For some, the Kingdom Hearts series has some of the best games of all time. For others, it’s an incomprehensible mess of subtitles, timelines, and multiple people with the same name. In reality, both are true, but the latter is easily resolved by simply playing the games in the right order.
Of course, Square Enix didn’t make it effortless with a naming convention that defies all logic and games that jump between nearly every platform. Thankfully, the games have since been consolidated into a bundle on consoles and Steam to at least put them all in one package so players are ready for when Kingdom of Hearts 4 is finally coming out. If you have this game on your list of most anticipated upcoming games or you’ve just always wanted to dive into it but don’t know where to start, let us be your guiding key.
All Kingdom Hearts games in release order
The Kingdom Hearts series has been going mighty since 2002, with some of the best PlayStation 2 games available, and it shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. With all the subtitles and re-releases with changed names, it can seem like there are a lot more games than there actually are. To keep things uncomplicated, we’ll just list the first version of the game that was released, and note when an updated version came out later.
- Kingdom Hearts/Kingdom Hearts Final Mix — 2002
- Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories/Re: Chain of Memories — 2004
- Kingdom Hearts 2/Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix — 2005
- Kingdom Hearts Coded/Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded — 2008
- Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days — 2009
- Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep/Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Final Mix — 2010
- Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dreamfall Distance — 2012
- Kingdom Hearts X/Unchained X/Union X Dark Road — 2013
- Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep – Fragmentary fragment – — 2017
- Kingdom of Hearts 3 — 2019
- Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory — 2020
All Kingdom Hearts games in chronological order
This is where we all need to pay close attention. While not all of the games in the series have been released in chronological order, playing them that way can make the story more digestible. Either way, there is no game here that does not have an impact on the story, so there is nothing that can be safely skipped. In the case of games like 358/2 days, Re: Coded, AND Kingdom of Hearts X, that are unavailable at all or very challenging to access, each compilation contains all the necessary plot elements in the form of brief videos that you can watch and which will allow you to catch up.
With that in mind, here is the official Kingdom Hearts timeline:
- Kingdom Hearts X/Union X
- Kingdom Hearts Dark Road
- Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
- Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep – Fragmentary fragment –
- Kingdom Hearts/Final Mix
- Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories/Re: Chain of Memories
- Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days
- Kingdom Hearts 2/Final Version
- Kingdom Hearts Coded/Re: Coded
- Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dreamfall Distance
- Kingdom of Hearts 3
- Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory
