The Action RPG genre has been around for years, standing proudly alongside the turn-based legends before it. One of the biggest Action RPG’s on the market is the Kingdom Hearts series. Melding real-time action combat with light RPG elements, the series has lasted many years. But with the development of Kingdom Hearts 4 taking so long, many wonder what a new Hearts-like will release. Thankfully, Luminous Nights is here to answer that question.
Being developed by Yahya Danboos, the project has been quietly in development for over two years. In 2024, a playtest build was released and after reaching out to Yahya, I am excited to share my impressions on this exciting Hearts-like adventure.
What is Luminous Nights?
The story of Luminous Nights is described with the following summary on the game’s Steam Page;
Step into the shoes of Faris, a young hero who finds himself in an unfamiliar world, the mystical city of Nuwara. With darkness shrouding the city and the evil Masked King reigning supreme, Faris must restore light and hope. Battle dark creatures, unlock hidden abilities, and rally allies to stop the Masked King and find a way back home. Along the way, encounter memorable characters who will join your quest and help you navigate the vibrant and treacherous landscapes of Nuwara.

During the Playtest, the story elements aren’t implemented yet, save for being able to have minor interactions with some NPC’s. But through in-game animations, voice clips, and UI elements, the character of Faris excites.
He reminds me a lot of Link from Legend of Zelda or more aptly, Sora from Kingdom Hearts. The eager hero ready to save the day, but one that can be serious when the situation calls for it.
Gameplay Impressions
Yahya describes the game, both on Twitter/X and the Steam Page, as a ‘Hearts-like’. So much so, players have the option switch between two control styles, one Kingdom Hearts or traditional action game inspired.
As seen from my gameplay above, Faris has somewhat-weighty movement, feeling responsive both in combat and when casually platforming. Having a basic combo attacks on both ground and air, a launcher, and some movement options (dodging rolling and blocking), Faris’ combat skills are fun.
The simplicity is understandable considering the early state of the build, only featuring a few rooms to run through with few enemy types to fight. One is the basic monster, being able to die with a simple three-hit combo. The other is a larger foe, taking more hits to take down.
Yahya intends to have magic attacks and other weapons for Faris to utilize in the final game, but what’s playable here is solid. Every action Faris makes, feels eerily similar to Kingdom Hearts 2‘s early combat encounters. And that’s high praise, with that combat system, to this day, being one of the best ones on the market.

Regarding exploration, what’s playable here inspires confidence in the full game. A major issue with Kingdom Hearts 2 is that despite Sora having great movement options, exploration wasn’t encouraged at all. Luminous Nights invites this, with treasure chests filled with gear and potions to discover in this playtest.
While Faris can’t glide or slide around like late-game Sora can in Kingdom Hearts 2, moving around and platforming felt great in this build.
Presentation
Visually, Luminous Nights feels ripped right off of a PlayStation 2, but in the best way possible. Sporting stylized visuals, Fairs and the world around him offer vivid color and smooth animation work. In addition, the musical score itself is dynamic, shifting between ‘calm’ and ‘action’ versions of the track without issue.
The music in the build reminded me a lot of the Aladdin worlds in the Kingdom Hearts series, which is fitting considering the game’s Arabian Nights-inspired setting. Regarding the overall sound (effects, etc), it’s not fully there yet, with some objects having impactful audio while others do not. But that could change in later builds.
One example of this was when finding a hidden area, concealed by some breakable boxes. Hitting them offered no sound effect, though the health orbs and money they created did.
Performance
Playing this on my Lenovo Legion Gaming Laptop, sporting a AMD Radeon RX 6850XT GPU, AMD Ryzen 9 6900X CPU, and 32GB of DDR5 RAM, the game ran like a dream. Stable 60FPS at max resolution on my display (1600p) was no problem.
Considering this is an early build, super impressed with the stability of this game.
Closing Thoughts
As a fan of the Kingdom Hearts series, more games like that are very much welcome. It’s a series, despite being known for it’s confusing narratives and crossover nature, offers amazing gameplay for nearly ever installment.
So the idea of that formula, a ‘Hearts-like’, coming from a talented indie developer in a fun setting, is very exciting. I can’t wait to see how this project develops throughout 2025 and beyond. Stay tuned for future updates on Luminous Nights and consider wishlisting the title on Steam!