For such a large publisher, Square Enix has a surprisingly inconsistent track record when it comes to the success of its releases. For a studio with huge tent pole franchises like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and Tomb Raider, they’ve also been bogged down by mediocre titles like Babylon’s fall, Marvel’s Avengers, and Thief.
Then there are the following games. Originally lumped together with the latter group of less-than-stellar experiences, these releases eventually found a vocal fanbase spreading the word of their quality. Over time, they’ve built up a following, sometimes one large enough to result in the production of a remaster or remake, if not an outright sequel, earning the status of a cult classic.
9 Kidney Gestalt (2010)
The Kidney franchise has graduated from ‘cult classic’ to full-fledged ‘classic’ with the success of NieR: Vending machines, but when the first game was released on the PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2010, Kidney Gestalt was not well received. Critics and players alike found the gameplay uneven and the storyline confusing (reasonably enough) and real, as it was intended to be loosely set as a sequel to the dragon garden series, the whole thing came across as unusual.
The creator of KidneyYoko Taro, has a devoted following and they picked it up Neir no matter what the conversation around the game said. Then they started spreading the word about the game’s utterly fascinating, world-building, and philosophically challenging story. It soon started to catch on. Not only did Kidney get the sequel, but the original game was recently remade as Kidney: Replicant and released on modern consoles in 2021.
8 I am Setsuna (2016)
The very first release from native Square Enix developer Tokyo RPG Factory, I am Setsuna was made as a tribute to classic RPG titles from the 90s and 2000s. Everything from the story to the combat to the interface felt like it had been taken out of an SNES RPG and modernized.
The game received decent praise from critics, sold very well in its first week and then dropped. Tokyo RPG Factory suffered heavy financial losses as a result of the game’s initial sale. Despite, I am Setsuna remains relevant. It’s often cited as a good gateway to the world of JRPGs, given its short runtime (usually less than 30 hours) and nostalgically familiar controls. No one will mistake it for a masterpiece, but it hits all the right notes for what it is trying to achieve.
7 Walküre profile (1999)
Valkyrie Profile did not bomb in the traditional sense. It was released in 1999 in Japan and a year later in North America, by the end of 2005, and had sold over 700,000 copies. However, the vast majority of those sales (nearly 90%) were in Japan. Despite extremely positive critical reception and word of mouth, the game never caught on in the West.
The popularity that Valkyrie Profile saw in Japan resulted in a remake of the game for PSP in 2006. Again, the game sold well in Japan, and although sales in North America improved, they were still unspectacular. Despite this, the last reported milestone Valkyrie Profile have sold 2.2 million copies. With the franchise’s first proper sequel, Valkyrie Elysium, Square Enix, due out sometime in 2022, hopes these games will finally catch on in a more JRPG-tailored Western market.
6 Sleeping Dogs (2012)
Square Enix’s adventure into the realm of GTA-style open-world action games, sleeping dogs released to critical acclaim and acclaim from players. It has been praised for its engaging combat system – often compared to the battles in the Batman Arkham games – and the detailed and enticing rendering of Hong Kong. It was even nominated for Action Game Of The Year at the DICE Interactive Achievement Awards 2013.
While all these factors would indicate: sleeping dogs Since it was a success, selling 1.5 million copies in its first two months, Square Enix had higher sales expectations for the game, declaring it a “failure” in 2013. The planned sequel was scrapped shortly after, despite fan protests that continue to this day. A film adaptation starring Donnie Yen is in the works, giving fans renewed hope for a possible sequel, but it doesn’t have a planned release date at the time of writing.
5 Racing Lagoon (1999)
Developed in 1999, when Square Enix was still called SquareSoft, Racing Lagoon was an amalgamation of 3D racing and JRPG storytelling. Critical reception was lukewarm and as a result the game never got an English translation, but players sang a completely different tune.
Although the racing elements were quite simple, even compared to its contemporaries such as Gran Turismo 2, it was the RPG elements that attracted players. There was an exciting world to explore and various upgrades that players could attach to their cars. There was also the fantastic jazz-fusion soundtrack, which has been ranked as one of the best of the PlayStation era. Recently a group of translators at Hilltop Works published an English translation of: Racing Lagoon which is now available for download, showing that the game still has a following all these years later.
4 Wanderer Story (2000)
Released at the end of the original PlayStation’s lifecycle, wanderer story was missed by many players who had already switched to the new console generation. Those who’ve played it know that this game pushed the PlayStation to the absolute limits of its graphics capabilities, told a deep and compelling Shakespearean story, and sowed the seeds for story-based storytelling that would eventually lead to games like dark souls more than a decade later.
Despite all this, wanderer story never really caught up. The game’s creator, Yasumi Matsuno, continued to direct Final Fantasy 12and there are plenty of influences in that title that hark back to wanderer story. Of all the games on this list, this one is the most deserving of a modern HD remaster, if not a full-blown remake.
3 Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy (2021)
Is it too early to declare this game a cult classic? Despite generally positive critical acclaim, player praise and winning the 2021 Game Award for Best Story, Square Enix stated that: Guardians of the Universe 6 months after its release had failed to meet sales expectations.
Maybe that had something to do with the bland Marvel’s Avengers release just hanging over his head a year earlier, but Guardians of the Universe continues to receive praise from players who give it a shot. A sequel seems unlikely at this point, but as long as players continue to pick up the game due to word of mouth, those odds will improve.
2 Final Fantasy 14: An Empire Reborn (2010)
Final Fantasy 14s inclusion on this list should come as no surprise. To say the game was bombed at launch is a bit of an understatement. Visually it was very well received, but the game tried too hard to look good and was unable to run well on most players’ systems. This only made the problematic gameplay, story and server issues more frustrating.
Two years after its launch, Final Fantasy 14 was shut down, and Square Enix brought in Naoki Yoshida, the famous director of the dragon quest series, to solve the game’s problems. A year later, Final Fantasy 14: An Empire Reborn launched with near-unanimous praise from critics and fans. From there it all went uphill. Final Fantasy 14 is no longer just a cult classic, it is one of the most successful MMOs of all time and considered one of the best Final Fantasy games ever made.
1 NEO: The World Ends With You (2021)
Released a few months ago Guardians of the Universe but attractive to a very different audience, NEO: The world ends with you is a sequel to 2007 The world ends with you on the Nintendo DS. It has an entirely unique art style, some fantastically customizable combat mechanics, and a top-notch soundtrack.
Despite this, NEO: The world ends with you is yet another example of a game not meeting Square Enix’s sales expectations. That said, word of mouth will likely carry the load for this game as well. As more players try it out, enjoy it and recommend it to others, this game has become a cult classic.
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