10 Best Kingdom Hearts Games (2024)

The Kingdom Hearts series has a total of 13 games and some of them are terrible. Those that aren't terrible have some highly redeeming qualities if anything is wrong with them. Sometimes the games tend to have a phenomenal story with terrible gameplay or vice versa. Regardless of the problems that some of them have a lot of these games are near-perfect masterpieces to many people for what they manage to provide.

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These are the Kingdom Hearts games that resonate most with audiences who really care about the series and have become fully invested to the point of no return. Hopefully, some new players will hop into the Kingdom Hearts cult-like craze or at least get a better understanding of it.

10 Kingdom Hearts Melody Of Memory

Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory takes the Kingdom Hearts world and turns it into a rhythm game. The biggest problem with this is that it is not the most entertaining rhythm game though it does bring in some mechanics that introduce combat elements into the game.

The game also falls short at delivering a good story as half of the game is a lot of recap of the events that lead to the moment right after Kingdom Hearts 3 Re: Mind. The good thing is that players do get to see a lot of the story from Kairi's perspective which is refreshing and some songs are fun to try and master.

9 Kingdom Hearts Union X Dark Road

Kingdom Hearts Union X Dark Road has had a very long journey before turning into the large mobile game that it has become. The game initially had a lot of online elements in it, but the online servers are no longer available as the game works solely offline now.

The story of the game is fascinating and adds deep lore elements to the background of many big characters in the game. The bad part is the game can feel like it's extremely grindy and at times players might feel like they need to do microtransactions to speed up the story's pace.

8 Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded

Kingdom Hearts Coded is another game that initially came out on mobile phones soon after Kingdom Hearts 2 was released. This game, however, was remade as Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded, and a digital upgrade was in Kingdom Hearts 2.5. The game adds very little to the story but is somewhat important as it puts some events into play that lead into Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance.

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The gameplay is enjoyable to go through as it has a lot of combat elements that make some later games really fun. It also adds a block mechanic but that, along with the anti-bugging part of the game, feels like a gimmick more than anything else.

7 Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories

Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories is a Remake of the Gameboy Advance game of the same name that is held in high regard by some and the least favorite in the Kingdom Hearts series to others. This is due to the game's card mechanic which relies heavily on players building a good deck to complete battles efficiently. The combat gets increasingly difficult as the game goes on so grinding for cards is necessary on higher difficulties especially if players didn't think out their deck's worlds in advance.

Outside the combat, the story is absolutely phenomenal as it does a good job at introducing Organization XIII and gives players a lot of backstory into some of their motives. It also builds upon Riku's redemption arc away from darkness.

6 Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts is the game that started it all. Kingdom Hearts is still fun to explore for those who have never played the games before as flying to new worlds inspired by Disney movies is something out of a dream. The magnitude of this game is still jaw-dropping, and the boss battles are wonderful to experience.

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The one problem with Kingdom Hearts is that its combat did not age well at all in comparison to anything that came out after it. It's a lot less flashy and much slower. The only good the about it is the player's ability to roll. The story additionally gets players highly invested in the universe.

5 Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep is the least interesting when it comes to the worlds that it brings into its story and the interplanetary travel isn't as good as the other games. Though all of this is true, it's still an excellent game. The planets are reused intelligently going back between worlds with new characters never feeling like a chore.

The way that the player gets three different narratives in one game that is completely different from one another also adds to the envelopment of the player to the lore of the game. The twists in the game are also very memorable and many tense story moments last in the hearts of fans in the series.

4 Kingdom Hearts 3

Kingdom Hearts 3 got a lot of hate from some fans and a lot of new players, but that was mainly due to the highly confusing nature of its story. Those familiar with the series know that the lore is a lot to sit through but well worth familiarizing oneself with. Kingdom Hearts 3 is tying up a lot of loose ends and starts inside some of these so all the other titles must be understood for a player to jump in.

The combat is on the easier side even on Pride mode, but the game never lets down with how fun it is to use a new Keyblade or attack that's been unlocked. It's certainly the flashiest of all the games, but at times excessive.

3 Kingdom Hearts 2

Kingdom Hearts 2 is a game that shows that it's starting to get the hang of things. The game begins to understand its scope and because of this, the game does a good job at providing a narrative that is touching to follow with a lot of redeeming moments and quality gameplay.

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The gameplay is some of the best with different drive modes that transform Sora's play style into something completely different. One of them lets him shoot magic from his Keyblade as he glides around quickly. The worlds are beautiful and inventive in ways that they hadn't been before. It feels like a fuller game.

2 Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance is the best game in the series in terms of what it does with its combat system and partner system. The story has some big highlights but is not the most memorable of the lot. Dream Drop Distance lets players take care of different pet-like creatures that they can upgrade to join them in battle.

The creatures allow players to have different powerful abilities with Sora or awesome transformations with Riku. Also, the use of flow mechanics makes it so that the player can use super-powered parkour to get around maps quickly and pleasingly.

1 Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days has the best story that has ever been introduced into the Kingdom Hearts series. It's a heartbreaking tale of the inner politics of Organization XIII. It is also a story about friendship with characters that are familiar to many of those who have played other Kingdom Hearts games and some that are not.

The game has a lot of interesting layers as it allows for much more Keyblade customizability. The gameplay is not as enjoyable as missions can be repetitive, but the emotional ride that it takes players on feels like a story deserving of a prestigious narrative award. With luck, it'll get a true remake in the future.

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