Summon Night: Swordcraft Story

Summon Night: Swordcraft Story is a 2003 spinoff of the Summon Night series that retains the original’s RPG gameplay with additional mechanics of visual novels and dating sims. In Swordcraft Story, you take the role of either Cleru or Pratty, a Craftknight entering a tournament to become the next Iron Craftlord after their father’s death. The characters and plot are amazingly well written and the split story allows for tons of replayability. There is an explorable and ever-expanding labyrinthic dungeon, an entertaining weapon forging mechanic, and fantastic postgame content. Modern RPG franchises should take a few notes from Swordcraft Story.