👑Kingdom Hearts series newcomers, please read! I'm seeing a ton of people playing Kingdom Hearts for the first time since the D23 panel. For anyone new, DO NOT play only the numbered games (I, II, and III). The other games are ESSENTIAL to understand each character's lore, motivations, and goals as well as establish important world building. It is recommended to play or watch at LEAST the following for a better understanding of the story before playing KH3: In this order: Kingdom Hearts I Final Mix Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Final Mix Kingdom Hearts Re:coded Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep Fragmentary Passage Please do the above before playing Kingdom Hearts III. Not doing so is like playing FFXIV MSQ from only base expansions ARR 2.0 to Endwalker 6.0 but not doing any of the X.1-X.5 patch MSQ, which you would be missing out a ton of story. After playing KH3, I would recommend playing or watching the following cutscenes for: Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory These other titles are necessary to understand the Xehanort Dark Seeker arc (everything from KH1 up to KH3). Now, if you want to really deep dive into the series to prepare yourself for KH4 and understand who the new characters you see in the new trailers are, I would recommend watching the following on YouTube: Kingdom Hearts Back Cover Kingdom Hearts χ [chi] and Union X Kingdom Hearts Dark Road Kingdom Hearts Missing Link Beta Cutscenes The Kingdom Hearts series is incredibly long, spanning multiple games on different types of consoles and platforms. However, the story is genuinely fascinating and each character has a lot of depth to them if you play the supplemental games and not only focus on the numbered ones. It's extremely rewarding when you have a better understanding of the entire series lore through the numbered AND non numbered games. TRUST!!!

The KH2 ending performed live by Haley Joel Osment (Sora) and David Gallagher (Riku) is extra emotional with Simple and Clean's instrumental track playing when Sora reads Kairi's letter 😭 I combined the entire cutscene with their live reading- it's too beautiful 🥺