For such a huge publisher, Square Enix has a surprisingly inconsistent track record when it comes to the success of its releases. For a studio with massive 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 these next games. Originally lumped in with the latter group of less-than-stellar experiences, these releases eventually found a vocal fanbase that spread 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, and earned themselves the status of a cult classic.
9 Nier Gestalt (2010)
The Nier franchise has graduated from "cult classic" to full-blown "classic" with the success of NieR: Automata, but when the first game was released on the PS3 and Xbox 360 back in 2010, Nier Gestalt was not received well. Critics and players alike found the gameplay uneven and the storyline confusing (fair enough) and really, considering it was meant to loosely stand as a sequel to the Drakengard series, the whole thing came across as unusual.
The creator of Nier, Yoko Taro, has a devoted following, and they picked up Neir regardless of what the conversation around the game said. Then they began spreading the word of the game's utterly fascinating world-building and philosophically challenging narrative. Soon enough, it started to catch on. Not only did Nier get its sequel, but the original game was recently remade as Nier: Replicant and released on modern consoles in 2021.
8 I Am Setsuna (2016)
The first-ever release from homegrown Square Enix developer Tokyo RPG Factory, I Am Setsuna was made as an homage to classic RPG titles of the 90s and 2000s. Everything from the story to the combat to the interface felt like it was pulled from a SNES RPG and modernized.
The game received decent praise from critics, sold very well in its first week, and then trailed off. Tokyo RPG Factory took heavy financial losses as a result of the game's initial sales. Despite that, I Am Setsuna continues to stay relevant. It is often mentioned as a good entry point 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's trying to accomplish.
7 Valkyrie Profile (1999)
Valkyrie Profile didn't bomb in the traditional sense. Releasing in 1999 in Japan and a year later in North America, by the end of 2005, it had sold over 700,000 copies. However, the overwhelming majority of those sales (nearly 90%) were in Japan. Despite extremely positive critical reception and word of mouth, the game just never caught on in the West.
The popularity that Valkyrie Profile saw in Japan resulted in the game being remade for PSP in 2006. Once again, the game sold well in Japan, and while its sales improved in North America, they still weren't spectacular. Despite that, the latest reported milestone has Valkyrie Profile having sold 2.2 million copies. With the franchise's first true sequel, Valkyrie Elysium, releasing sometime in 2022, Square Enix is hoping these games will finally catch on with a more JRPG-attuned Western market.
6 Sleeping Dogs (2012)
Square Enix's venture into the realm of GTA-style open-world action games, Sleeping Dogs released to critical and player acclaim. It was praised for its engaging combat system - often compared to the combat in the Batman Arkham games - and its detailed and enticing portrayal of Hong Kong. It was even nominated for Action Game Of The Year at the 2013 D.I.C.E. Interactive Achievement Awards.
While all these factors would point to Sleeping Dogs being a success, along with it selling 1.5 million copies in its first two months, Square Enix had higher sales expectations for the game and declared it a "failure" in 2013. The planned sequel was scrapped shortly thereafter, despite the protestations of fans that continue to this day. There is a film adaptation in the works starring Donnie Yen, giving fans renewed hope for a potential sequel, but it has no scheduled release date as of this writing.
5 Racing Lagoon (1999)
Developed in 1999, back when Square Enix was still called SquareSoft, Racing Lagoon was a fusion of 3D racing and JRPG storytelling. Critical reception was lukewarm, and as a result the game never received an English translation, but players sang a very different tune.
While the racing elements were fairly basic, even when compared to its contemporaries like Gran Turismo 2, it was the RPG elements that drew players in. There was an exciting world to explore, and various upgrades players could attach to their car. 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 the game still has a following all these years later.
4 Vagrant Story (2000)
Released at the tail end of the original PlayStation's lifecycle, Vagrant Story was missed by many players who had already moved on to the new console generation. Those who played it know that this game pushed the PlayStation to the absolute limits of its capabilities in terms of graphics, told a deep and engaging Shakespearean story, and sowed the seeds of lore-based storytelling that would eventually lead to games like Dark Souls over a decade later.
Despite all this, Vagrant Story never truly caught on. The game's creator, Yasumi Matsuno, went on to direct Final Fantasy 12, and there are plenty of influences in that title that harken back to Vagrant Story. Of all the games on this list, this one is the most deserving of a modern-day HD remaster, if not a full-on remake.
3 Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy (2021)
Is it too early to declare this game a cult classic? Despite generally positive critical reviews, praise from players, and winning the 2021 Game Award for Best Narrative, Square Enix declared that Guardians of the Galaxy had failed to meet sales expectations 6 months after its release.
That may have had something to do with the lackluster Marvel's Avengers release just a year earlier hanging over its head, but Guardians of the Galaxy continues to receive praise from players who give it a shot. At this point, a sequel seems unlikely, but as long as players continue to pick up the game due to word of mouth, those odds will improve.
2 Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn (2010)
Final Fantasy 14's inclusion on this list should come as no surprise. To say the game bombed at launch is a bit of an understatement. Visually it was very well-received, but the game was trying too hard to look good and wasn't able to run properly on most players' systems. This only made the problematic gameplay, story, and server issues all the more frustrating.
Two years after its launch, Final Fantasy 14 was shut down, and Square Enix brought in Naoki Yoshida, famed director of the Dragon Quest series, to fix the game's issues. One year after that, Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn launched to nearly unanimous praise from critics and fans. It's been all uphill from there. Final Fantasy 14 is no longer just a cult classic, it's 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 before Guardians of the Galaxy but appealing to a very different audience, NEO: The World Ends With You is a sequel to 2007's The World Ends With You on the Nintendo DS. It boasts a wholly 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 is likely to carry the load for this game as well. As more players try it out, enjoy it, and recommend it to others, this game has cult classic written all over it.