I think a lot of us have a similar story when it comes to how we were introduced to Kingdom Hearts. We grew up in a nightmarish hellscape of capitalism where all you had to do as a marketer to get the kids’ attention was slap a Mickey Mouse sticker on your product and call it a day. So, seeing an overly edgy but also incredibly heartfelt adventure featuring Donald Duck, Goofy, and an anime boy with an outfit consisting of one too many zippers was a dream come true for nerdy millennials like us.
But here we are in 2023, and we’re all (still nerdy) adults with either too much time on our hands or not enough, but we’ll still make time to play the latest game in the franchise that reminds us there was once a time when things were both incredibly simple and yet exhaustingly complicated. Thought I was gonna say ‘clean’ there? If so, it’s time to accept that our brains have been changed by Kingdom Hearts.
So — it’s time to stop stalling and get to it. Kingdom Hearts IV is coming soon, probably in 2045 or 2046 if we’re being frank, and we need to be prepared to learn where it fits into this convoluted timeline. I will be listing each game in chronological order, including each release date, as well as a brief synopsis. If you expected a (keyblade) master’s thesis on the series, you can call me Sora cause I didn’t pass the exam.
Kingdom Hearts Timeline Explained
Kingdom Hearts χ / Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover
Release Date: July 18, 2013 (χ); January 12, 2017 (χ Back Cover)
OK — so, our story begins with a mobile game, and as such, we’re counting all of the mobile games as part of the same entry, so Kingdom Hearts χ, Kingdom Hearts Union χ, and Kingdom Hearts Union χ Dark Road are all counted here. Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover was a series of cinematics included in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, so it’s also counted here. If you’re thinking, “oh, the mobile games aren’t important,” have you learned nothing from Kingdom Hearts III?
Kingdom Hearts χ is the earliest entry in the chronological timeline, following a group of young keyblade wielders who fight against Heartless in the distant past and far-off future. It ultimately tells the story of the Keyblade War and explains the origins of the Keyblade Graveyard, seen in Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and Kingdom Hearts III. Also, Dark Road is meant to serve as an origin story for the series’ main antagonist, Xehanort.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Release Date: January 9, 2010 (JP); September 7, 2010 (NA)
Birth by Sleep is next on the list and follows three characters: Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, as they attempt to become keyblade masters and incidentally cause the entire Kingdom Hearts timeline to happen. This marks the first canonical appearance (in release order, anyway) of Xehanort and ends with him taking control of Terra’s body and stealing Ansem the Wise’s identity (and most, if not all, of his apprentices).
This is also the first appearance of Castle Oblivion from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. It turns out that the castle is just a reformed version of Land of Departure, and hiding deep inside is Ventus’ body, which lacks a heart since it found and resides within a young Sora. This is why Sora’s Nobody, Roxas, looks identical to Ventus.
Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-
Release Date: January 12, 2017 (JP); January 24, 2017 (NA)
In the next slot, we’ve got what is effectively a tech demo for Kingdom Hearts III. It’s also an epilogue for Birth by Sleep, which tells the story of Aqua’s adventures in the Realm of Darkness. This short experience bridges the gap between Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts and explains why Mickey Mouse didn’t have a shirt on in his brief cameo in Kingdom Hearts.
Kingdom Hearts
Release Date: March 28, 2002 (JP); September 17, 2002 (NA)
It’s the one that started it all! In this one, Sora — the kid who Ventus’ heart hid away within — and his two friends, Riku and Kairi, are spirited away from the only home they’ve ever known and forced to fend off Heartless, a cavalcade of Disney villains and a really, really, really old man who just can’t quit talking about darkness and doors and keys. Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, is the game’s final boss — you might remember him as the Heartless that resulted when Terra-nort (who stole Ansem the Wise’s identity) was divided into a Heartless and a Nobody (we’ll get to them in a bit). The Dark Shadow that accompanies Ansem is strongly implied to be whatever’s left of Terra’s heart being held captive.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days — Days 1-24
Release Date: May 30, 2009 (JP); September 29, 2009 (NA)
In this spinoff that also serves as a mainline entry for reasons, we are introduced to Roxas, a Nobody of Sora that was created in the climax of Kingdom Hearts when Sora became a Heartless. We are also introduced to the fourteenth member of Organization XIII, named Xion.
It’s a good time to explain how the whole Heartless/Nobody thing works. In essence, when someone’s heart is taken from them, two creatures are left behind — the body without a heart, or a Nobody, and the Heartless is the stolen heart consumed by darkness. It might help to think of it like the whole ghost vs. zombie argument, only the ghost is the Heartless, and the Nobody is the zombie left behind.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Release Date: November 11, 2004 (JP); December 7, 2004 (NA)
In the meantime, while Roxas is busy eating ice cream and murdering his friends, Sora, Donald and Goofy stumble upon Castle Oblivion in their search for Riku and King Michael Mouse. As they ascend the castle, they encounter (and defeat) around half of Organization XIII, including Larxene, Vexen, and Marluxia.
Riku and Michael are also at Castle Oblivion, but they start from the basement and work their way up to the ground floor. Riku fends off his own members of the Organization, including Lexaeus and Zexion. It’s possible that you’ve picked up on the fact that all Organization members have names with ‘x’ in them. I wish I could tell you that’s just a coincidence, but it’s not. It’s not.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days — Days 25-358
Release Date: May 30, 2009 (JP); September 29, 2009 (NA)
It’s here where the rest of 358/2 Days occurs, and Xion is revealed to be a replica made using memories of Sora because everyone has a little bit of Sora in them. Roxas fights Riku and is put into a simulation of Twilight Town, where he is at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II.
Kingdom Hearts II
Release Date: December 22, 2005 (JP); March 28, 2006 (NA)
Kingdom Hearts II is one of the best sequels ever made. In this one, Roxas is forced to reunite with Sora, who has been in a cold sleep since the end of Chain of Memories. Sora goes on a quest to defeat the last remnants of the Heartless after Maleficent was defeated — oh, never mind, Maleficent’s alive? At the same time, the remnants of Organization XIII (whom Sora doesn’t remember defeating because he lost his memories of Castle Oblivion) are out for revenge and to summon Kingdom Hearts, which is … well, to be honest, they have never done a great job of explaining what it is.
In the end of this one, Sora, Riku, and Kairi are back on Destiny Islands, and they get a letter in a bottle from Michael Mouse himself. It’s not revealed what the letter says, but it indirectly leads us to …
Kingdom Hearts Coded
Release Date: June 3, 2009 (JP); January 11, 2011 (NA; Re:Coded)
Kingdom Hearts Coded elaborates on the concept of data variations of our characters after it was introduced in Kingdom Hearts II. Aside from that, there’s not much else to talk about here, except that it shows good ol’ Mick sending the letter in a bottle that Sora found at the end of Kingdom Hearts II.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Release Date: March 29, 2012 (JP); July 31, 2012 (NA)
In the preamble to Kingdom Hearts III, Sora and Riku embark on a quest to reawaken the sleeping worlds and (hopefully) become keyblade masters. It is the first entry to discuss time travel, as lo and behold, the very, very, very old man Xehanort is back with the help of his younger self.
It would seem that — due to the failures of the former Organization — he’s decided if you want to do something right, do it yourself, and has formed the REAL Organization XIII, made up almost entirely of himself. I mean it; the members include Master Xehanort, Young Xehanort, Terra-Xehanort, Ansem (his Heartless), Xemnas (his Nobody), Vanitas, Xigbar (who is already half Xehanort), Saix, Luxord, Marluxia, Larxene, Dark Riku, and Xion, with Vexen and Demyx serving as reserve members.
In this game, Sora fails the Mark of Mastery exam because he was nearly taken over by the Organization, and I wish I could tell you it was for a better reason than ‘they put an ‘x’ on his shirt,’ but I can’t.
Kingdom Hearts III
Release Date: January 25, 2019 (JP); January 29, 2019 (NA)
Kingdom Hearts III came out, and I cannot tell you how wild it is to be able to say that. It tells the story of the “final” battle between the real Organization XIII (the thirteen darks) and the Seven Guardians of Light that seek to stop them. It ends with Sora overusing his Power of Waking in order to save Kairi’s life, and as a result, he is lost — seemingly forever, but we all know he’s coming back, so the impact has faded.
It’s also revealed that Xigbar, Mr. I’m-Already-Half-Xehanort himself, has been a double agent all along, and he’s actually a reincarnation of Luxu, one of the apprentices to the Master of Masters in Kingdom Hearts χ. Also, the foretellers are back, and they’ll presumably play a bigger role in Kingdom Hearts IV.
Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory
Release Date: November 11, 2020 (JP); November 13, 2020 (NA)
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a story-based rhythm game, but because it’s Kingdom Hearts, it’s incredibly important in the broad scheme of things. It tells the story of Kairi as she tries to find Sora’s location in the aftermath of Kingdom Hearts III.
And that’s the current timeline of Kingdom Hearts. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go wash my eyes, ears, and mouth out with antiseptic as I eagerly anticipate the release of Kingdom Hearts IV.
