The Best Order to Play Kingdom Hearts Series

Kingdom Hearts

Released on March 28, 2002, for PlayStation 2, Kingdom Hearts is the first game that was released in the series. It was the first time being a game director for Tetsuya Nomura.

This Kingdom Hearts game established the plot of the game that involves hearts and dark beings who are known as the heartless and introduced the main characters.

This game also established the role of the Disney characters in the Kingdom Hearts game series with character cameos from the Final Fantasy game series.

While playing Kingdom Hearts, you will be running into some of Disney’s famous characters as well as, you will be meeting some Final Fantasy characters.

Disney fans will be in for a treat whereas, Square Enix fans should rest assured that Kingdom Hearts has all the characteristics of a Square Enix game including all the secret items, character building, minigames, and impressive boss battles.

The game isn’t a role-playing game like the Final Fantasy X, but still, it does many role-playing elements. The characters will gain levels, special abilities, and spells as they proceed in the quest and you can go out of your way to find special items or go back to town in order to shop for better equipment.

You will be fighting the Heartless in virtually every scene of the game, once you defeat a pack, another pack will usually materialize at that moment and right there. The game also features some good platform-jumping sequences and some puzzles to solve. Kingdom Hearts is a linear game, but sometimes you will get to choose where to go first.

The game was later released in North America on September 17, 2002, which featured additional content that was not in the original Japanese version.

Kingdom Hearts was then re-released exclusively in Japan on December 26, 2002, as Kingdom Hearts Final Mix. The Kingdom Hearts Final Mix featured the content from the North American release as well as additional cut scenes, enemies and weapons.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories was released on the Game Boy Advance in Japan on November 11, 2004. The game is a direct sequel to the first Kingdom Hearts game.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories was proclaimed as the bridge between Kingdom Hearts I and Kingdom Hearts II, giving the players an introduction and a preview of the plot elements that will be explored in the next game.

In the Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, as Sora, you will be exploring the Castle Oblivion in which each floor takes on the properties of the places that you have explored in Kingdom Hearts.

In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, no one seems to remember Sora, but they know his name and other important bits. The game will consistently remind you that the most important memories are stored in your heart and not your head.

As you travel through the Disney environments from Agrabah to Halloween Town, it will create a kind of a deja vu sense for you. Even though there is some additional content in this game, but much content is just like it was in the first Kingdom Hearts game.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is unique card-based combat and exploration. In order to advance through the various doors that a player comes across, the player must spend room cards when entering a new area for the first time.

Players will earn these cards by successfully defeating foes. The rooms have a variety of features, some rooms may push you into darkness, forcing you to identify the Heartless by their gleaming eye while in other cases, you can spend a card to create a room with a save point in it or a room with a treasure in it.

In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, battles in the room may end in a spin of the roulette wheel which could either clean up your existing cards or give you new cards. In order to gain access to rooms in which the story unfolds, you will need to use special cards.

The game was remade for the PlayStation 2 as Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and was released in Japan on March 29, 2007, as a second disc that comes with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and was released on December 2, 2008, as a standalone in North America.

Kingdom Hearts II

Kingdom Hearts II was released on the PlayStation 2 in Japan on December 22, 2005. The game takes place one year after the events of the Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Kingdom Hearts II further explores the “Heart” concept by involving a new group of enemies which are the cast-off shells of the Heartless, the Nobodies.

You take the role of Sora, a young boy who happens to have just the right mojo for wielding the keyblade, again in Kingdom Hearts II. Keyblade is a weapon that is useful for destroying the heartless as well as a key to unlock other worlds.

The main goal of the game for you, Sora, traveling from one land to another along with companions Goofy and Donald Duck is to get rid of the heartless and to rescue your missing friends.

Kingdom Hearts II is an action role-playing game that provides you a certain amount of freedom in determining your characters’ attributes and in standard combat that you cannot avoid.

The seasoned role-playing gamers will be able to spend plenty of time in perfecting the allocation of their attributes, grinding to level up and synthesizing new items, while those gamers who are not very much interested in the role-playing games can just enjoy the main gameplay without worrying much about the statistics.

Having more material than the original Kingdom Hearts II such as additional bosses and additional cut scenes, the game was revised into Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ which is a collection of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories was released in Japan on March 29, 2007.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days was released for Nintendo DS in Japan on May 30, 2009. The game takes place in between the Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II and focuses on Roxas’ time in Organization XIII and his motives for leaving.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is the first game in the Kingdom Hearts game series that features cooperative gameplay in addition to the traditional AI-controlled partners.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days features a simple yet beautiful story of friendship, some dynamic characters and a number of twists. In this game you play as Roxas, his “nobody” a mirror image that is deprived of its memories, instead of the Kingdom Hearts game series’ protagonist, Sora. Roxas is looking to retake his past by defeating shadow monsters that are known as heartless with nothing but a name and a doubtful group called the Organization XIII.

There are so many familiar faces and Disney characters in the story, but they do not steal the plot’s thunder ever as you unearth the Organization’s dark secrets.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days’ gameplay is torn into challenging missions that let you have your own pace while the gameplay also encourages exploring, unlike the gameplay in previous games in the Kingdom Hearts game series.

The missions are set throughout the seven classic Disney worlds that are segmented, but you will get to quickly face new areas that you can explore along with some fun elements.

In this game, you have a lot of control over the tasks that you can accept which gives you the freedom to work on the tasks that further progresses the story or you could go around doing extra stuff for the greater rewards. The story events and the mini-bosses make sure that the gameplay doesn’t get boring.

The Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days has a fast-paced battle system that happens in real-time and provides a very thrilling combat experience that also includes combos.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by sleep

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep was released for PlayStation Portable in Japan on January 9, 2010, and in North America on September 7, 2010, with additional content. The game is a prequel to the series and takes place ten years before the events of the first Kingdom Hearts game. The game also reveals the origins of the villain, Xenohart.

One of the Kingdom Hearts: Birth by sleep’s opening cut scene introduces you to the game’s three main characters Terra, Ventus, Aqua and a fourth one who will be unlocked upon completion of the first three. You will have to decide which of the characters you want to play as first.

You will get to do this step two more times, eventually, and explore the evolving story from three angles so you can reveal every thing that the game’s story holds. The game’s story has a very Square Enix story feel since it has strained friendships, internal struggles, battles between the heroes (the good-hearted) and the villains.

While all this is going on, the charming Disney characters that you fight alongside experience a familiar story from a quite unique perspective. The characters from Disney that you fight together with are Prince Charming and protect Snow White from the attacking fiends and getting to see the dark side of the infamous mirror.

The Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep features a lot of tasks that are specific for each of the character in each of the three character’s play-through. At different times you will be crossing paths with Disney characters and fight different bosses.

Ventus is energetic and young and is well-meaning enough but not so much that it becomes annoying. Aqua is focused and thoughtful and provides with more of a mature point of view. Terra struggles with the darkness that is within him.

Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded

Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded was released on October 7, 2010 for Nintendo DS in Japan. It was originally released as an episodic mobile phone game that takes place right after Kingdom Hearts II. The game was remade for Nintendo DS as Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded with additional features.

Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded’s story starts with bugs, Jiminy Cricket, a dedicated royal who keeps track of the important and historical events gets his hands on the original journal of Sora’s Travels only to find out that there is a mysterious message that has been added.

After the events in Kingdom Hearts, the volume was nearly completely erased, this causes the little fellow to bring it to King Mickey’s attention. They make a decision to utilize the technological skills of rodent wunderkinds Chip and Dale to search for the data that is believed to be spread throughout the volume even though the pages are empty.

Instead of finding the answers, they just find the classic worlds that are filled with corrupted data and glitches. They create a digital version of Sora and his keyblade since they need a helping hand to get to the bottoms of the things that are going on.

The heartless and the other foes are now dismembered and with auto-aim targeting, you can just smash your keyblade button, but you have to watch the character’s position as well as you have to be careful and stay alert against some specific enemies.

You can also use special abilities that are built into the keyblade of Sora by continuously hitting the monsters that give you a boost as you fight. Every weapon has its own set of bonuses like, dodge automatically, faster attacking or protection against magic.

Most of these are quite easy to utilize as you fight. Through an ability menu, Sora can also equip extra magic spells, melee strikes, and items. All of this makes killing enemies enjoyable.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream drop distance

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream drop distance was released in Japan for Nintendo 3DS on March 29, 2012. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream drop distance focuses on Sora and Riku Mark of mastery exam under Yen Sid in anticipation of Master Xehanort’s return and their conflicts with enemies.

If you’re not a fan of Mickey Mouse and his entourage, then most probably that Disney charm will be lost on you. If you’ve never played Kingdom Hearts game ever before, then the already complex narrative just becomes really complex intertwining plot points. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream drop distance does its best to give you the details through flashbacks and some recaps of past games.

Just keep in mind that you are probably going to spend most of the game confused. Sora teams up with Riku, another teenager, to take on the Mark of Mastery exam, which is a test that will turn them from amateurs to full-blown keyblade masters powerful enough to take on the villain Master Xehanort.

Throughout the adventure, you play as both characters, switching between each of the characters in timed intervals that are known as drops. It’s kind of a strange idea though. You can use buffs to increase the length of your drop or by fighting enemies.

It doesn’t help much as Riku and Sora are sent to alternate realities of worlds that were destroyed by the villainous Heartless.

The Mark of Mastery exam doesn’t go quite well and the pair find themselves tangled in another villain’s dastardly plot over the world of Kingdom Hearts.

With nonstop blurry flashbacks, wavy visions of the future, and some interesting dialogue makes it a good plot.

Kingdom Hearts X

Kingdom Hearts X was released for Android and iOS on September 3, 2015. Kingdom Hearts X takes place before Sora’s adventures and the keyblade war.

You will be taking on the role of an amateur keyblade wielder chosen by the Lost Masters and try solving the problems of the world. The game has basic sub-plots in the various worlds.

Kingdom Hearts X’s gameplay is quite simple, you get a deck of 3-5 cards and it depends on how much your keyblade has leveled up. There is a corresponding color that every card has green, blue and red.

The colors have a meaning in this way: Blue is weak to green, green is weak to red and red is weak to blue. They also have a special ability which could be a combo of attacks, healing or a blast that hits everything.

Apart from all that stuff, Kingdom Hearts X also features guilds and you can assist other players or get help from other players in order to defeat a raid boss who appears quite often.

The raid bosses that the players have to fight range from the Behemoth to the Darkside Heartless. Anyway, it is still quite addictive to collect these cards when you level up and find them from packs.

Kingdom Hearts X does indeed lack the strategy that the original games have. The game is no doubt fun, but for small sittings and not for likely hours of grinding.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: A fragmentary passage was released for PlayStation 4 on January 12, 2017. The game takes place after Kingdom Hearts II: Birth by Sleep.

It’s fun to play and quite often feels more fluid than previous games in the series, even if it feels like playing the Kingdom Hearts games a decade ago without all the additions in between. Some puzzles that dot Aqua’s journey, including a few that have her using mirrors to tinker with gravity or chasing gears in order to repair a bridge.

Whacking aside fiends with Aqua’s keyblade paired with smooth combat while building chain attacks, double jumping and casting spells is really fun. You can also earn cosmetic items like dress patterns and Minnie Mouse ears by completing various challenges.

You will be happy to know that you will get a couple of dozen hours out from the HD remaster of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. Since it’s a simple remaster from the 3DS with nothing new or new elements, but still it doesn’t look bad at all.

They should have tried to populate Dream Drop Distance’s extra rooms with the empty world and this flaw is more obvious on the big screen. The upgraded graphics are a big improvement.

The combat system and its flow that sends you zooming past enemies, bouncing off walls, and swinging from light fixtures are quite impressive.

Kingdom Hearts III

Kingdom Hearts III was released in Japan for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 25, 2019. The series protagonist, Sora, is on the search for the “Key to Return Hearts” while they search for keyblade wielders is handled by Sora’s friends Riku and King Mickey.

Kingdom Hearts III is the concluding chapter in a massive story arc, it can’t be faulted for having this fixation. Kingdom Hearts III is so stuck in the finer details that even for the massive fans, it can be difficult to get a sense of what are the three main heroes trying to accomplish.

The story of Kingdom Hearts III involves Sora, Donald, and Goofy who are preparing for an upcoming war against the forces of darkness by gathering the Guardians of Light.

The reason for the bloated state of Kingdom Hearts’ lore is the result of so many spin-offs and sequels that introduced new characters in order to explore the side and backstories.

In their own games, these characters had the time and space to establish themselves and have full narrative arcs. But, when united in one game, each character made less of an impact in characterization.

Kingdom Hearts III is trying to tie up all the separated narrative threads across the many Kingdom Hearts games and weave them into one conclusive story and the result is incoherent, to say the least.

Numerous characters look the same, some are time traveling versions of themselves while others are reincarnations who have taken a new form or exist inside the heart of another character.

The villains, many of which are of Organization XIII say inane lines that are purposely vague. This was to build mystery, but it doesn’t help much either. The characters are delivering cheesy dialogues which feel odd sometimes compared to what’s happening around them.

Kingdom Hearts III Re: Mind

Kingdom Hearts III was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in Japan on 25th January 2019. Kingdom Hearts III Re: Mind is the DLC of this previous installment i.e Kingdom Hearts III.

It is the overhauled version of Kingdom Hearts III which is due to release in 2020 in first quarter. The fan following was huge the Square Enix could possibly give the fans one more game consecutively in pair of 2 years.

Kingdom Hearts III Re: Mind Is claimed to be the antidote to bad ending which was not so adored in Kingdom Hearts III. So it surely consists of some unfold and untold storyline ending.

Kingdom Hearts 3 finished with Sora going off all alone to scan for Kairi. Re: Mind takes you on that journey in average Kingdom Hearts design: neither essentially nor neatly.

It runs synchronously with the occasions at the Keyblade Graveyard, which means you really need to replay the peak again from the Keyblade Graveyard labyrinth right to the standoff with Xehanort. Despite the fact that the clarification Re: Mind is basically a Director’s cut.

As an update, the Keyblade Graveyard doesn’t generally highlight any investigation. It’s a progression of manager battles isolated by long cutscenes. Luxord still holes up behind a playing card provoking Sora, and cutscenes stop the activity in comparative spots.

A portion of the exchange and cutscenes are revamped while others are new, however, the greatest contrast is the choice to play as Riku, Roxas, Kairi, or Aqua in a few battles. Shockingly, playing as these characters really make the smooth and up-to-date battle less gameplay.

Every one of them feel like more fragile forms of Sora with constrained move sets, and it likewise doesn’t help that the Keyblade Graveyard itself is the blandest world in Kingdom Hearts 3.

What Re: Mind uncovers is a game, and an arrangement, continually changing itself in apprehensive self-reflection. Kingdom Hearts doesn’t have a clue how to end, so it won’t, and it will return and reshape itself as much as it needs to so as to ensure it. Remind, with a partition between the prefix and the word—proposing to recall as well as to reconsider.

Which makes Re: Mind an unusual DLC for a special game, and a cure to our nervousness about Kingdom Hearts III’s endings. Kingdom Hearts will never stick the arrival, since it will never at any point attempt.

Is that the correct answer? Who knows, yet in a period of disillusioning finales, a story that destroys itself to maintain a strategic distance from end result is a breath of new sea air.

When you complete Re Mind, a hidden episode called Limit Cut opens, giving you access to a few testing supervisor battles. They’re ultra-extreme, and one bogus move (like not obstructing at the specific right minute) implies you lose everything. These are practically identical to the arrangement’s mystery supervisors (e.g., Sephiroth),

The KINGDOM HEARTS III Re: Mind DLC includes:

• The additional story: Re Mind
• Limitcut episode and 13 boss battles
• Secret episode and boss battle
• Data greeting feature
• Slideshow feature
• Premium menu (Diverse difficulty settings and gameplay challenges)