Obsidian’s epic notably established a ruleset and universe of its own, while also presenting a memorable story filled with nuanced characters and challenging battles. Riffing off the success of Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale well over a decade earlier, Pillars of Eternity was a clarion call that the party-based isometric RPG was once again on the rise. Golden Sun featured an engaging story, familiar but refined RPG mechanics, fun puzzles, and the collectible Djinn creatures. It’s a shame Square Enix never developed a sequel, as its colorful rendition of Shibuya, idiosyncratic characters, and strong narrative left us wanting more.ĭeveloper Camelot is known for Shining Force and many of the recent Mario sports titles, but before it switched to designing Mario offshoots full-time it created this standout RPG. Pushing the Nintendo DS’ control scheme to its breaking point, The World Ends With You had players breaking out rhythmic sequences on one screen while using a variety of equippable pins to fight monsters on the other. Lost Odyssey is best known for its superb writing, which showed Kaim coming to terms with generation after generation of people dying around him, sometimes unfolding on nothing but pages of text. Penned by Final Fantasy founding father Hironobu Sakaguchi, Lost Odyssey is a story-intensive, turn-based JRPG that follows an immortal named Kaim through a world struggling to control a magic revolution. With side activities like using photography to come up with inventions and fishing, this RPG kept layering on fun components. Building towns with geostones found in procedurally generated dungeons was a satisfying loop, and synthesizing items to improve weapons bolstered hack-and-slash combat. RPG developer Troika Games tragically closed shortly after the game’s launch, but fans took the development mantle and continue to improve the game to this day.īeneath Dark Cloud 2’s colorful art and whimsical tone, Level 5 created a deep title featuring a world-building mechanic and weapons system. These elements may seem trivial now, but this was big for the time.īased on White Wolf’s World of Darkness tabletop, this 2004 release has gained a cult following for its immersive setting featuring vampire societies in modern Los Angeles and impressive branching narrative paths. The game introduced a day/night cycle, which determined when certain items, characters, and quests could be accessed. Its world was less linear and was accompanied by a rewarding job system and swappable characters. The early Dragon Quest games provided a solid framework, but Chunsoft greatly expanded everything in Dragon Quest III. Monte Cook Games’ remarkable Numenera tabletop RPG was the perfect fit for this transgressive adventure in which issues of consciousness and metaphysics took center stage. The spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment featured strange characters, captivating dialogue and descriptions, and a surreal world of grotesque and wondrous sights, and that’s just the way we like it. This feature originally appeared in issue 290 of Game Informer magazine. Some of the entries have historical influence, some embody an entire era, and some are just really fun – but all of them have played major roles in shaping the identity of this entertaining and ever-expanding genre. Each title strikes a unique balance among those elements, occasionally even pushing the boundaries of what we would traditionally call an RPG. This list is a celebration of the genre’s incredible impact these are the best 100 games that exist at the intersection of narrative, combat, exploration, and progression. Today, you can hardly find any release – from strategy games to side-scrollers – without a trace of the RPG genetic code.

That includes levelling up, upgrading abilities, equipping gear, forming relationships, fighting through dungeons, and more. The genre’s core concepts incubated and evolved, while other types of games borrowed and applied the mechanics that made RPGs successful. Over the years, the borders defining RPGs eroded. These qualities earned RPGs a reputation as the longest, most immersive, and most complex experiences available. The focus on story, exploration, and character progression was distinct from the platformers and action titles that dominated the industry. In the early days of gaming, identifying role-playing games was easy.

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