GamingTrend measured the same game hovering “somewhere in the range of 20 to 60 frames per second,” which can leave it feeling sluggish.
Kingdom Hearts 3 splits opinions the most. The Outerhaven came away “flabbergasted” by how well it ran — the Rock Titan fight and Shotlock particle effects caused no problems — while GamingTrend, fresh off a 120fps PC replay, found the Switch 2 version “far from smooth”: the forest outside Twilight Town’s old mansion runs as “a veritable slideshow,” and Kingdom of Corona is noticeably choppy. Siliconera’s take sits in between, noting Kingdom Hearts 3 “did feel like that tended to vary and not maintain 60fps.”
Small Annoyances, Real Improvements
The quibbles: the collection is not a single executable — the games ship as separate 1.5+2.5, 2.8 and III+Re Mind apps — Kingdom Hearts 1’s opening movie stutters on Switch 2, and only Kingdom Hearts 3 supports converting your save from the old cloud versions. Cloud owners can buy the native versions at a discount, and there is a new platform-exclusive keyblade, Long Night, modeled on Mickey’s Star Seeker with Leaf Bracer and Magic Roulette built in.
The consensus, though, is clear: this is the definitive console way to revisit — or finally start — the saga before Kingdom Hearts 4 arrives. Just maybe temper your expectations in Twilight Town’s forest.