Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors

Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors follows on from the action game Otogi: Myth of Demons and was created for Xbox in 2004 by the Japanese studio From Software, long before the fame of Dark Souls. The game draws on Japanese mythology and folk legends; the player, in the role of the hero Raikoh, roams picturesque, visually stylized landscapes full of demons, spirits, and supernatural beings, which he dispatches with elegant sword-attack combos supplemented by magic.

Combat is fast, fluid, and unusually airborne: characters can stay aloft for a long time, run across water's surface and along walls, and attack from above, all while the player keeps an eye on a magic energy gauge that depletes on its own during a mission, forcing them to push forward briskly rather than cautiously. Compared with the first game, the sequel introduced playable multiple characters, each with their own arsenal of abilities and weapons, increasing replayability and the tactical variety of combat. Otogi 2 retained the series' signature feature—a destructible environment where almost every tree, statue, or building can be smashed apart during a fight, which was technically stunning at the time of release and still ranks among the most impressive showcases of what the Xbox could do.

Although the series never achieved mass popularity outside Japan and America, it earned a cult reputation among fans of action games and Japanese aesthetics thanks to its rich audiovisual presentation, ambitious music drawing on traditional instruments, and a distinctive blend of action with fairy-tale folklore that had essentially no equal in the Xbox's library. The short, tight missions separated by simple cutscenes also make Otogi 2 a game that plays well in short bursts. With the Otogi series, From Software was already building a reputation as a studio capable of combining technical sophistication with visual poetry, long before it became famous for demanding action RPGs.