In celebration of the Xbox One‘s Backwards Compatibility catalogue expanding to include more than 300 games, Microsoft is offering Mistwalker’s classic JRPG Lost Odyssey for free throughout the remainder of 2016. Until December 31, all Xbox 360 and Xbox One owners can download the title without spending a single penny and, what’s more, Mistwalker’s other game – Blue Dragon – is now available on the service digitally, having been previously only playable on Xbox One via the use of physical discs.
Originally released by Microsoft in order to push the Xbox 360’s popularity in Japan, neither title managed to achieve that goal, despite both receiving a warm critical response. Fortunately, both games proved to be popular with fans of the genre in the West, Lost Odyssey in particular being a title that was frequently requested for Backwards Compatibility.
If you missed them the first time around, see the general summaries below.
Lost Odyssey
Relive the journey of Kaim, a mysterious immortal warrior, as he embarks on an epic adventure of self-discovery. Now this epic RPG is yours to enjoy as our small way of saying thank you for being a fan of Xbox.
Blue Dragon
Featuring the character design of Akira Toriyama, the Father of “Dragon Ball Z”, and music by Nobuo Uematsu, the composer for Final Fantasy, Blue Dragon is an epic role-playing game (RPG) centered on five youngsters who possess miraculous strength and magical power.
Mistwalker was founded in 2004 by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi with financial backing from Microsoft itself. While still operating, the studio hasn’t released a major title on consoles for a few years, with the most recent being 2012’s action RPG The Last Story, a Nintendo Wii exclusive.
We definitely recommend that you pick Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon up at your earliest convenience. Both are great examples of their respective genre, and the former is free, so there’s no excuse!