8 Square Enix titles you may have missed in 2022
Last year was packed with amazing games, from brand new RPG franchises to the triumphant return of some beloved series. How many of these have you played?2022 saw us release over 20 games. Whether you wanted an adventure big or small, we had you covered.
While 2023 is looking to be an incredible year for Square Enix, with the likes of Forspoken out now and FINAL FANTASY XVI launching June 22, there may be some amazing games from last year that you didn’t get a chance to experience.
If your resolution was to play more games this year, we'd recommend that you start with the following.
Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden and Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden
2022 saw the launch of not one, but three YOKO TARO-led games. If only we could always be this lucky.
NieR:Automata was released on Nintendo Switch, and two new Voice of Cards RPGs arrived on PS4, Nintendo Switch and Steam!
The Voice of Cards series share a similar aesthetic and gameplay between entries, with each presented as a tabletop card game, but every game is completely standalone, with their own characters and stories to tell.
In Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden, your hero travels across the realm in a search to help his friend unlock her destiny as a maiden of the isle, in the hopes that it can stop their homeland from being destroyed. The adventure sees you team up with other maidens and their guardians, each of whom has a very different playstyle and path to salvation, which allows you to vary up strategies in battle and learn what secrets the world holds, together.
Meanwhile, Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden is a tale of revenge that sees your hero wish to avenge the destruction of her hometown beneath the Earth.
She soon learns that she has the power to capture the essence of enemies, allowing her to utilise their attacks in battle. This may see you attempt to capture as many monsters as you can, placing them in your pocket, ready to help you become the very best battler, like no-one ever was.
Each game has a wonderful array of characters, melancholy tales that tug at the heartstrings, and come complete with a joyful cynicism and inventiveness that could only come from Creative Director YOKO TARO.
All three games in this series, Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden and Voice of Cards: Beasts Of Burden, plus the first instalment, Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars released in 2021, are available now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Steam.
- Get Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars
- Get Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden
- Get Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden
VARIOUS DAYLIFE
How wonderful would it be to set sail, and make a new life elsewhere? In VARIOUS DAYLIFE, you can find out for yourself!
This pioneering new RPG landed on the console shores last September, and bought with it a wonderful mixture of exploration and battling from the massively-talented Team Asano (BRAVELY DEFAULT, OCTOPATH TRAVELER).
Your story begins when you leave your home and join the seventh generation of settlers to a new continent. Upon exploring, you begin to discover mysterious crystals and artefacts, as well as a bevy of native monsters who are keen to stop you seeing all this land has to offer.
With a large variety of jobs to take on, an eclectic cast of team-mates, and so many different ways to develop your hero, VARIOUS DAYLIFE will soon see you compelled to take on new work orders, explore your newfound home, and uncover the mysteries that lie at the heart of the island.
VARIOUS DAYLIFE is now available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Steam, iOS and Android. Steam players can also purchase the game in a bundle with fellow Team Asano title and awe-inspiring TRIANGLE STRATEGY.
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story
Is it truly possible to be granted eternal youth? If so, to what lengths would you go to secure it for yourself? These are the questions posed by The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story, which released last May.
Directed by Koichiro Ito (METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN), this mystery adventure game sees you play as acclaimed mystery novelist Haruka Kagami as she attempts to help uncover the enigmatic mystery that surrounds the Shijima clan.
In order to truly discover the truth behind it all, you and Haruka will explore the chronology of the Shijima family and solve the myriad of murders that cropped up throughout generations, from the early 1900s to the hustle and bustle of the 70s, and even the present day.
What makes the series special is the stellar live action, which sees the actors appear in different roles through each case, giving an even greater sense of intrigue. The actor playing the victim in one case could potentially be the killer in another. Solving each case is also great fun, with each incident allowing you to match your collected clues against the mystery of the case to deduce all manner of hypotheses and motives for each crime. What could appear to be a simple crime can easily escalate into something darker and more complex, and it’s a joy to watch unfold.
Do you think you have what it takes to solve The Centennial Case? The game is available now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, and Steam. A demo is also available containing the first case, but please note that progress does not carry over to the full game.
DRAGON QUEST TREASURES
Boundless adventure awaits in a treasure hunter’s paradise! This new game follows the childhood adventures of siblings Erik and Mia, who first appeared in the iconic DRAGON QUEST XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age. This incredible adventure sees them transported to the mysterious world of Draconia, where they embark on an epic journey to find the seven Dragonstones in the hopes of earning the life that they’ve always dreamed of.
You can choose to explore as Erik or Mia, with progress and character development shared between them, meaning you don't miss out by playing as one over the other. After landing in Draconia Erik and Mia settle into their base of operations by hunting for treasure.
While procuring loot, you’ll encounter many monsters that you’ll be able to recruit to your gang. These monsters will be important to your success, as they have special skills you can utilise to search for treasure, traverse the islands of Draconia, and fight off enemy monsters and rival gangs. As players collect more treasure, they can grow Erik and Mia’s base and allow them to recruit even more allies to the cause.
Whether you loved DRAGON QUEST XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age and want to know more about the enigmatic duo of Erik and Mia or if you've yet to play a DRAGON QUEST title and wish to see what awaits you, DRAGON QUEST TREASURES is a stellar experience that you can play now on Nintendo Switch.
Download the demo now! You can even carry your save file into the full game. Doing so will gift you 5 Better Buddy Bullets, which increases how likely monsters are to want to join your gang.
The DioField Chronicle
2022 saw several amazing strategy games released by Square Enix, with TRIANGLE STRATEGY and Tactics Ogre: Reborn providing players amazingly in-depth turn-based, isometric battles. Hopefully, you didn't miss that it also saw the launch of The DioField Chronicle, an all-new Strategy RPG that chronicles an epic tale of war and honour.
Set in a unique and beautiful world that blends fantasy, medieval, and modern-day influences, and starring a dense roster of intriguing heroes, The DioField Chronicle represents a new kind of strategy game - one that will have you deftly making life-or-death decisions on the fly.
The DioField Chronicle features a strategic “Real-Time Tactical Battle” (RTTB) system, where rather than waiting their turn, your units and the enemy will carry our actions in real-time, which means you'll often have to issue decisive orders, carry out risky manoeuvres and make the most out of your units' special abilities in order to get a vital advantage over your foes.
What makes the game stand out even more are the beautiful diorama-style visuals, which richly depict DioField island in all of its glory as you plan, battle, and lead your army into a new dawn. It sounds as good as it looks too, thanks to a beautiful soundtrack by Ramin Djawadi and Brandon Campbell (Game of Thrones).
Available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Steam, there are plenty of ways to enjoy The DioField Chronicle. Picking it up now will put you in great stead for its forthcoming free update in March, which provides new story content, a new weapon, new skills, and additional challenges.
Plus there's a free demo available now that allows you to transfer your save to the full game.
VALKYRIE ELYSIUM
This new entry in the acclaimed VALKYRIE series sees you tasked with helping Odin save the world before Ragnarok devastates the world. Combining RPG elements with a lot of action, it's not long before you'll be unleashing painful combos upon your foes or putting lost souls back in their rightful place.
Throughout your quest you'll also team up with a series of Einherjar: heroes whose souls possess exceptional strength, chosen by Valkyrie to live once more. They had once lost all hope, but will stand by your side on your journey of planetary salvation. Able to be summoned upon the battlefield to assist your hero, they're one of many parts that make VALKYRIE ELYSIUM such a pleasure to play.
As you power up Valkyrie and hone her skills in battle, she's able to learn a variety of spells and abilities, and by completing the requests of lost souls, she can gain access to even more powerful spells and weapons, which allows you to further vary your combat strategies and techniques. Before long, you'll be fighting back swarms of foes with wild abandon, racking up massive combo attacks, and near single-handedly saving the day.
It’s a game that makes you feel like a true guardian of the gods, meting out divine justice, and travelling across the realm to save everyone you can. There's even a special ending for those who explore the world to its fullest...
VALKYRIE ELYSIUM is available on PS5, PS4 and Steam. There’s not only a free demo on PS5 and 4 that you can try out now, but the Digital Deluxe Edition on PlayStation 4 or 5 includes the newly-released port of VALKYRIE PROFILE: LENNETH *.
*VALKYRIE PROFILE: LENNETH is also available to purchase separately on PlayStation Store.
STAR OCEAN THE DIVINE FORCE
2022 also saw the long-awaited return of the STAR OCEAN series, bringing the action role-playing series onto the new generation of consoles.
The game begins when hero Raymond Lawrence is attacked by the Pangalactic Federation, and crash-lands on what appears to be an underdeveloped planet. He soon meets Princess Laeticia, and after helping her protect her homeland from an invading empire, their journey soon sees them preparing to shake the foundations of the entire universe.
STAR OCEAN THE DIVINE FORCE evolves the series' battle system, delivering incredibly fast-paced combat and the ability to take on large swathes of enemies at once. This makes confrontations feel thrilling yet challenging and gives you more options to take down foes than ever before.
Likewise, THE DIVINE FORCE makes the STAR OCEAN series bigger than it's ever been before, with massive environments that you can traverse on foot or in the sky. Even better is the fact that combat is now seamless. Combine these facts and you have an adventure that gives you more freedom in exploration and combat than any other title in the series.
The game’s available now on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Steam.
If you want to try before you buy, there's also a free demo available too (please note that progress does not carry over to the full game).
HARVESTELLA
The season of death approaches, and only you can stop it.
This magnificent lifestyle sim JRPG sees you waking up on an unfamiliar planet as it's visited by the troubling Quietus, a rogue season that sees crops wilt and anyone caught in its haze suffer terminal illness. You soon rescue the enigmatic Aria, who believes that she's a time traveller, sent from the future where the planet is about to be destroyed by a soon all-encompassing Quietus.
Amid your quest to quell the incoming storm, you inherit a small farm, which allows you to grow crops, raise animals, and earn money that you can use to renovate your home, power up weapons, or reinvest back into your farm to make it even bigger and better.
Before long, you'll find yourself convincing yourself to play just one more in-game day to collect the crops, plant new ones, and help the citizens of HARVESTELLA, only to find another half hour has passed and that you're already convincing yourself again to collect the crops, plant new ones...
Coupled with the ever-so-slightly addictive farming is the mission to put an end to the Quietus. You’ll recruit a cast of heroes, from sky-lancer Asyl to the enigmatic inventor Heine. Additionally, you can befriend other people in the world, such as the Doctor Cres or the verbose Unicon. You can also take on quests that explore their lives further, humanising - (or in the case of the Unicorn, unicorn..ising?) - your allies and reminding them what they're fighting for. Beneath it all, there's a story that evolves into something beautifully sincere, infectiously optimistic, and inspiringly hopeful.
There simply aren't enough words to describe how wonderful the journey of HARVESTELLA is. If you want to try it out for yourself then there's a free demo on Nintendo Switch available now that allows you to carry over your save to the full game.
So how many of these amazing games have you played, and which are you planning to pick up? Be sure to let us know on social media: