Square Enix is one of the biggest developing and publishing video game companies in the world. Square and Enix, two already successful studios, merged together to become one of the biggest names in the RPG genre back in 2003. Popular franchises, such as Final Fantasy, Life is Strange, Kingdom Hearts, and Dragon Quest have brought the company a lot of success.
Some of Square Enix's best games, however, haven't received the attention that they deserve. Whether this was due to marketing, the market at the time, competing games, or whatnot, there are plenty of Square Enix games fans have slept on.
Drakengard
Drakengard is a PlayStation 2 RPG that released in Japan on September 11, 2003, and in North America on March 2, 2004. The story follows a prince named Caim who is fighting against the Empire that tried to have them killed along with its other enemies, members of the Union. What really makes it stand out from the standard JRPG is the ability to use a dragon in combat, as Caim has a Red Dragon partner named Angelus.
Drakengard became popular enough to have two sequels, but has always been one of Square Enix's most underrated franchises. Many people don't even know that NieR, a Square Enix series that has become more successful in recent years, is a spin-off of Drakengard. With NieR becoming a more popular Square Enix series, Drakengard and its sequels will hopefully follow in the future.
Kingdom Hearts X/Unchained X/Union X/Dark Road
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
Despite Kingdom Hearts being one of Square Enix's most popular franchises, few people have played its mobile games. Despite being rebranded a lot and being relevant to the console games, the mobile games just haven't gotten many gamers' attention. Originally, Kingdom Hearts X released in Japan on PC on July 18, 2013. However, it was shut down three years later, as the developer focused on a mobile version of it instead, known as Kingdom Hearts Unchained X, which told a slightly different story and had a different combat system.
Both Kingdom Hearts X and Kingdom Hearts Unchained X revealed the events that led to the Keyblade War, one of the most important pieces of the franchise's lore. As more story content was added to the mobile app, it was rebranded several times. Kingdom Hearts Union X served as a sequel to Unchained X that showed the aftermath of the Keyblade War, while Xehanort's childhood was explored in Dark Road. Many fans of the series have expressed their disinterest in playing these mobile installments, hoping that Square Enix will remake them for consoles.
Neo: The World Ends With You
The World Ends with You is another underrated Square Enix franchise, and even players of the original game are unaware that it received a sequel in 2021, Neo: The World Ends with You. Released worldwide on July 27 for the Switch and PS4, and September 28 for PC, Neo: The World Ends with You follows a group of people who died in Shibuya who have a chance at coming back to life by participating in a game.
The World Ends with You franchise has slowly become more popular over time, especially after its inclusion in Kingdom Hearts and an anime adaptation it received. However, due to poor marketing, many fans were unaware that Neo: The World Ends with You was released.