Last Updated: August 2026
A recommended way to experience the Final Fantasy franchise, each series listing the mainline game alongside its prequels, sequels, remakes and spin-offs. Optional extras are marked — skip them and the series still holds together.
16 mainline entries; 30 series, 105 games, 20 expansions & DLC, 9 movies & videos, 80 books, 24 comics, and 5 radio dramas. Oh my! Where to start?
Where to start? ¶
You can play Final Fantasy in any order — no way is more correct than another. Ours is just one take; feel free to modify it and make it your own.
New players ¶
If you've never played a Final Fantasy game, or a turn-based RPG, starting with the action-oriented Final Fantasy XVI (2023) is a great entry point. Come back here when you're done.
A few games ¶
If you've only played a few, then there's a few good places to go next.
Pixels; Love pixel art? Start at the beginning with Final Fantasy (1987) and keep going in narrative order.
3D; 3D your jam? The three-part Final Fantasy VII: Remake Intergrade (2021), Rebirth, and Resonance will get your feet wet, then either keep going or go back to Final Fantasy III: 3D Remake (2006).
Realtime; Prefer more realtime-ish action titles? Final Fantasy XVI (2023) and Final Fantasy XV (2016) have you covered.
Social; Want a great story in a social setting with others? Final Fantasy XIV: Online (2013) begins one of the series' grandest adventures.
Many games ¶
If you've played many Final Fantasy titles already, why not start from the beginning and go series by series? Chronological order works well once you've already played the mainline entries and want to explore additional material.
Our order¶ We offer four different ways to organize the titles within each series.
Narrative order; our recommendation. Protects the story's big reveals from prequels that would spoil them, while avoiding the jumps in time that release order can cause. The mainline entry usually comes first, then sequels, then prequels, then spinoffs, for the most cohesive read of the story's key moments.
Chronological order; not always perfectly possible to pin down. Best if you've already played the mainline entry, since prequels and side stories can spoil later reveals. Lets you experience the whole timeline start to finish, though some side stories are hard to place exactly.
Release order; within a series, the order things actually came out, which tends to jump around in the story's own timeline. Some argue this reflects how the authors intended the story to unfold, but marketing and sales decisions at the time usually mattered more.
Overall Release order; no series groupings, just everything in the order it came out. How us old timers experienced things. The mainline entries stay in order, but the extra material has you jumping between series constantly rather than staying within one, and remakes that add new story need some allowances made for where they fall.
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May already have a demo — check platform storefronts.
Two games, three expansions & DLC, one book, and two comics.
For the first 14 years, this series was only available in Japan.
One game, four books, and one comic.
It was 16 years until a 3D remake brought this series outside Japan, and a total of 31 years until the original pixel art version did.
One game, one book, and one comic.
A spin-off designed as a simplified turn-based RPG for new players, and the first Final Fantasy game released in Europe.
One game.
Three games, and three books.
For the first 7 years, this series was only available in Japan.
One game, and one movie & video.
The last mainline entry to feature 2D sprite graphics, especially outside of mobile games.
One game, and one book.
12 games, two movies & videos, and five books.
A more grounded, character-driven entry, centered on a love story and experimental mechanics.
One game.
A retrospective entry, returning to the medieval style of the earlier games.
One game, and one book.
A bold departure into science fiction and photorealistic CG, laying the groundwork for the series' future cinematic ambitions.
One movie & video, and one book.
The first to feature voice acting and direct game sequels, the start of the PlayStation 2 era.
Three games, one movie & video, one book, and one audio drama.
The first anime in the franchise.
Two games, one movie & video, two books, one comic, and three audio dramas.
The first MMO in the franchise, told as a string of largely self-contained story arcs. Story complete. Also sports a long-running book spin-off series.
Three games, five expansions & DLC, 37 books, and six comics.
Known for its focus on co-operative gameplay, a return to Nintendo with the GameCube.
Six games, one book, and three comics.
9 games, and one comic.
Final Fantasy's take on the fighting game genre. Titles contain elements and characters from other Final Fantasy entries, and thus could be considered a mash-up or alternate universe.
Five games.
With stories revolving around crystals associated with deities, the series marks the start of the cross-platform launch era, with PlayStation 3 and its Xbox debut on the Xbox 360.
Six games, 9 books, and two comics.
An original mobile-first entry that paved the way for bringing most of the 2D franchise to mobile, without gacha and microtransactions.
Two games.
The second MMO in the franchise, and its longest story by far — one overarching tale still unfolding through new content.
Three games, six expansions & DLC, seven books, and two comics.
A rhythm spin-off, mashing up elements and music from across the franchise, and occasionally outside franchises altogether.
Four games.
Features a unique multiplayer aspect, and lets you customize your party for each quest-driven encounter.
Two games.
A gacha mobile world remade into a standalone story driven turn-based RPG with modern pixel art. Incorporates original elements with existing titles, including other franchises altogether. Can be considered a bit of an alternate universe mashup spin-off.
Four games, and one comic.
Light hearted spin-off mixing chibi art and humor, aimed at a younger audience with plenty of throwbacks to previous titles.
Two games.
Eight games, four expansions & DLC, three movies & videos, one book, two comics, and one audio drama.
A dark, mature tale full of spectacle, with real-time action combat and kaiju-scale Eikon battles, a recommended starting point for newcomers.
One game, and two expansions & DLC.
Illustrated children's picture books based on various Final Fantasy worlds. Also listed under their respective series.
Four books.
Unofficial, usually unsanctioned, fan projects set in the Final Fantasy universe that are mostly original and could be considered of high quality.
Four games, one book, and one comic.
A collection of standalone titles that nonetheless may be worth looking into.
15 games, and one comic.
Spin-off mashup pulling characters and settings from across the Final Fantasy franchise, tied to the GREE mobile-social gaming platform exclusively in Japan. The games could be considered an alternate universe, and gameplay is inspired by card-based elements.
Two games.
Do I need to play the franchise in order?
¶No. You can play the Final Fantasy franchise in any order, and only the internal order of each series is important. For example Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy XVI are not related story wise in any way, and only share some common elements belonging to most Final Fantasy series.
Why isn't every side story or spin-off listed separately?
¶Some appearances are folded into our Other series entry instead of getting their own line, when we've judged the story not noteworthy enough on its own — the Chocobo titles especially.
Which version should I play?
¶We've tried to only list releases that have significant differences, to better help you choose. We tend to recommend one or two releases prominently as working for the most people and put the others behind a other versions toggle.
The platforms you already own is a good start. MacOS and most Linux distributions now have abstractions layers like Proton that can play most Windows games without problem. Console emulation is at best a legal grey area we cannot promote.
Even if a bit less convenient at times, we recommend owning outright instead of licenses. That means physical media over digital; and GOG or direct from publisher instead of gaming services like Steam or Epic. Last would be digital services tied directly to console hardware, which tend to be terminated after a few years; and game streaming services whose titles may come and go. Good questions to ask yourself on if you actually own something is "Can I resell it? Can I transfer my license? Can I use the product if the purchase platform is terminated?".
Why doesn't the language list always match?
¶Some platforms drop a language or two for the same release depending on the market they target. Verify languages for your chosen platform — our list is a guideline, not a guarantee.
What language should I experience something in?
¶Either the language in which you can best enjoy it (usually your native tongue), the language it was originally produced in (if you're sufficiently proficient), or a mixture of both when subtitles are appropriate. One trick: if you find the voices grating, switch the audio to a language you don't understand — reading subtitles often lets you fill in your own characterization. Any of these can be the right answer.
How do I read something if it's not available in any languages I am familiar with?
¶If you're able to obtain a digital copy of the text, you may be able to generate a rudimentary machine translation using offline local-only AI (like in Firefox) or online services (like DeepL or Google Translate). Be aware it won't be very accurate, especially in translating culture or expressions, but sometimes it is better than nothing, and it has the advantage of being able to translate into dozens if not hundreds of languages. When able, translate from a source language similar in grammar to your target language.
Why are only digital downloads marked as terminated?
¶When official means of obtaining digital downloads are terminated, there is no other legal recourse. For physical media (e.g. cartridge, CD, or DVD) you can still legally obtain them on the reseller market as a used copy.
Why are some physical releases marked for multiple platforms?
¶If a platform has a compatibility layer to play media from an older platform, we will mark that platform with a note in the tooltip. The idea is to know what games you can play on what platforms, not which release it is (that's what the version title is for!)
Why is a title missing?
¶It may have come out after the last update of this list, check last updated at the bottom of the page and if so, please submit it!
Why is a specific release missing?
¶When release content is mostly identical (minor differences aside) we generally roll them into a single entry in our list (combining platforms), using the original release date only. Our list is meant to be a play order, not a detailed accounting of every release made, so only information that is important when choosing which release to play is generally included.
Interested in helping improve this list?
¶See the Help Wanted section below for specific tasks, or head to this list's discussion page to propose something else — missing entries, corrections, or anything the list is getting wrong.
Have fan art you want to share alongside entries in this list?
¶We're always looking for simple small original fan art to go beside entries in this list (with full in-place attribution), and rotate through multiples when we can. Hand-drawn or digitally painted (Photoshop, tablet, etc.) work is welcome, but we'd prefer to avoid AI-generated art for now. Head to this list's discussion page to tell us about your work.
So we can display it freely, we only accept CC-BY licensed work. Let us know if something is being displayed in error.
Information from Wikipedia, Final Fantasy Wiki, FFXI Wiki, lockstepper fan translation list, store pages, and Reddit. Ratings from Metacritic, Steam, IMDb, and Goodreads. Length from HowLongToBeat. Stores from GOG, Square Enix, Steam, Epic Games, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Google, Apple, DekuDeals, and Amazon. breezewiki.com mirror for fandom.com.
Last Updated: August 2026.
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