Kingdom Hearts is one of Square Enix's most popular RPG franchises. Over the years, the series has gained many titles, including prequels and spin-offs that may overwhelm newcomers who don't know what order to play the games in.
Players may consider experiencing each title in the order they were released or the order they were put into for the HD Remix titles. For those that don't want to jump around too much between different characters and time periods, the chronological order may be the best for them. From Kingdom Hearts X to Melody of Memory, here are all the games to experience KingdomHearts' plot in order.
13 Kingdom Hearts X
Though it has been discontinued, Kingdom Hearts X is where the story began. Taking place long before Sora and his friends were around, this title showed the events surrounding the Keyblade War.
Players created their own avatars that they could control as they learned more about the franchise's lore, leading up to the devastating battle that many characters still think about. Despite the game no longer being available, it's very important to understanding future games so Square Enix brought elements from it into another underrated installment.
12 Kingdom Hearts: Union X
Kingdom Hearts X was replaced by Union X, a mobile game available to people all around the world. After the Keyblade War, five keyblade wielders were brought together to become the new Union leaders. However, the war was just the beginning of the fight they found themselves in.
The avatars players create become friends with these Union leaders and help them keep the world they live in safe from the new dangers they face. Every month or two, the story of Union X gets updated and will come to an end soon.
11 Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road
Once Union X is over, fans of the mobile games will get to enjoy Dark Road, one of the newest releases. Like Union X, this game's story is shown in small parts with only three episodes being available right now.
Years after the Union leaders' adventure, the main setting of Union X, Daybreak Town, became Scala ad Caelum. Here, Xehanort, Eraqus, and their friends are learning how to be great keyblade wielders and fight the heartless. However, when things take a turn for the worse, Xehanort finds himself becoming a seeker of darkness.
10 Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
Eraqus and Xehanort would eventually become keyblade masters and, decades later, have their own students. Players control Terra, Ventus, and Aqua, Eraqus' three students, as they go on a quest to defeat the unversed.
Throughout their journey, they learn that Xehanort wasn't the person they thought he was, leading them to fight their master's former comrade. At the end of the game, Xehanort possesses Terra, eventually becoming Xemnas and Ansem, and to protect Ventus, Aqua hides him in Castle Oblivion before she gets trapped in the Realm of Darkness.
9 Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-
During Aqua's time in the Realm of Darkness, she saw dark versions of worlds she had gone to. She kept on seeing Terra and Ven, despite them not actually being there, and later teamed up with Mickey in an attempt to escape.
However, only Mickey returned to the Realm of Light, leaving Aqua behind. This game cemented Aqua as a dearly beloved character.
8 Kingdom Hearts
Before Mickey went to the Realm of Darkness, he wrote a letter for Donald and Goofy, telling them to team up with a keyblade wielder that they would meet at Traverse Town. The keyblade wielder turned out to be Sora, who was separated from Riku and Kairi after the heartless invaded their home.
Sora joined the Disney characters as they fought the heartless and saved other worlds. Towards the end of the game, they fought Ansem. Upon defeating him, the trio met with their friends, only to be split up again as the fallen worlds returned to the Realm of Light.
7 Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
In the original Kingdom Hearts, Sora lost his heart for a short period of time, causing him to turn into a heartless and a nobody. In 358/2 Days, players are introduced to his nobody, Roxas, who joined other nobodies in a group called Organization XIII.
Roxas became friends with Axel and Xion, two of the other members, and spent many days with them. However, as he began to learn the truth of the group he was in, Roxas's friendship with the other members was torn apart, resulting in him leaving Organization XIII and losing his memory.
6 Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Memories
After Axel and some of the other Organization XIII members went to Castle Oblivion, they encountered Sora, Donald, and Goofy. The trio of heroes began to lose their memories and Sora started to remember things that he forgot about as they progressed through the castle.
After finding out the mysteries of Castle Oblivion, Sora and his friends had to go to sleep in order to regain the memories that mattered.
5 Kingdom Hearts II
Without his memories, Roxas lived a very different life until he met Sora. Being his nobody, Roxas was needed for Sora to awaken. Now, nearly a year after going to sleep in Chain of Memories, Sora, Donald, and Goofy continued their journey to find their friends and defeat Organization XIII.
They traveled around different worlds, some reappearing from the original game and others being brand new places that the trio hadn't seen before. At the end of the game, they met with Riku, Kairi, and Mickey again and were finally able to go home.
4 Kingdom Hearts Coded (& Re:coded)
Just when it seemed that Sora's story was over, Mickey found out that there was a way to save the people that Xehanort hurt. After discovering a strange message in Jiminy's journal, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and other Disney characters went into the Datascape, where they teamed up with Data-Sora.
By finding the meaning of the messages that Jiminy didn't write, Mickey learned that there was still so much for him and his friends to do. Consequently, Mickey sent a letter to Sora and Riku, telling them what they had to do.
3 Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance
Knowing that they were still needed, Sora and Riku took the Mark of Mastery exam. They had to travel across seven sleeping worlds and unlock the keyholes at each one. However, when the test began, Organization XIII sabotaged them, causing Sora to fall into the darkness.
As Riku and their friends saved Sora, Xehanort returned, revealing that he had planned for everything that happened up until this moment and created a second Organization XIII. Knowing that the two groups would battle soon, they prepared to end their battle against each other once and for all.
2 Kingdom Hearts III
Knowing that they would need to fight Organization XIII again, Sora went on a quest to learn the Power of Waking, Riku and Mickey traveled to the Realm of Darkness to save Aqua, and the newest keyblade wielders, Kairi and Lea, trained to get stronger.
During the battle they prepared for, most of the Organization XIII members were defeated and Xehanort killed Kairi. In his final moments, the dark seeker finally revealed his true intentions, to recreate the world and defend the light. Knowing that the guardians could protect it, he was able to let go of everything he worked for. In order to save Kairi, Sora used the Power of Waking, resulting in his disappearance.
1 Kingdom Hearts: Melody Of Memory
Ever since Sora's disappearance, his friends have tried to find a way to bring him back. In Melody of Memory, Kairi learned that Sora had gone to the "other side," a fictional world. She joined Riku, who had a dream that Sora was in a city called Quadratum, and the Fairy Godmother.
The three of them went to the Final World, where they found a way for Riku to get to Quadratum; meanwhile, Kairi, knowing that she wasn't powerful enough to go there yet, decided to start training again with Aqua as her master.