Way of the Samurai for the PS2.
A game set during the Meiji era in Japan, aka the last days of the samurai, you play as a samurai of unknown origin and get yourself caught up in a conflict between two samurai clans fighting for control of a place called Rokkotsu Pass. One is making a deal with the Meiji government to sell off the their land, and the other wants to fight the government and lead the charge to bring in a new age of samurai. Caught in the middle are these townfolk who get harassed and ransomed by both and through your choices you ultimately decide the fate of the Pass and the people in it.
It's similar to that of a rogue-like in that if you die, you have to start all over. Although each playthrough of the game lasts about an hour, and you still get rewarded with points that unlock things like tutorials, costumes and characters for the game's battle mode. How much you get depends on how well you do.
Combat is in depth in that you have to learn how to not just block, but also parry, knock your opponent off balance and also balance offense and defense to prevent your sword from being broken. You can pick up other swords from fallen enemies and each are divided into five different stances that each have their own movesets. The swords also come with randomized stats in the form of attack, defense and life. You can have these swords upgraded and even saved for future playthroughs through them getting "delivered" so if you found yourself a good weapon and don't want to lose it, you can give it to the blacksmith and save it for a later playthrough.
And despite being such a tiny game, (The map consists of eight different segments that you revisit a few times throughout each playthrough) there's quite a lot of content and replay value. There are six different endings to obtain and several different events and scenarios you can find yourself in, each with their own amount of choices and consequences that come attached to each. The player also has access to quite a few dialogue choices that while ultimately lead to the same outcome allow for lots of opportunities to roleplay and lead to lots of humorous conversations. You can be the brave and noble hero and try and help the townsfolk wherever you can, you can be an asshole and taunt your enemies, you can just not say anything at all to anyone, and you can do some pretty evil things like blackmailing Suzu into having sex with you before you go rescue Don.
In one of the endings, you can even sell out to the bad guy at the very last minute and get yourself in a position of power only for you to get assassinated and end the game with 0 points. Dying at the beginning by being a smartass and getting yourself run over by a train is a more honorable position than selling out your fellow samurai.
You can even just go "None of this is my problem!" and end your game prematurely by just leaving the pass. Which is a good way of holding onto good weapons when grinding or having to abandon a botched playthrough.
And of course there's lots of unlockables such as the Battle mode, which allows you to play as any of the NPC's in the game, including Suzu's frail grandpa who jumps around like a monkey and makes the craziest noises when you play as him.
Really, the only flaw I could say about the game is that the translation is pretty wonky and has lots of spelling and grammar errors. But that inadvertently adds to the game's charm in my eyes.
The game went on to have three sequels. I haven't played any of these, but I heard the second game is really good too.
Obligatory soundtrack post:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=xjEIPJYAP6U
https://youtube.com/watch?v=3v3o-MQ014Y
