Square Enix and Disney introduced Kingdom Hearts 4 at the Kingdom Hearts twentieth Anniversary occasion in 2022, giving us a contemporary new have a look at Sora and what he’s been up to after he left his mates for a solo journey at the finish of Kingdom Hearts 3. To no one’s shock, there haven’t been many updates for the sequel because it was introduced, however a recent spread of screenshots affirmed the game's continued improvement.
To additional ease our impatience for Kingdom Hearts 4, Square Enix introduced the entire Kingdom Hearts series to Steam on June 13, 2024. Well, nearly the complete sequence, together with Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, Kingdom Hearts III + Re Mind DLC, and Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece — the latter of which is a bundle that launched on the Nintendo Switch in cloud streaming kind in 2021.
While we look forward to more updates and a potential release date for Kingdom Hearts 4, we’re supplying you with a listing of Kingdom Hearts video games to play in chronological order. As convoluted as the sequence’ plot could also be, this listing ought to provide you with a clear perspective on the historical past of the Kingdom Hearts world, how Sora was set up to be the Keyblade’s chosen one, and how Master Xehanort retains attempting to plunge the world into darkness, therefore the identify of the sequence’ first arc: the Dark Seeker Saga.
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How Many Kingdom Hearts Games Are There?
The Kingdom Hearts sequence contains 13 video games throughout a number of platforms, together with the PSP and Game Boy Advance. There will even be a new game in the mainline sequence, which was formally introduced in April 2022.
What Kingdom Hearts Game Should I Play First?
If you might be new to the Kingdom Hearts sequence, we extremely suggest beginning off with Kingdom Hearts 2. When you play as Roxas in the starting of the game, you get flashbacks of the most important scenes from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories to get you up to velocity on the story of the sequence to date, and provides insight on how Sora and Roxas are related in the first place.
The gameplay in Kingdom Hearts 2 can also be more easy than Kingdom Hearts, and also you don’t have to play by way of each Gummi Ship mission more than as soon as even if you revisit worlds. Thank us later.
How to Play Kingdom Hearts Games in Chronological Order
Kingdom Hearts χ / Unchained χ / Union χ
Apologies for grouping all the titles in one part, however Kingdom Hearts χ [chi], initially a Japan-exclusive title for PC, had been subsequently rebranded into Unchained χ and Union χ [Cross] for cellular customers worldwide during the eight years it was operating online. The χ refers to the χ-blade, a coveted weapon designed by two Keyblades in an “X” form succesful of unlocking Kingdom Hearts.
Kingdom Hearts Union χ is about a whole lot of years earlier than the sequence' occasions, in an period main up to the Keyblade War. You control a newly minted Keyblade wielder in the 2D world of Daybreak Town who joins one of 5 factions and works to guarantee its supremacy over the different 4 as they fight over the finite gentle accessible to the world. Union χ happens shortly after Unchained χ, however in an alternate knowledge world the place the participant relives the previous to neglect the Keyblade War. The game shut down in May 2021, however you possibly can nonetheless watch cutscenes of it online. If gacha video games are usually not your type, you possibly can watch HD cutscenes of the occasions in the cinematic Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, which is included in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue.
Kingdom Hearts Dark Road
As the title suggests, Kingdom Hearts Dark Road is the origin story of villain Master Xehanort set 70 years earlier than the occasions of Birth by Sleep. As a younger man, Xehanort is taken from Destiny Islands to Scala advert Caelum to practice alongside Master Eraqus to develop into a Keyblade wielder and is tasked by Master Odin to seek for the Lost Masters, triggering a chain of occasions that leads him to develop into the Seeker of Darkness.
Dark Road employed the similar 2D graphics current in Kingdom Hearts χ and its subsequent rebranded titles, which aren’t very spectacular, however the game nonetheless contained particulars integral to the complete sequence. You is probably not ready to play the game, however you possibly can nonetheless watch cutscenes on YouTube to get the full scope.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Set 10 years earlier than the occasions of Kingdom Hearts, Birth by Sleep is advised from the vantage factors of Ventus, Terra, and Aqua — all Keyblade Apprentices of Master Eraqus residing in the Land of Departure. Shortly after Aqua and Terra end their Mark of Mastery examination, with the former passing and acquiring the title of Keyblade Master and the latter failing for not conserving his darkness in test, the trio go on separate journeys to discover Master Xehanort, who disappeared with out a hint, and defeat the Unversed, creatures created by Xehanort’s apprentice Vanitas to assault different worlds.
Birth by Sleep dives into the origin of Sora and Master Xehanort, as Ventus had half of his coronary heart patched up by a piece of Sora’s coronary heart. Xehanort, in the meantime, created Vanitas from the darkness he purged from Ventus’ coronary heart, which Xehanort deemed too frail for him to use as a vessel to forge the χ-blade, forcing him to go after Terra as an alternative. It additionally explores how Sora and Riku may wield the Keyblade in the first place, as Terra bestowed the energy of the Keyblade to Riku, whereas Aqua sensed sturdy ties with Sora and Riku to Ventus and Terra, respectively.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.
Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep — A Fragmentary Passage
Although it’s secure to place A Fragmentary Passage (included in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue) earlier than the first Kingdom Hearts game, it acts as an epilogue to Birth by Sleep and a prologue to Kingdom Hearts 3. However, the story for this game begins shortly after the occasions of Dream Drop Distance as a result of King Mickey tells the story of how he got here throughout Aqua in the Realm of Darkness to Riku, Kairi, and Master Yen Sid.
After sacrificing herself to save Terra from the Realm of Darkness at the finish of Birth by Sleep, Aqua has been wandering in darkness for 10 years, attempting to discover a manner back to the Realm of Light. She visits the darkish variations of Castle of Dreams, Dwarf Woodlands, and Enchanted Dominion to battle hordes of Heartless that kind into Demon Towers, fight apparitions of Ventus and Terra, and save Terra’s coronary heart. Meanwhile, Mickey went to the Realm of Darkness to save Riku. When he meets Aqua after utilizing her misplaced Wayfinder to discover her, he tells her 10 years have handed since they final met and proceeds to Destiny Islands after combating one other Demon Tower. There, the door to Kingdom Hearts is noticed, and Mickey helps Sora and Riku seal it shut, leaving Aqua to dwell in the Realm of Darkness as soon as more.
Kingdom Hearts
In the very first entry of the sequence, Sora units out on a journey with Donald and Goofy to reunite with Riku and Kairi after the Heartless destroy Destiny Islands and plunge the world into darkness. Along the manner, he travels to completely different worlds aboard the Gummi Ship, meets varied Disney and Final Fantasy characters, and helps defend their world from the Heartless by sealing Keyholes. Meanwhile, Maleficent leads a group of her fellow Disney villains to search out the seven Princesses of Heart to unlock the final keyhole main to Kingdom Hearts, and she or he employs Riku.
By the time Sora reaches Hollow Bastion, Kairi’s physique is discovered together with her coronary heart lacking because it was transferred to Sora’s physique during the apocalypse at Destiny Islands; Riku turns into possessed by Ansem, who was manipulating Maleficent to open Kingdom Hearts; and Kairi is revealed to be the Princess of Heart, therefore the coronary heart switch from her to Sora, who then frees Kairi’s coronary heart after impaling himself with Ansem’s Keyblade, turning into a Heartless in the course of. Kairi manages to flip Sora back to human kind by recognizing his Heartless and embracing him, and from there Sora defeats Ansem and seals the door to Kingdom Hearts with help from Riku and Mickey from the different facet.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
While trying to find Riku and Mickey after sealing the door to Kingdom Hearts, Sora, Donald, and Goofy go to Castle Oblivion, inflicting them to lose their reminiscences upon entry. They’re advised by Marluxia, the lord of the fort who’s revealed to be a member of Organization XIII, that the deeper they go into the fort, the more reminiscences they’ll lose, however they'll uncover new ones in the course of. The group is given a deck of playing cards referred to as “world cards” primarily based on Sora’s reminiscences, and so they meet memory variations of the characters they met in the earlier game and fight a few members of the Organization except for Marluxia — Axel, Larxene, and Vexen — as they progress by way of every ground of the fort. Meanwhile, Riku goes by way of the basement ranges of the fort, wrestling with the darkness inside him and Ansem’s makes an attempt to control him whereas combating two different members of Organization XIII: Lexaeus and Zexion.
Aside from the playing cards being decried as an ineffective battle system, Chain of Memories launched new characters that grew to become important gamers in the Kingdom Hearts sequence, equivalent to Naminé, whom Sora regularly remembered as being an previous pal solely to discover out later she was manipulating Sora’s reminiscences of Kairi by changing them with pretend ones of herself below Marluxia’s orders. After Sora fights Marluxia for his life and Naminé’s freedom, Naminé locations him and his companions to sleep in pod-like machines to help them regain the reminiscences they misplaced.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.
Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days
358/2 Days is about during the occasions of Chain of Memories. It explores the beginning of Roxas as Sora’s Nobody when Sora become a Heartless during Kingdom Hearts, his day by day life as the thirteenth member of Organization XIII, and his friendship with Axel and Xion, who mysteriously arrived as the 14th member.
As time progresses and their bond deepens, it’s revealed that Xion is an synthetic duplicate created after Sora’s reminiscences of Kairi as a fail-safe if Sora and Roxas are confirmed to be ineffective for the Organization to obtain their goal of summoning Kingdom Hearts and changing into entire, all the whereas delaying Sora’s memory restoration course of by absorbing them. This discovery causes Roxas to defect from Organization XIII to discover himself, and later Xion, who fights to merge with him to develop into entire, stopping Sora from waking up. Ultimately, Roxas defeats Xion, who disintegrates into gentle with all the reminiscences she absorbed returning to Sora.
Fun reality, however not exactly enjoyable: 358/2 was devoted to the memory of Wayne Allwine, the voice actor for Mickey Mouse, who died 12 days earlier than the game’s release in Japan in May 2009.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts 358/2.
Kingdom Hearts 2
The game begins in Twilight Town, the place Roxas enjoys his summer time trip with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, having no reminiscences of his time with Organization XIII nor Axel, who remembers him during their encounters whereas waking up with goals of Sora, who had been asleep for a 12 months at that time. Once Sora wakes up together with Donald and Goofy after Roxas merges with him, they set out to as soon as again defend the worlds from the Heartless and go to new ones to stop Organization XIII from creating one other Kingdom Hearts that might give the Nobodies their hearts back.
As Sora and the gang discover the idea of the coronary heart even additional, they study that the Ansem they fought was Xehanort’s Heartless; Xemnas, the chief of Organization XIII, is Xehanort’s Nobody; and that Xehanort was an apprentice of the actual Ansem, named Ansem the Wise, the sage-king of Radiant Garden (renamed Hollow Bastion after which Radiant Garden again) who studied the coronary heart alongside Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, Ienzo (human variations of Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion, respectively) to defend his people from darkness earlier than he was exiled to the Realm of Darkness for corrupting them with the similar darkness and taking up the new identification DiZ (Darkness in Zero). Even more surprising, they study Roxas and Naminé are the Nobodies of Sora and Kairi, respectively.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts 2.
Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded
Initially launched as an episodic cellular game referred to as “Coded” in Japan, Re:coded facilities on King Mickey and a digital model of Sora as they work to restore Jiminy Cricket’s journal, which chronicles the actual Sora’s adventures combating the Heartless and Organization XIII, after it received corrupted. It was being digitized to analyze a secret message Jiminy didn’t write: “Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it” (initially written as “We must return to free them from their torment” in Coded). In the dataspace, Data-Sora and Mickey fight the bugs, who take the kind of red-and-black blocks and Heartless, and work to decipher the message's that means.
Square Enix initially launched eight elements of Coded and a preview to Japanese cellular customers from June 2009 to January 2010, making it run nearly like a full season of a tv sequence. To make the game accessible to followers worldwide, the complete game was repackaged into Re:coded for the Nintendo DS.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
To put together for Master Xehanort’s return, Master Yen Sid proctors the Mark of Mastery examination to Sora and Riku in the most unconventional manner attainable: sending them back in time to unlock the keyholes of seven worlds that had been left in a sleeping state after being destroyed by the Heartless, together with the worlds of Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pinocchio, Tron: Legacy, and Fantasia. Though they undergo a completely different chain of occasions in the similar worlds, they work to defeat the “Nightmare” Dream Eaters with the help of their “Spirit” Dream Eaters and the energy of Flowmotion.
Throughout the Mark of Mastery examination, they run into the youthful model of Xehanort, who reveals that he, Ansem, and Xehanort, who had been supposed to have been defeated, lured Sora into a entice at The World That Never Was and put him into a deep sleep (the place he was protected by Ventus’ armor), and Riku has been operating by way of Sora’s goals as a Dream Eater the entire time. To save Sora from the darkness, Riku fights the younger Xehanort, and the revived, older Master Xehanort arrives with intentions to flip Sora into his thirteenth vessel for the new Organization XIII, comprised of largely his previous selves from throughout time, and create the χ-blade by pitting the 13 seekers of darkness and the seven guardians of gentle towards one another. Thankfully, Xehanort’s plans are foiled by King Mickey, Lea (the human model of Axel), and Riku, who finally passes the Mark of Mastery examination, with Sora failing for shedding the energy of waking, which is the potential to restore hearts.
Read our Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance review.
Kingdom Hearts 3
In the last chapter of the Dark Seeker Saga, Sora units out to reclaim the energy of waking and collect the seven guardians of gentle to put together for the last showdown with Organization XIII and Master Xehanort, who’s hellbent on not solely creating the χ-blade, but additionally conserving darkness and lightweight in correct steadiness. Meanwhile, Kairi trains to develop into a Keyblade wielder with Lea, and Riku goes with King Mickey to seek for the lacking Keyblade wielders.
Kingdom Hearts 3 took 13 years to make, with a few trailers launched between 2013 and 2018 earlier than lastly being launched in 2019. To this present day, it stays the best-selling Kingdom Hearts game.
Read our review of Kingdom Hearts 3.
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory
Melody of Memory is a rhythm game the place Sora and the different Keyblade wielders defeat the Heartless, Nobodies, Unversed, and Dream Eaters to the beat of each tune in the sequence. It’s set towards the backdrop of Kairi being in the lab at Radiant Garden, as she provides a abstract of the sequence’ occasions as the narrator.
Kingdom Hearts Games in Release Order
- Kingdom Hearts – September 17, 2002 (PS2)
- Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories – December 7, 2004 (Game Boy Advance)
- Kingdom Hearts 2 – March 28, 2006 (PS2)
- Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days – September 29, 2009 (Nintendo DS)
- Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep – September 7, 2010 (PSP)
- Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded – January 11, 2011 (Nintendo DS)
- Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance – July 31, 2012 (Nintendo 3DS)
- Kingdom Hearts Union χ [Cross] – April 7, 2016 (Android, iOS)
- Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReCombine – March 28, 2017 (PS4)
- Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue – January 24, 2017 (PS4)
- Kingdom Hearts 3 – January 29, 2019 (PS4, XBO, PC)
- Kingdom Hearts Dark Road – June 22, 2020 (Android, iOS)
- Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory – November 13, 2020 (PS4, XBO, Nintendo Switch, PC)
What's Next for Kingdom Hearts?
Kingdom Hearts 4 was introduced in 2022, although Square Enix has been quiet about KH4 since its announcement and has but to reveal a release window. The most up-to-date improvement, a series of screenshots, got here out of nearly nowhere, however hopefully signifies we'll be getting our arms on Kingdom Hearts 4 sooner somewhat than later. I wouldn't be stunned if the game ends up releasing on the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.
Cristina Alexander is a freelance author for IGN. She has contributed her work to varied publications, together with Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions, and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a huge deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.