Sony Japan Studio: 28 Best Games They Helped Create

After a highly productive (if not very profitable) run of games on the PS3, near the tail-end of the console's cycle, there was a CEO restructuring in Japan Studio, with an attempt to refocus the dev into a quality-over-quantity approach with its games.

Puppeteer was the first game built around that notion, and it's an immediately fetching title, mixing up classic 2D platforming with an inventive 3D layout of an interactive stage play. In fact, its presentation is jaw-dropping and endlessly impressive, even to this day.

It gives the platformer plenty of inventive setpieces too, as your puppet protagonist must navigate several 'staged' levels using power-ups to interact with level elements, as well as take on a series of bosses in clever showdowns.

Plus, the plot was humorous and charming. The game had so much going for it, it's a shame then that the platforming itself can be janky and frustrating in several parts.

Regardless, it was a strong attempt for Japan Studio to etch out a place intentionally next to its first-party brethren but unfortunately, it was undermarketed and too weird to get the recognization it deserved.