Though Square Enix has a slightly more of a polarizing reputation these days, the company still remains one of the most beloved publisher/developers in gaming. From Final Fantasy to Kingdom Hearts, they’ve created games that have captivated the hearts of gamers of all ages since the days of the SNES.
...But what are the company's best games? After 35 years and millions of copies of their titles sold, it’s hard to narrow it down. Fortunately, we’ve got Metacritic, the best-known game review aggregator on the web. Today, we'll be looking at all their games from both the Square Enix and SquareSoft eras, and talking about which of them are the best of the best.
10 DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION – 90
While it was developed by Eidos Montreal, the game was published by Square Enix, so it still counts. A prequel to the original Deus Ex game, this title follows former SWAT member Adam Jensen and his work with Sarif Industries, a company gradually figuring out the tech to enhance human bodies known as augmentations.
After Adam nearly dies at the beginning of the game, he finds himself being significantly enhanced before delving into the reasons why he was attacked. A continuation of an already beloved franchise, it’s unsurprising this cyberpunk action-RPG wound up with a 90 on Metacritic.
9 NIER: AUTOMATA GAME OF THE YORHA EDITION– 91
NieR: Automata was one of the most pleasantly surprising announcements when it appeared at Square Enix’s 2015 E3 showing—combining the brilliant mind of director Yoko Taro with the gameplay geniuses over at Platinum Games seemed like a match made in heaven.
From it, we received the next installment in the Drakengard universe, where players would become combat androids in a ruined futuristic world. As well-respected as the original was, the Game of the YorHa Edition comes with all the additional DLC to create an even greater overall experience.
8 FINAL FANTASY XIV: SHADOWBRINGERS – 91
It seems insane that Final Fantasy XIV isn’t still around, but it’s doing better than ever. When the initial game launched in 2010, it was filled with problems that lead to Square eventually creating a complete makeover.
Since then, we’ve gone through three major expansions, with Shadowbringers being the latest and most well-received. When the Scions of the Seventh Dawn fall ill, the player is brought to an entirely new world – The First – to battle against the Lightwardens, powerful beings creating havoc within the natural order of the world.
7 CHRONO TRIGGER - 92
Was there ever really any doubt this would be on the list? Created by the so-called “Dream Team” of Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yuji Horii, and Akira Toriyama, Chrono Trigger had too much talent to be anything less than superb. The game’s storyline is one that spans several eras of time—from the distant past to a ruined, broken future.
A story with some neat, unexpected twists, Chrono Trigger might be from the SNES era but it’s no ordinary RPG. It’s worth playing multiple times to experience all it has to offer, and the only real shock is that this game didn’t somehow become another long-running franchise for Square.
6 VAGRANT STORY - 92
Vagrant Story throws off anyone who doesn’t pay close attention to game mechanics...or those of us who refuse to use game guides. Featuring one of the most obtuse yet clever battle systems ever, Vagrant Story can be quite polarizing among players. Either they figure the system out and fall in love, or don’t and wind up hating it.
Fortunately, reviewers gave the game the credit it deserves. The story follows Ashley Riot, a member of a peacekeeping force hunting down a cult leader. Like most stories by Yasumi Matsuno, there’s plenty of twists and turns and things never become as simple as “save the world”. This title is still worth playing for everyone who doesn’t mind PS1 graphics.
5 FINAL FANTASY X - 92
Playing this when it first released must have felt something like being given a game from the future. PlayStation 1 seemed fancy with it’s “Full Motion Videos”, giving us 3D animated movies to help tell Square’s massive narratives. But then along comes Final Fantasy X and its voice-acted characters.
Playing as Tidus, who is dragged into the world of Spira after his world is destroyed, the player must work alongside a young woman named Yuna to stop the monster Sin from doing the same thing to her world. The third RPG released in the mainline Final Fantasy line in as many years, Square’s consistent level of quality during this period was insane.
4 FINAL FANTASY VII – 92
The game that cemented the PlayStation 1 as the number one system in many gamers’ minds, Final Fantasy VII isn’t just beloved critically but also commercially, as it’s one of the best selling titles from that era. The story sees Cloud Strife, a former member of SOLDIER, start working with an environmentalist group known as AVALANCHE to stop the mega-corporation Shinra from draining the planet of it’s Lifestream.
Featuring one of the most memorable casts in J-RPG history and a massive step-up (for the time) in graphical quality, Final Fantasy VII was our introduction to the era of big-budget gaming.
3 FINAL FANTASY XII – 92
With this last Final Fantasy on the PS2, and before we began the HD era of gaming, Square Enix brought us back to the world of Ivalice with a new story by Yasumi Matsuno, writer of Final Fantasy Tactics.
Taking place in the kingdom of Dalmasca, a country caught between two massive kingdoms, the story follows a young princess named Ashe and a sky pirate named Balthier who are dealing with the forces of Arcadia, an empire that’s already taken over Dalmasca. (Vaan? Who? Never heard of him.) XII is a more experimental game, eschewing the usual summons and magic system and even creating an all-new battle system that works something like auto-pilot, leading to a gameplay experience that is unlike anything that came before it.
2 FINAL FANTASY IX – 94
PlayStation 1’s last Final Fantasy, an argument could be made that this is the greatest Final Fantasy Square ever released. After multiple games based on cyberpunk or general futurism, Final Fantasy IX brings us back to the medieval feel of something like Final Fantasy V.
The game takes place on Gaia in the Mist Continent and starts out with the player in control of Zidane, leader of the group Tantalus. After Zidane kidnaps the Princess of Alexandria, he winds up on a journey that teaches him about his own origins. It was easily the most beautiful Final Fantasy on the original PlayStation and served as the perfect swan song for the system.
1 CHRONO CROSS – 94
It’s actually quite the surprise to see this tie for the top spot. Though Chrono Cross has always had its fans, it’s never spoken of in quite the same reverence as it’s predecessor, Chrono Trigger. The game is incredibly ambitious, featuring a playable cast of dozens across two parallel dimensions that the player goes back and forth between to recruit party members and continue the story.
They even take it a step further, offering a New Game+ and offering multiple different endings. The game aimed to do so much, they had to scale it back—meaning even despite all the content in the game, much of it was pruned away. A major achievement for the company outside of the Final Fantasy franchise, Chrono Cross should be up for a remake of its own one day.