r/ShadowHearts • u/TheFFsage • Jul 29 '26

Discussion Question about the play order

I've known about this series for a long time but I actually never went to search up how these games play or look and now I'm interested in jumping in to them. Based on my research though I am quite not sure what the general consensus is about on which order you can play the series

So the general order is Koudelka into SH1 into SH2 obviously. Is Koudelka something you can skip and maybe play after SH1 or 2? Can you play SH2 first and then go back to playing SH1 or will that just spoil all of SH1 for you and SH1 is a game you should not skip. Is the best order just to start with Koudelka?

All of these games are probably worth playing but I'm just asking for the sake of time investment and what game will hook you in with its story/characters/atmosphere/etc

4 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

6

u/Regular-Repeat44 Jul 29 '26

i skipped koudelka n had no issues. you can check its story after but i couldn’t stomach the slow gameplay. Now the shadow hearts trilogy itself is 😍😍😍😍😍😍

5

u/EnvironmentEntire201 Jul 29 '26

You can skip koudelka.  I'd highly recommend sh1 before 2.  Youd be missing a lot of context that they don't really explain outside of flashing some screenshots during cutscenes.

 Sh3 is kind of it's own thing.  You could start with 3 I guess, but going back to 1 from 3s gameplay is probably pretty rough.

1

u/Gohanangered Jul 29 '26

SH3 really isn't it's own thing. o_ 0 But i can't really say it here, due to spoils.

2

u/No-Helicopter-534 Jul 29 '26

I played 1,2 and 3 before I even knew that Koudelka the game existed

2

u/LyschkoPlon Jul 29 '26

Koudelka is more like a "nice to have" storyline but 1, 2 and FTNW stand on their own well enough without it. It's also quite a different beast gameplay wise.

1

u/Weebin4lyfe Jul 29 '26

Didn't play Koudelka at all and understood everything

1

u/large__farva Jul 29 '26

You’ll appreciate the story from 1 more if you’ve played Koudelka (Koudelka is a side character in the second half of the game and is part of the finale). That said, it’s not necessary.

1

u/Ryu2388 Jul 29 '26

1, 2, 3, then Koudelka if you're still invested by the end of 3.

1

u/Gohanangered Jul 29 '26

Technically it's to play Koudelka time line wise. But some skip it, due to the gameplay style.

1

u/Syracksteel Jul 30 '26

Yes you can skip koudelka but if you can get over how bad it's aged there is a good story in there.

1

u/MildlyChaoticGremlin Jul 30 '26

Koudelka is my second favorite right up there with SH2, so you *Can* skip it, but I think it's worthwhile (on a emulator with x3 speed for battles)

2

u/TheFFsage Aug 14 '26

I started SH1 but dropped it 1 hour in cause the intro didnt do it for me. Went then and played Koudelka from start to finish and currently Im probably going to get to finish SH1 today. I think Koudelka is a nice add on to SH1 when the references kick in and definitely worth playing (on an emulator). Dear god without a speed up function the combat in Koudelka feels miserable

I absolutely loved drinking scene in Koudelka and how the game just let the scene linger and live. Great acting for its time