Play order of series?

[Sire]

Hi, I'd like to know about the intended play order of the series since on steam we only have 3 and R. Does R replace any of the other games?

Or is R standalone?

[АlphaWhelp]

R replaces the first game. WitchSpring 2 is a repeat of the events from 1/R but you play the story from another character's perspective, so after playing R you can just skip 2 since you'll already know all the major story beats. Then 3 (either original or Re:Fine there's only some QoL changes no difference otherwise) and then 4.

However if you're planning to play 2, I recommend starting with the original 1 as the first two games are pretty old/dated and going backwards is going to be a hard adjustment. It'll be easier if you don't know what you're missing.

Additionally some of the new characters in R don't appear in 2 so the final sequences will be pretty confusing if you play R then 2. My personal recommendation is to play 1, 2, R, 3, then 4 for the full series or just R, 3, 4 for the short version.

It's not known if there's ever going to be an R2. Do not play 3 / 4 out of order as they spoil all previous games.