Square Enix has one of the most expansive catalogs in the video game industry. The two companies were churning out hit games for years before merging in 2003, and have not stopped since. Most players know the company from hit series like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts, but with decades of games, there are bound to be several hidden gems. The list below isn’t meant to be the be-all, end-all for great Square Enix games, but it is an excellent starting point for anyone looking to dive deeper into the company’s long history.
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Here are six hidden gems in Square Enix’s massive catalog.
6) Brave Fencer Musashi
Brave Fencer Musashi was essentially Square’s attempt to make a Zelda game on the original PlayStation. Of course, it’s not a complete carbon copy, adding elements like voiced-over dialogue, a day-night cycle, and several RPG elements. The action-platforming gameplay was widely praised as “engaging and challenging.”
Toss in excellent visuals for the time, and you have a solid take on the Zelda formula. It was also a top-seller in Japan, with over 600,000 copies sold in ’98 to stick in the region’s Top 20 for the year. Musashi did get a second game in 2005, but the PS2 game failed to live up to the original.
5) Drakengard
Drakengard is an important game for Square Enix because it was Yoko Taro’s first game with the company. That partnership has led to several great games, with Nier: Automata being the big hit for Square Enix.
That said, Drakengard is worth playing in its own right. The developers wanted to mix elements of Dynasty Warriors and Ace Combat to create something that felt like nothing else. As usual with Yoko Taro and his team, they pulled that part off with flying colors. Drakengard is far from a perfect game, but it is an important one that’s worth playing for the story alone.
4) Valkyrie Profile
Tri-Ace’s Valkyrie Profile was a standout PlayStation game for Enix a few years before it merged with Square. It was a hit both critically and commercially, selling over 700,000 copies and earning top marks for its in-depth gameplay and captivating story.
We’ve since gotten a few follow-ups, but outside of Valkyrie Profile 2, none of them have hit as hard as the original. It has that perfect mix of complex, turn-based combat and an ambitious story that requires a few playthroughs to see everything. On top of all that, Valkyrie Profile isn’t bad in the looks department either.
3) Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen
The SNES original kicked off the Ogre Battle series. It’s since been largely overshadowed by its sequel, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, but that doesn’t make the first Ogre Battle any less important. In fact, in some ways, Ogre Battle could’ve been even more of a hit.
See, the developers originally planned a relatively small print run. Thankfully, they were able to double the number of units in Japan, which helped make Ogre Battle a commercial hit. However, in North America, where Enix was publishing Ogre Battle, only 25,000 units were printed. Those sold through almost immediately, making it hard to find outside of Japan. Still, it earned that cult classic status and is well-worth playing for fans of classic tactics gameplay.
2) Parasite Eve
Following the success of Resident Evil, everybody was looking to jump into the survival horror genre. Square’s attempt was Parasite Eve, which took the survival horror formula and added some of the RPG elements the developer was known for. It’s also notable as Square’s first M-rated game, which it earns with the violent, horrific plot.
Parasite Eve was a hit with fans and critics, earning it two sequels, a film adaptation, and two comic series. Fans loved Eve‘s beautiful visuals and gripping cinematic sequences, though the long load times were an obvious problem. Still, it’s one of the better (and more unique) Resident Evil-likes of the era, and is deserving of a modern remake.
1) ActRaiser
Enix partnered with developer Quintet, which is best known for Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma, for ActRaiser. This ambitious mash-up of side-scrolling platforming and city building was a brilliant attempt from the developers to create something fresh for the SNES.
The team mostly succeeded. Sure, it wasn’t a perfect blend of the two genres, but fans of both could find plenty to enjoy in ActRaiser. Plus, Quintet gave it some of the best music on the SNES, even winning Electronic Gaming Monthly’s award for Best Music in 1993. There was a sequel, but it ditched the city-building mechanics to become mostly a pure action-platformer. There were some attempts to create a third game for the Nintendo 64, but development stalled, and we’ve never gotten a proper follow-up to the original’s fun mix of gameplay styles.
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