Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ comes to Android and iOS this week

The next entry in the Kingdom Hearts series — and the first for Android and iOS mobile devices — is coming to North America on April 7.

Square Enix confirmed the English-language release of Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, which touches on the earliest days of the Kingdom Hearts narrative, is finally making its way stateside. (The game was released in Japan last year.)

Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, a free-to-play role-playing game, is set prior to the franchise's Keyblade War and stars a player-created Keyblade wielder. It's based on the browser game Kingdom Hearts χ and features a cast of new characters, as well as appearances from well-known Disney characters.

As Square Enix notes on the publisher's official blog, Unchained χ narratively ties into other Kingdom Hearts games, specifically those in the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue collection. An hourlong cinematic based on scenes in Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, called Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, is included within the upcoming PlayStation 4 game. There are also connections to the third core game in the series, Kingdom Hearts 3, which is coming to PS4 and Xbox One.

But series director Tetsuya Nomura says he hopes the game can be enjoyed by players who are not intimately familiar with Kingdom Hearts lore.

"I would love for people who have not yet played Kingdom Hearts to take this opportunity to casually jump right in with a blank slate," Nomura said in an official Q&A.