"Chronological" story order for Final Fantasy XV (and some extras)

04.16.2026: After 7 long years, I finally got into updating this guide, as the formatting could be better, and also my English got better over time, so hopefully it's easier to read and looks better! (And apparently the timeline wiki stopped existing at some point?)

Unfortunately with the rough development of this beautiful game, some aspects of the game were cut, or were instead explained in other media, so for the full experience, you would have to venture outside the game.

This guide should be as chronological as possible.

FFXV Platinum Demo: It's been delisted from all platforms as of now, it was basically a dream-like demo with young Noctis and Carbuncle.
Unless you own a console with the demo installed, you cannot play it anymore. Because of that, the only way of seeing it is a walkthrough on Youtube.
It takes about 25-30 minutes to watch, probably safe to skip but still a nice thing to have.

Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV: 5 Episode Anime, taking about 1 hour to watch. It doesn't really take place anywhere in the game, it's more like an alternative side story. Still nice to watch.

Final Fantasy XV Prologue Parting Ways Novel [cdn.sqexeu.com]: It takes place exactly before the start of the game, the opening cutscene continues right away.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV: 1.5h movie, At the end of the day, it's up to you when to watch it, just keep in mind that watching it before playing will spoil about 1-2 hours of the game's start. (Yeah I know, it's weird)

Due to how the DLC's work story-wise in this game, they can be played as described below, or after completing the game.

Below is a list of chapters and the associated DLC that is optimally story-wise.:

Chapter 7 OR 8 - Episode Gladiolus

Chapter 12 OR 13 - Episode Prompto

Chapter 13 verse 2 - After Chapter 13 or when you finish the story

Episode Ardyn - After finishing the story

Episode Ignis - After finishing the story

Comrades - After finishing the story

The Dawn of the Future Novel - After finishing the story. Not sure if it's available to read online, I suppose the only way of reading the novel is to buy it.

You can also read a timeline of the in-game world:
https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XV_timeline