10 Most Essential Japanese Video Games

8. Dark Souls

What's a list on games that upended everything we thought we knew about game design without Dark Souls?

Yes, Demon's Souls came first, but if we're talking essential titles from entire franchises, it's the original Dark Souls by a country mile.

Hidetaka Mizayaki's ethos - inspired by reading illustrated books in other languages as a child - was to give you the building blocks of an intricate fiction, one item, weapon or boss at a time.

It resulted in a game that is brutally unforgiving, sure, but that had far more to it than just forcing Game Over screens. Dark Souls' persistent world, respawning enemies and trial n' error approach immediately instilled the idea that maybe there was more to everything than just some skeletons and a fire-breathing dragon.

Dark Souls would go on to revolutionise the very way we control action games; the very nature of how we fight bosses and manoeuvre around them. It's a hugely important title for multiple genres at once, and without Miyazaki's mind at the helm, none of it would've come together.