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Role-Playing Games Every Gamer Needs To Play
Role-playing games (RPG) have evolved so much over the past two decades. Whether you’re wishing to lead a warrior into battle in an epic fantasy world, take on aliens in outer space, or explore a post-apocalyptic world, there’s something for everyone.
RPGs usually take place in a well-defined setting supported by a detailed background story. As a player, you will control a game character in accomplishing explorations, quests, or tasks that a particular stage or game level requires. You can monitor your character’s development in the game through rankings and statistics. When your character levels up, there will be corresponding changes in its abilities and actions.
Whether action, first-person party-based, massive multiplayer online RPGs (MMORPG), roguelike, sandbox, or tactical RPGs interest you, we believe this list of the best RPGs of all time will be of interest to you. If you’re ready, let’s go.
1.The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Based on The Witcher, a fantasy novel series by Andrej Sapkowski, CD Projekt Red developed a video game series of the same name. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the third installment of this action RPG series, succeeding The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in 2011. Wild Hunt sold over 28 million copies worldwide by December 2019, earning it a spot on the list of best-selling video games of all time.
Your character of interest is the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, who is searching for his adopted daughter. You can choose between playing in the open world or becoming a professional monster hunter. In the game’s open-world setting, you’ll play from a third-person’s perspective and decide how the story unfolds.
By 2016, the developers released two downloadable game expansions, Hearts of Stone (October 2015) and Blood and Wine (May 2016). Currently, you can only play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. But you can look forward to playing the game on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S pretty soon, with these versions planned for a 2021 release.
2. World of Warcraft
In 2004, Blizzard Entertainment released the MMORPG World of Warcraft. This game quickly rose in popularity with a peak of 12 million subscribers in 2010. By 2017 it has grossed over $9.23 billion in revenue. For these reasons, World of Warcraft deserves a spot on the list of best MMORPGs of all time. It is currently available on Microsoft Windows and macOS.
The Azeroth world requires a powerful hero who will fight monsters and dive deep into places of danger to defend it. If you are new to the World of Warcraft, you can learn as you go about the journey and decide whether this game is the one for you. You can begin your adventure and play the game for free up to Level 20. How neat is that?
If you’re a returning player who already finished Level 20, you’ll need a subscription to proceed with your adventure in World of Warcraft Classic. You can even download the latest expansion as of writing, Shadowlands, for a small fee. Go head on to their website and check it out for yourself.
3. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is part of The Elder Scrolls game series developed by Bethesda Game Studios. Skyrim quickly gained attention after its release, shipping more than seven million copies to retailers in just its first week. By November 2016 the game already sold 30 million copies across its platforms.
Bethesda envisioned Skyrim to be the spark that will reimagine and revolutionize the open-world fantasy RPG. They achieved this by allowing players to freely go anywhere in the game world at any time and completely ignore the storyline at their discretion. That is to say that players are not required to stay put at any point in time or place in the game and can roam freely taking part in non-storyline missions and exploring new areas.
You can download the contents for Dragonborn, Dawnguard, and Hearthfire separately. But if you have The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Legendary Edition, released in 2013, these contents are already included. This open-world action RPG is available on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. There’s also a separate-VR-only version playable only on PS4.
4. Fallout: New Vegas
If you are a fan of post-apocalyptic games, we recommend the action RPG by Obsidian Entertainment entitled Fallout: New Vegas. There’s a touch of science fiction in the game’s storyline, with the world placed in an alternate timeline because of the Atomic Age technology. The US and China participated in The Great War on natural resources, which led to the global nuclear apocalypse sometime in 2077.
New Vegas is a region comprising Arizona, California, and Nevada. Although you might find several elements from the second installment of the Fallout game series, New Vegas is not a direct sequel. This game happens in 2281, which is four years after the timeframe of Fallout 3.
This action RPG is available to play on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Fallout: New Vegas was an award-winning game, receiving a Golden Joystick Award and a NAVGTR Award a few years after its release. The game’s publisher, Bethesda Softworks, sold close to 12 million copies of this game worldwide by 2015.
5. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The Legend of Zelda is one of the classic RPGs of all time. Since its first release in 1986, the developers intended its players to have the freedom to explore the open-world gameplay and not be bound by the timeline. Nintendo took their highly praised gameplay up another notch by releasing Breath of the Wild in 2017.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild introduces the open-air adventure, which made the game a benchmark for open-world games. You will still control Link to take down Calamity Ganon, ultimately saving the Hyrule kingdom. Critics praised the game’s details and graphics, but they shunned the technical problems during the launch.
Nintendo also released The Master Trials and The Champion’s Ballad downloadable content in 2017. However, you can only play this action-adventure RPG on Nintendo Switch and Wii U. This feature did not hinder fans from getting their copies. On the contrary, the game sold over 23 million copies worldwide by 2020, 21.45 million copies for the Nintendo Switch version, and 1.67 million copies for the Wii U version.
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6. Dragon Age III: Inquisition
Dragon Age III: Inquisition is the third installment of the Dragon Age franchise developed by BioWare. Its predecessor, Dragon Age II, received mixed reviews due to a loss of complexity when compared to the first game, Dragon Age: Origins. To make up for the missing elements that the players wanted, BioWare created Dragon Age III, which combined elements from the first two.
With its release in 2014, Dragon Age III received praises from critics about its gameplay, story, visuals, writing, characters, and customization. You can play Inquisition on platforms like Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Playstation 4. There are also downloadable contents that will surely keep you hooked on the game.
In this game, you’ll take on the role of the Inquisitor. Your task is to close the Breach in the sky that lets the demons into the world, specifically in the continent of Thedas. You can also explore semi-open worlds. If you want to know more about how semi-open worlds look like, check out Dragon Age III.
7. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) is another literature-based RPG. Yes, the developers based it on George Lucas’ Star Wars universe. Game developer BioWare, and publisher LucasArts teamed up to create this RPG, releasing it to much fanfare in 2003. Obsidian Entertainment was then requested to develop a sequel that was then released in 2004. It was later ported to more platforms by Aspyr Media.
The first two installments are KOTOR in 2003 and KOTOR II: Sith Lords in 2004. The third major game released in 2011 marked the start of The Old Republic game titles. All of the games after 2011 are still considered part of the Star Wars: KOTOR, with the developers designing the installments to be in sync with the events in the canon. The latest release in 2019 introduced new characters, lightsabers, and new locations in the game. If you ever dreamed of wielding a lightsaber and fighting the Empire, this game is for you.
If you’re familiar with the tabletop RPG Dungeons and Dragons, then you might find Star Wars: KOTOR has some similarities to that game. The reason being that the game’s system is based on the Star Wars RPG by the Wizards of the Coast. You can play Star Wars: KOTOR on Windows, Xbox, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux.
8. Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII is another classic RPG, first released in 1997. The game developer Square originally developed Final Fantasy VII to be played solely on PlayStation. But by popular demand, you can now play Final Fantasy VII on other platforms such as Microsoft Windows, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, or Xbox One.
The main character in this RPG is Cloud Strife, a mercenary who becomes a member of an eco-terrorist organization. Your task is to stop the Shinra Electric Power Company from depleting the Planet’s Lifestream.
This seventh installment of the Final Fantasy game series has three game modes – the world map, the field, and the battle screen. Both world map and field game modes have built-in battle screens where a battle may commence between the players and the enemies at any point in the game. Since this Active Time Battle occurs randomly in the game, it keeps your guard up throughout.
9. Mass Effect 2
BioWare seems to have a knack for developing the best RPGs of all time. For its fourth entry on this list, we give you Mass Effect 2. This action RPG takes you high up into the Milky Way galaxy to save the humanity of the 22nd century from the alien race called Collectors.
As Commander Shepard, you have three things to do. First, you will recruit and assemble a team of people with diverse skill sets and abilities. Next, you shall explore the galaxy to look for the enemy. Lastly, you should control the situation and prevent the Collectors from carrying out their humanity-threatening agenda.
Mass Effect 2 has a variety of game content that you can download. Some of its biggest hits are Kasumi – Stolen Memory, Overlord, Lair of the Shadow Broker, and Arrival. Whether you have downloaded these contents or not, you can start playing Mass Effect 2 on Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3
10. Dark Souls
FroSoftware’s Dark Souls is the last on this list, but it’s definitely not the least. Dark Souls is an action RPG released by Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. in 2011. Its predecessor, Demon Souls, can only be played on PlayStation 3, while Dark Souls and its sequels II and III are also supported in Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
In the kingdom of Lordran, you’ll take the role of a cursed undead character who escapes from an undead asylum. After you ring the Bells of Awakening, your true mission starts. The outcome or end of the game’s story will depend on your decisions as you go along in the game. You only need to trust your gut and keep moving forward.
Critics gave positive remarks on the game’s combat depth, intricate level design, and use of flavor text. However, the game’s difficulty remains debatable to critics even up to this day. If you’d like to gauge the difficulty of Dark Souls, we recommend that you start playing. You can even get yourself the Artorias of the Abyss downloadable content for more action.
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