The right way to Play the Kingdom Hearts Video games in Order

The right way to Play Kingdom Hearts Video games in Chronological Order

Kingdom Hearts χ / Unchained χ / Union χ

Apologies for grouping all of the titles in a single 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 cell customers worldwide in the course of the eight years it was working on-line. The χ refers back to the χ-blade, a coveted weapon designed by two Keyblades in an “X” form able to unlocking Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts Union χ is ready a whole lot of years earlier than the sequence’ occasions, in an period main as much as the Keyblade Battle. You management a newly minted Keyblade wielder within the 2D world of Dawn City who joins one in all 5 factions and works to make sure its supremacy over the opposite 4 as they battle over the finite gentle obtainable to the world. Union χ happens shortly after Unchained χ, however in an alternate information world the place the participant relives the previous to overlook the Keyblade Battle. The sport shut down in Might 2021, however you possibly can nonetheless watch cutscenes of it on-line. If gacha video games should not your type, you possibly can watch HD cutscenes of the occasions within the cinematic Kingdom Hearts χ Again Cowl, which is included in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Ultimate Chapter Prologue.

Kingdom Hearts Darkish Highway

Because the title suggests, Kingdom Hearts Darkish Highway is the origin story of villain Grasp Xehanort set 70 years earlier than the occasions of Start by Sleep. As a younger man, Xehanort is taken from Future Islands to Scala advert Caelum to coach alongside Grasp Eraqus to develop into a Keyblade wielder and is tasked by Grasp Odin to seek for the Misplaced Masters, triggering a series of occasions that leads him to develop into the Seeker of Darkness.

Darkish Highway employed the identical 2D graphics current in Kingdom Hearts χ and its subsequent rebranded titles, which aren’t very spectacular, however the sport nonetheless contained particulars integral to your complete sequence. It’s possible you’ll not be capable of play the sport, however you possibly can nonetheless watch cutscenes on YouTube to get the complete scope.

Kingdom Hearts Start by Sleep

Set 10 years earlier than the occasions of Kingdom Hearts, Start by Sleep is advised from the vantage factors of Ventus, Terra, and Aqua — all Keyblade Apprentices of Grasp Eraqus residing within the Land of Departure. Shortly after Aqua and Terra end their Mark of Mastery examination, with the previous passing and acquiring the title of Keyblade Grasp and the latter failing for not maintaining his darkness in test, the trio go on separate journeys to search out Grasp Xehanort, who disappeared with no hint, and defeat the Unversed, creatures created by Xehanort’s apprentice Vanitas to assault different worlds.

Start by Sleep dives into the origin of Sora and Grasp Xehanort, as Ventus had a part of his coronary heart patched up by a bit 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 make use of as a vessel to forge the χ-blade, forcing him to go after Terra as an alternative. It additionally explores how Sora and Riku might wield the Keyblade within the first place, as Terra bestowed the ability of the Keyblade to Riku, whereas Aqua sensed sturdy ties with Sora and Riku to Ventus and Terra, respectively.

Learn our assessment of Kingdom Hearts: Start by Sleep.

Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Start by Sleep — A Fragmentary Passage

Though it’s secure to position A Fragmentary Passage (included in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Ultimate Chapter Prologue) earlier than the primary Kingdom Hearts sport, it acts as an epilogue to Start by Sleep and a prologue to Kingdom Hearts 3. Nevertheless, the story for this sport 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 within the Realm of Darkness to Riku, Kairi, and Grasp Yen Sid.

After sacrificing herself to save lots of Terra from the Realm of Darkness on the finish of Start by Sleep, Aqua has been wandering in darkness for 10 years, looking for a method again to the Realm of Mild. She visits the darkish variations of Fortress of Desires, Dwarf Woodlands, and Enchanted Dominion to battle hordes of Heartless that kind into Demon Towers, battle apparitions of Ventus and Terra, and save Terra’s coronary heart. In the meantime, Mickey went to the Realm of Darkness to save lots of Riku. When he meets Aqua after utilizing her misplaced Wayfinder to search out her, he tells her 10 years have handed since they final met and proceeds to Future 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 within the Realm of Darkness as soon as extra.

Kingdom Hearts

Within 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 Future Islands and plunge the world into darkness. Alongside the best way, he travels to totally different worlds aboard the Gummi Ship, meets varied Disney and Ultimate Fantasy characters, and helps defend their world from the Heartless by sealing Keyholes. In the meantime, Maleficent leads a bunch of her fellow Disney villains to hunt out the seven Princesses of Coronary heart to unlock the final keyhole resulting in Kingdom Hearts, and he or she employs Riku.

By the point Sora reaches Hole Bastion, Kairi’s physique is discovered along with her coronary heart lacking because it was transferred to Sora’s physique in the course of the apocalypse at Future Islands; Riku turns into possessed by Ansem, who was manipulating Maleficent to open Kingdom Hearts; and Kairi is revealed to be the Princess of Coronary heart, therefore the guts switch from her to Sora, who then frees Kairi’s coronary heart after impaling himself with Ansem’s Keyblade, turning right into a Heartless within the course of. Kairi manages to show Sora again to human kind by recognizing his Heartless and embracing him, and from there Sora defeats Ansem and seals the door to Kingdom Hearts with assist from Riku and Mickey from the opposite aspect.

Learn our assessment of Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Reminiscences

Whereas trying to find Riku and Mickey after sealing the door to Kingdom Hearts, Sora, Donald, and Goofy go to Fortress Oblivion, inflicting them to lose their reminiscences upon entry. They’re advised by Marluxia, the lord of the citadel who’s revealed to be a member of Group XIII, that the deeper they go into the citadel, the extra reminiscences they’ll lose, however they will uncover new ones within the course of. The group is given a deck of playing cards referred to as “world playing cards” primarily based on Sora’s reminiscences, they usually meet reminiscence variations of the characters they met within the earlier sport and battle a number of members of the Group other than Marluxia — Axel, Larxene, and Vexen — as they progress by means of every ground of the citadel. In the meantime, Riku goes by means of the basement ranges of the citadel, wrestling with the darkness inside him and Ansem’s makes an attempt to regulate him whereas combating two different members of Group XIII: Lexaeus and Zexion.

Other than the playing cards being decried as an ineffective battle system, Chain of Reminiscences launched new characters that grew to become important gamers within the Kingdom Hearts sequence, comparable to Naminé, whom Sora step by step remembered as being an outdated pal solely to search out out later she was manipulating Sora’s reminiscences of Kairi by changing them with pretend ones of herself beneath 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 assist them regain the reminiscences they misplaced.

Learn our assessment of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Reminiscences.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days

358/2 Days is ready in the course of the occasions of Chain of Reminiscences. It explores the start of Roxas as Sora’s No person when Sora became a Heartless throughout Kingdom Hearts, his each day life because the thirteenth member of Group XIII, and his friendship with Axel and Xion, who mysteriously arrived because the 14th member.

As time progresses and their bond deepens, it’s revealed that Xion is a synthetic reproduction created after Sora’s reminiscences of Kairi as a fail-safe if Sora and Roxas are confirmed to be ineffective for the Group to attain their purpose of summoning Kingdom Hearts and turning into entire, all of the whereas delaying Sora’s reminiscence restoration course of by absorbing them. This discovery causes Roxas to defect from Group XIII to search out himself, and later Xion, who fights to merge with him to develop into entire, stopping Sora from waking up. In the end, Roxas defeats Xion, who disintegrates into gentle with all of the reminiscences she absorbed returning to Sora.

Enjoyable truth, however not exactly enjoyable: 358/2 was devoted to the reminiscence of Wayne Allwine, the voice actor for Mickey Mouse, who died 12 days earlier than the sport’s launch in Japan in Might 2009.

Learn our assessment of Kingdom Hearts 358/2.

Kingdom Hearts 2

The sport begins in Twilight City, the place Roxas enjoys his summer time trip with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, having no reminiscences of his time with Group XIII nor Axel, who remembers him throughout their encounters whereas waking up with desires of Sora, who had been asleep for a yr at that time. As soon as Sora wakes up together with Donald and Goofy after Roxas merges with him, they got down to as soon as once more shield the worlds from the Heartless and go to new ones to cease Group XIII from creating one other Kingdom Hearts that may give the Nobodies their hearts again.

As Sora and the gang discover the idea of the guts even additional, they study that the Ansem they fought was Xehanort’s Heartless; Xemnas, the chief of Group XIII, is Xehanort’s No person; and that Xehanort was an apprentice of the true Ansem, named Ansem the Sensible, the sage-king of Radiant Backyard (renamed Hole Bastion after which Radiant Backyard once more) who studied the guts alongside Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, Ienzo (human variations of Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion, respectively) to guard his individuals from darkness earlier than he was exiled to the Realm of Darkness for corrupting them with the identical darkness and taking up the brand new identification DiZ (Darkness in Zero). Much more surprising, they study Roxas and Naminé are the Nobodies of Sora and Kairi, respectively.

Learn our assessment of Kingdom Hearts 2.

Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded

Initially launched as an episodic cell sport 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 true Sora’s adventures combating the Heartless and Group XIII, after it received corrupted. It was being digitized to investigate a secret message Jiminy didn’t write: “Their hurting will probably be mended if you return to finish it” (initially written as “We should return to free them from their torment” in Coded). Within the dataspace, Knowledge-Sora and Mickey battle the bugs, who take the type of red-and-black blocks and Heartless, and work to decipher the message’s which means.

Sq. Enix initially launched eight elements of Coded and a preview to Japanese cell customers from June 2009 to January 2010, making it run nearly like a full season of a tv sequence. To make the sport accessible to followers worldwide, your complete sport was repackaged into Re:coded for the Nintendo DS.

Learn our assessment of Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

To organize for Grasp Xehanort’s return, Grasp Yen Sid proctors the Mark of Mastery examination to Sora and Riku in essentially the most unconventional method potential: sending them again 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. Although they undergo a unique chain of occasions in the identical worlds, they work to defeat the “Nightmare” Dream Eaters with the assistance of their “Spirit” Dream Eaters and the ability of Flowmotion.

All through the Mark of Mastery examination, they run into the youthful model of Xehanort, who reveals that he, Ansem, and Xehanort, who had been purported to have been defeated, lured Sora right into a lure at The World That By no means Was and put him right into a deep sleep (the place he was protected by Ventus’ armor), and Riku has been working by means of Sora’s desires as a Dream Eater the entire time. To save lots of Sora from the darkness, Riku fights the younger Xehanort, and the revived, older Grasp Xehanort arrives with intentions to show Sora into his thirteenth vessel for the brand new Group XIII, comprised of principally his previous selves from throughout time, and create the χ-blade by pitting the 13 seekers of darkness and the seven guardians of sunshine in opposition to one another. Fortunately, Xehanort’s plans are foiled by King Mickey, Lea (the human model of Axel), and Riku, who in the end passes the Mark of Mastery examination, with Sora failing for dropping the ability of waking, which is the flexibility to revive hearts.

Learn our Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance assessment.

Kingdom Hearts 3

Within the remaining chapter of the Darkish Seeker Saga, Sora units out to reclaim the ability of waking and collect the seven guardians of sunshine to organize for the ultimate showdown with Group XIII and Grasp Xehanort, who’s hellbent on not solely creating the χ-blade, but in addition maintaining darkness and light-weight in correct steadiness. In the meantime, 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 number of trailers launched between 2013 and 2018 earlier than lastly being launched in 2019. To at the present time, it stays the best-selling Kingdom Hearts sport.

Learn our assessment of Kingdom Hearts 3.

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Reminiscence

Melody of Reminiscence is a rhythm sport the place Sora and the opposite Keyblade wielders defeat the Heartless, Nobodies, Unversed, and Dream Eaters to the beat of each track within the sequence. It’s set in opposition to the backdrop of Kairi being within the lab at Radiant Backyard, as she offers a abstract of the sequence’ occasions because the narrator.

Kingdom Hearts Video games in Launch Order

Kingdom Hearts – September 17, 2002 (PS2)Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Reminiscences – December 7, 2004 (Sport Boy Advance)Kingdom Hearts 2 – March 28, 2006 (PS2)Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days – September 29, 2009 (Nintendo DS)Kingdom Hearts: Start 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 ReMix – March 28, 2017 (PS4)Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Ultimate Chapter Prologue – January 24, 2017 (PS4)Kingdom Hearts 3 – January 29, 2019 (PS4, XBO, PC)Kingdom Hearts Darkish Highway – June 22, 2020 (Android, iOS)Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Reminiscence – November 13, 2020 (PS4, XBO, Nintendo Swap, PC)

What’s Subsequent for Kingdom Hearts?

Kingdom Hearts 4 was introduced in 2022, although Sq. Enix has been quiet about KH4 since its announcement and has but to disclose a launch window. The latest improvement, a sequence of screenshots, got here out of virtually nowhere, however hopefully signifies we’ll be getting our fingers on Kingdom Hearts 4 sooner reasonably than later. I would not be stunned if the sport finally ends up releasing on the upcoming Nintendo Swap 2.

Kingdom Hearts 4 Screenshots Might 2025

Cristina Alexander is a contract author for IGN. She has contributed her work to numerous publications, together with Digital Traits, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions, and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a giant deal. Comply with her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.