What Kingdom Hearts games should you play before Kingdom Hearts 4?

Yes, you need to play previous Kingdom Hearts games in order to play Kingdom Hearts 4.

Kingdom Hearts is a series that is extremely story-heavy, and as such if you’ve not played any of the previous games, or if you’ve missed even one of the previous games then you’re going to missing substantial context that you need for the game. It may seem daunting at first, especially with how many games there is in the series, but without it you’ll be missing character beats, character introductions, character departures, story developments, plot twists and basically everything important in the series.

Kingdom Hearts Story Order

Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix
Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain Of Memories
Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Final Mix
Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded
Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD
Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep- A Fragmentary Passage
Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover
Kingdom Hearts 3
Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind
Kingdom Hearts: Melody Of Memory

All of the games above are available on modern consoles through the Kingdom Hearts 1.5+2.5 collection and the Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. Obviously you’ll have to buy Kingdom Hearts 3, Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind and Kingdom Hearts: Melody Of Memory separately, but there’s sales on quite often so it’ll be easy to grab. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded and Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover are all movies, so be prepared to watch them and plan accordingly for them.

Kingdom Hearts 4 Table of Contents: