Spread out across 17 years and seven different consoles, there are many Kingdom Hearts titles out there, and those who have played them all will understand their quality can vastly fluctuate between each title. And yet, despite this, the series continues to be incredibly popular.

With such a sporadic series, it can be difficult to keep track of the story. So, those looking to figure out what order to play the Kingdom Hearts games in, this list won’t help at all – but it might help clarify which entries are worth the time to venture through, and which are best are best avoided.

Updated April 30th, 2021 by Stephen LaGioia: Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts has taken on a life of its own since its 2002 release on the PS2. This novel, colorful fusion of Final Fantasy and Disney has become a distinct, established franchise in its own right. The recent PC port, released by way of the Epic Games Store, has helped reignite interest once again in this majestic RPG, drawing nostalgia-seeking fans and curious newcomers alike. Given this, and the variety of KH releases over the years, it seemed fitting to revisit this list of the best Kingdom Hearts games, and color in some more details.

10 Kingdom Hearts Union X

  • Release date:
  • July 18, 2013
  • Platforms:
  • Android, iOS, Fire OS
  • Campaign:
  • Roughly 20 hours

While the Kingdom Hearts games have been released on some questionable platforms in the past, now almost all of them can be played on one console. The exception, however, is Kingdom Hearts Union X. Releasing it as a mobile game simply cannot be forgiven for most.

Like most mobile games, Union X is largely considered a cash-grab that focuses on draining wallets over interesting gameplay. It’s also widely considered the worst Kingdom Hearts game.

Players that have slogged through all 800-something quests are then drip-fed the essential story updates every few months to keep them playing. In the meantime, they are offered nothing but repetitive filler missions and a constantly shifting meta that forces people into spending their money if they hope to keep up.

9 Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded

  • Release date:
  • October 7, 2010
  • Platforms:
  • Nintendo DS
  • Campaign:
  • Roughly 16 hours

With arguably the most uninteresting story in the franchise, Re:Coded features a data version of Sora who essentially replays the majority of events that transpired in the first game. The story is almost entirely inconsequential and does little to advance the overall narrative of the series. It also bears what can be seen as a detriment being initially limited to mobile.

Re:Coded was first released episodically as a Japanese exclusive before being remade for a wider audience on the DS. However, it was only the cutscenes from this game that made it to the remastered PS4 collection. But without any gameplay to supplement the repetitive and uneventful story, it quickly becomes a chore to sit through, and struggles to hold a candle to the standards of the other Kingdom Hearts titles.

8 Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

  • Release date:
  • May 30, 2009
  • Platforms:
  • Nintendo DS
  • Campaign:
  • Roughly 27 hours

In a similar fashion to Re:Coded, 358/2 Days was cinematically remade for the PS4 and excluded any gameplay. However, unlike Re:Coded, it had an interesting story that was actually important and necessary to understanding a lot of what happens in Kingdom Hearts 2. The only downside was that ⁠— for some reason ⁠— it was released after Kingdom Hearts 2.

Giving players control of Roxas and fighting alongside members of Organization XIII, instead of against them, was a fun and exciting concept. But this was let down by the repetitive and lengthy missions. And to make things worse, the usual fluid, fast-paced combat of previous titles failed to translate over to the clunkier handheld Nintendo DS.

7 Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

  • Release date:
  • March 29, 2012
  • Platforms:
  • Nintendo 3DS
  • Campaign:
  • Roughly 23 hours

The Kingdom Hearts series often gets a bad rap for its story being totally devoid of all comprehension and with Dream Drop Distance, this is very much the case. It’s as though the developers didn’t want to risk the story becoming too easy to understand, and so to cement its reputation as a convoluted mess, stretched the boundaries of its coherency with this game.

On top of the bizarre story, there are near-forced interactions with the Dream Eater companions, completely ruining its pacing, which was already difficult enough to keep track of. However, Dream Drop Distance does offer a lot of fun gameplay, but the gameplay alone is not enough to carry the game.

6 Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain of Memories

  • Release date:
  • March 29, 2007
  • Platforms:
  • PS2, PS3, PS4
  • Campaign:
  • Roughly 23 hours

The second installment in the Kingdom Hearts series, Chain of Memories saw the greatest departure in terms of gameplay from all other titles, introducing a real-time, card-based battle system. This came as a massive shake-up from the usual free-flowing combat and can be difficult to come to grips with, but once it’s figured out, it makes for a uniquely fun and challenging way of fighting.

The story of Chain of Memories is also a good one, introducing a lot of important new characters, being Sora’s first clash with Organization XIII, and setting up for Kingdom Hearts 2.

Players were also able to take control of Riku for an entirely separate storyline. However, the game’s biggest flaw was again its repetitiveness. It offers no new worlds and its two separate stories are stretched out between revisits to these same worlds; playing them back-to-back quickly becomes a chore.

5 Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage

  • Release date:
  • January 12, 2017
  • Platforms:
  • PS4
  • Campaign:
  • Roughly 3 hours

Essentially a prologue for Kingdom Hearts 3, Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage returned the series to the familiar, fluid combat system of the mainline titles. But this was made even more enjoyable thanks to the graphics and visual effects, which had been elevated to a truly stunning level never before associated with the series.

While most playthroughs only taking around 3-4 hours, A Fragmentary Passage is undoubtedly the shortest game of the franchise, yet it still manages to deliver a compelling story that’s meaningful to the entirety of the series.

4 Kingdom Hearts

  • Release date:
  • March 28, 2002
  • Platforms:
  • PS2
  • Campaign:
  • Roughly 29 hours

Despite having the difficult job of blending Disney with Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts kicked the franchise into gear with an incredible first entry. It opened up fantastic worlds filled with immediately recognizable and relatable characters, all while telling what is probably the most concise story in the series.

For a game released in 2002, Kingdom Hearts holds up extremely well. The design of the small worlds does an excellent job of making them seem bigger than they actually are, although at the expense of being perplexingly difficult to navigate. But with a combat system way ahead of its time, and being able to utilize it against classic Disney villains and the instantly-iconic Heartless, this was a game unlike any other. It remains one of the best Kingdom Hearts games.

3 Kingdom Hearts 3

  • Release date:
  • January 25, 2019
  • Platforms:
  • PS4, Xbox One, PC
  • Campaign:
  • Roughly 29 hours

The incredible visual spectacle and the sheer amount of fun packed into Kingdom Hearts 3 gives it the edge over the first Kingdom Hearts. This game is simply beautiful to behold; the explorable worlds are crafted with as much detail as the Disney and Pixar films they originate from and are some of the best realizations of a movie in a video game to date.

But with that said, the Kingdom Hearts franchise has become a victim of its own design. Many of the games suffer from attempting to tie in the story it wants to tell with the narrative of the vibrant Disney worlds. Where the gameplay excels, the story falls short. There’s a distinct lack of meaningful story moments or boss fights throughout the game until the player reaches its closing stages.

2 Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

  • Release date:
  • January 9, 2010
  • Platforms:
  • PSP
  • Campaign:
  • Roughly 30 hours

The highly gripping, emotional, and surprisingly dark story told by Birth by Sleep makes this game stand out from the rest. Playing as three new characters, you explore worlds set before the events of all other Kingdom Hearts titles, granting a lot of answers while also creating its fair share of questions. The game also shares one of the most heartfelt scenes throughout the entire series.

As players journey through Birth by Sleep and experience the stories of all three characters, the same worlds will be revisited each time. However, the game does exceptionally well to avoid repetition by exploring different areas, fighting different enemies, unlocking unique character-specific abilities, and each time revealing more of the games’ poignant story.

1 Kingdom Hearts 2

  • Release date:
  • December 22, 2005
  • Platforms:
  • PS2
  • Campaign:
  • Roughly 32 hours

While the original release of this game in 2005 may not have ranked as highly, it has since been vastly improved upon with the heaps of post-game content and improvements introduced with the Final Mix version.

Unlike any game, Kingdom Hearts 2 is not without its flaws, but all are easily overlooked. With characters that are easy to become attached to, some of the greatest villains and boss fights throughout the entire series, and a combat system that takes everything from the first game and doubles down, Kingdom Hearts 2 remains the pinnacle of the franchise so far.

NEXT: Kingdom Hearts: Every Main Character’s Age, Height, And Birthday