Flashback Sundays: Sudeki (2004) for Xbox

The Xbox-exclusive adventure RPG takes us on an epic battle between good and evil.

Something you don’t see much in today’s game releases is a action-rpg third person western cut with the charisma that Sudeki had, despite the fact that it was a completely unknown game and went very unnoticed.

Sudeki was developed by Climax and put on sale for the Original Xbox in Europe during July 2004, fully localized and dubbed in Spanish. And this game was a well-hidden gem, if you like action RPGs and strangely ambiguous dialogue writing. I imagine most of you reading this article won’t know the name of this game, but if you do and you’ve had the opportunity to play it like me (it was the one of the first games of the first Xbox that I enjoyed), surely you were attracted by the exciting fight between Illumina and Akloria.

Sudeki focused on four characters and his journey to defeat the dark twin of the god Tetsu. We will travel through kingdoms and cities, helping those on their way with various tasks. The protagonists are soldier

Tal, Princess Ailish, the beast Buki and the scientist Elco. Each of them had their own weapon specialty and special ability to use in tricky situations. Tal specialized in sword fighting, while when you were fighting as Ailish you did it in first person, using his cane to fire bolts of energy at the many enemies you’ve encountered on your journey through Illumina and the realms beyond. like buki, you would take advantage of their claws in close combat to destroy your enemies, while with Elco the fight took place in the first person with his energy gun. These different fighting styles ensured a wide variety of character options, allowing you to use and develop them to your liking.

Tal was a soldier in the royal guard, with his father as commander. His grief-stricken father refused to give Tal a chance to redeem himself. Unlike the princess life she leads Ailish, daughter of the queen Lusica. BoukI, an anthropomorph, who was a half-animal half-human race of beings, is as religious as it is murderous in battle. And finally, elco the scientist, equipped with a mechanical arm that allows him to use his favorite weapon: his energy gun, loyal to the crown and dedicated to the protection of Illumina.

One of the most striking points of this title is that, despite its colorful graphics and “typical” RPG characters, the game lasted more than 16 years

, something that was clearly seen in the sheer number of strong and bloody scenes.

It is possible that Sudeki is not a must-have title for the original Xbox (maybe not even if you’re a fan of RPGs) and its rating on various websites confirms it, but to me, as a game, it’s a great example of several things. First, he tells us about the risks of literally judging a game for its cover or for a few reviews in specialist journals of the time, since that was pretty much the only thing you could trust. If you were in your usual game store, like the one that disappeared mail center, could you read the back cover, which hopefully contained a description of the genre and a bit of what was going on in general, but that was it.

In 2004 there were not many player reviews and reviews

on streaming platforms or on the many sites of video game media, so you had to bank on the gameplay experiences by looking at the box art, its synopsis and the cover. And of course, it had its risks. Sometimes the game you bought turned out to be something totally unexpected, a completely different game. But that meant when you found a hidden gem, it was like a game made for you and you alone. And it happened to me with this title. None of your acquaintances would have heard of it, none of the gaming magazines you leafed through had mentioned it, and yet here you were experiencing all it had to offer, even if those around you don’t know it.

That’s what I liked about Sudeki. It was an action-rpg western which left me with a surprisingly good feeling that came from something i had no expectations for. And so I hope the Xbox community and other games not only remember Sudeki, its world and the characters within it, but also think of the hidden gems that deserve to live on.

Take a look at the hidden gems of the Xbox catalog here.

Sadly Sudeki is not available due to Xbox backward compatibility, but hopefully one day we can enjoy this hidden gem again. While, if you still keep your old xbox, it’s a good time to dust off and enjoy a wonderful story.