RPGs are a mainstay of video game culture. In the early days, series like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest were common sights in gamer libraries. These landmark titles helped video games take off with their long stories and deep character development. Over the years, Western developers started releasing their own RPGs more inspired by their tabletop ancestors than the Japanese RPGs from before.
The definition of what an RPG is expanded as the turn-based combat of JRPGs met WRPG real-time and eventually evolved into action-RPGs. Today, multiple permutations means there’s a flavor of RPG for everyone, even the people who can’t get into the sometimes kiddy or teenage-angst aesthetic of common RPGs.
10 Dragon Age: Origins
Released in 2009, Dragon Age: Origins is maybe the last great original BioWare IP. Coming hot off the success of Mass Effect, DA:O was the spiritual successor to their early dark fantasy titles of Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights. In the midst of its homecoming, BioWare also tried to shake off some of the shackles from their previous games. In an effort to make choices more player-driven, DA:O lacks a karma system to represent any choices numerically.
DA:O was not planned as a new franchise despite its title but it’s success led to comics, novels and two more games with another on the way.
9 Fallout 2
Before it was developed by Bethesda, Fallout was a turn-based RPG developed by Black Isle Studios. Unlike its successors, Fallout 2 was played from an isometric point of view instead of the first-person (or third-person, if you’re weird) point-of-view that Fallout 3 and New Vegas used.
Over 150 years after the war, you’re tasked with saving your tribe from starvation by finding a way to restore the environment with a machine called the Garden of Eden Creation Kit. Player choices dictate events that unfold later in the game while combating the realities of organized crime and slavery in the ruins of the world.
8 Fable
Fable didn’t live up to its pre-release promises. Then again, they were set so high that no game could. The released title was still solid. Players were able to develop their character from a child, to an adult, to a near-mythological figure while unraveling the mystery of both what happened to their family and the truth behind their lineage.
While Fable has plenty of mature themes including sex, murder and revenge, maybe the most adult reality in it is that you can kill a town’s worth of homeowners, buy their homes and then extort their children for rent years later to become a baron with more money than you can spend.
7 Diablo II
The granddaddy of all action-RPGs. Diablo II is a legend among PC gamers as one of the greatest dungeon crawlers ever created and has inspired countless other games. Its deep character customization meant that no two versions of the same character had to be developed the same way. Players could enjoy the story solo, together or even compete in PvP combat with one another.
Diablo II’s gritty setting elevates it above more kid-friendly titles and helped mold the notion that PC games skewed more toward older, more mature audiences at the time.
6 The Witcher 3
After the first two titles found niche or moderate success, The Witcher 3 was a blockbuster. It was one of the most lauded games of 2015 with numerous Game of the Year awards and ample praise was heaped upon its gameplay, narrative, combat and overall design.
Fans were attracted by Geralt’s mature and weathered personality. It’s a welcome contrast from the adolescent idealism found in more traditional JRPG-fare. Players repeatedly face complicated and ambiguous choices that have lasting consequences through the rest of the story.
5 Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
Before the Persona spinoffs became the more recognized franchise, Atlus was primarily known for the Shin Megami Tensei series. The series has never reached the popularity of contemporaries like Final Fantasy but still found a home among fans thanks to its strong design direction, darker themes and mature subject matter.
Shin Megami Tensei III is set in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo where the player must navigate the changed city and an at-times bizarre plot. Nocturne garnered and still deserves attention for its challenging difficulty and incredible atmosphere.
4 Dark Souls
It’s difficult to talk about RPGs these days without mentioning Dark Souls. It’s dominated much of gaming discourse since its release in 2011 thanks to its usually excellent level design, deep lore and playstyle flexibility. Dark Souls was, and continues to be, something of a revolution, proof that games could not spoon-feed players and still find wild success.
Dark Souls’ grim fantasy setting, dour atmosphere and unforgiving design can make it unapproachable. Players who meet the game halfway, who put in the work it requests, are met with one of the most rewarding RPGs out there.
3 Bloodborne
Bloodborne is both one of FromSoftware’s and last generation’s most praised games. It takes the difficulty and explosive combat of the previous Souls games and turns it up to 11. Bloodborne is balanced on extreme aggression on both sides. Combat encounters usually end fittingly for the game’s title: with a shower of blood coating whoever remains standing as the victor.
Yharnam and the surrounding lands boast ample horror movie shock and gore. Severed heads and dismembered limbs, torture and graphic, bloody murder. Bloodborne makes no concessions, adequately following its horror movie and novel inspirations to craft one of the best games on the PS4.
2 Mass Effect
As of today, Mass Effect looks like BioWare’s last truly great IP. The original suffers in one-dimensional combat and clunky menus but succeeds in its well-written characters, quests and rewarding exploration. Unlike its successors, the initial Mass Effect drops you into the middle of the galaxy and lays out the pieces for you to learn and explore instead of feeding it to you. In short, Mass Effect 1 is focused on worldbuilding instead of 2 and 3’s storytelling.
It works to create one of the finest RPGs of all time. Mass Effect excellently balances its branching narrative with impactful choices that decide the fate of both party members and the galaxy as a whole. Judged in a vacuum, without the failures of sequels, Mass Effect is one of the finest RPGs ever crafted.
1 Persona 5
Persona 5 is one of the most finely crafted RPGs ever made. Stellar music, snappy combat, slick presentation and awesome art. Persona 5 (and its definitive edition Royal) is a must-play for any RPG fan. Despite its lengthy playtime, which can reach around 100 hours for an average run, Persona 5 is remarkably well-paced.
It’s full of style and confidence and tackles mature themes like abuse, assault, political manipulation and trauma. Don’t let its anime aesthetic or teenage cast dissuade you. Persona 5 is a first-class video game.
