The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Release date: 2015 | Developer: CD Projekt Red | Humble Store, Steam
Many of the best RPGs focus on tales of lone, wandering adventurers, but few if any pull it off it with such artistry as The Witcher 3. That artistry is most apparent in the setting itself, which is so packed with breathtaking sunsets and wind-tossed groves of trees that, months later, I still find myself opting to go to destinations on foot rather than taking the fast travel points.
But the true strength of The Witcher 3 is that it populates these memorable landscapes with NPCs doling out humble but memorable quests (by the dozen) that help create one of the most human RPG experiences on the market. In decaying wayside towns, the witcher Geralt might find impoverished elves struggling in the face of local racism; elsewhere, he might help a self-styled baron reunite with his long-estranged daughter. These quests deftly navigate moral issues without being heavy-handed or offering obvious solutions
Through it all, much as in The Witcher 2, Geralt usually plays the role of just another character on this troubled world’s stage. In the process, this tale of monster slaying and inter-dimensional raiders becomes strangely and poignantly relatable. The Witcher 3 is still great with a few years on it, but you can spice it up with some Witcher 3 mods if you’re into that.
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Release date: 2017 | Developer: Larian Studios | Steam, GOG
Outside of tabletop games, there are few RPGs that boast the liberating openness of Larian’s humongous quest for godhood. If you think you should be able to do something, you probably can, even it it’s kidnapping a merchant by using a teleportation spell and then setting fire to him with his own blood. Almost every skill has some alternative and surprising use, sometimes more than one, whether you’re in our out of combat.
You can enjoy this game of madcap experimentation and tactical combat with up to three friends, to boot, and that’s where things start to get really interesting because you’re not forced to work together or even stay in the same part of the world. Indeed, there are plenty of reasons to work against each other. The player is always in the driving seat, and with four players, collisions are inevitable. Just remember: if you freeze your friends and then start poisoning them, at least apologize after.
Disco Elysium
Release date: 2019 | Developer: ZA/UM| Steam, GOG
Disco Elysium returns to the absolute fundamentals of tabletop RPGs. It’s all about playing a role and becoming your character and embracing whatever success or failure that entails. Your predetermined protagonist is a detective who wakes up after an amnesia-inducing bender without a badge, gun, or a name. As the detective, you’ll attempt to solve a murder in the retro city of Revachol while also solving the mystery of your past and identity.
There is no combat, at least not in the way you’d expect of a classically-inspired RPG. Instead, the majority of Disco Elysium takes place in conversation either with characters you need to interview about the murder or with your own mind. Each of your skills in Disco Elysium are parts of your personality with opinions on what to say and do during your investigation. Empathy will helpfully clue you in to the feelings of people you talk to so you can better understand them while Logic will help you poke holes in a bad alibi or understand a clue you find. Investing in skills helps you pass dice roll skill checks all throughout the game for everything from kicking down a door to hitting on a woman at the hotel. It’s a massive RPG with clever writing where each playthrough is significantly different based on the kind of detective you choose to play.
Pillars of Eternity
Release date: 2015 | Developer: Obsidian Entertainment | Humble Store, Steam
There’s very little about Pillars of Eternity that’s actually innovative; in fact, its whole Kickstarter-funded existence is based on appealing to the nostalgia for aging Infinity Engine CRPGs like Baldur’s Gate II. That usually matters little, though, since Pillars of Eternity pulls it off so damned well.
The graphics lean a little too heavily on the 1990s, but the writing itself is masterful. Obsidian Entertainment uses it to weave a wonderful (if bleak and usually humorless) narrative that brilliantly touches on everything from religious conflicts to social struggles. It doesn’t hurt that Obsidian infused almost every step of the world with its own story and smidge of lore, and a new patch introduced hours of additional voice work that make the experience even more enjoyable.
It’s also brutally difficult in parts, and even its easier modes demand a dance of pausing and barking out orders to multiple party members that many contemporary of the best RPGs shy from. That’s not such a bad thing, though, as Pillars of Eternity is a stark testament that such unforgiving designs still have widespread appeal in this age of accessibility.
Outward
Release date: 2019 | Developer: Nine Dots Studio| Steam
Outward immediately disposes of the self-centered savior complex that we’ve become cozy with in so many action RPGs. While other heroes dispense of bandit camps before lunch and save the world in time for dinner, Outward sits you down and reminds you that no, you can’t just go out and slay wolves with no training. The types of fights that RPGs typically treat as tutorial fodder are genuine accomplishments in Outward.
To make matters worse, or better, in our opinion, Outward constantly auto-saves your game. Your mistakes are permanent and death can’t be sidestepped by loading a recent save. In a cruel marriage between Dark Souls and Minecraft, you’re likely to be knocked down a peg every time you die, often left retracing your steps to find lost gear and left missing progress you’d so jealously hoarded.
Yet another treat is Outward’s magic system in which you’re forced to irreversibly trade some of your total health points for magical aptitude. Spells are hard-won and costly investments that make casting even a simple fireball a luxury.
Outward’s split-screen co-op, even online, is another unorthodox twist that brings new challenges and new laughs to the concept of becoming a hero.
Sunless Sea
Release date: 2015 | Developer: Failbetter Games | Humble Store, Steam
There’s nowhere like the Unterzee. Sunless Sea’s foreboding underground ocean is an abyss full of horrors and threats to the sanity of the crews that sail upon it. In your vulnerable little steamboat, you have to navigate these waters, trading, fighting and going on bizarre adventures on islands filled with giant mushrooms or rodents engaged in a civil war.
It’s often strikingly pretty, but text drives Sunless Sea. Like Failbetter Games’ browser-based Fallen London, it’s drenched in beautifully written quests, dialogue and descriptions. And it’s not restricted to gothic horror, though there’s plenty of it. Your journey across the black waters is just as likely to be whimsical and silly. Always, though, there’s something sinister lurking nearby. Something not quite right.
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Release date: 2014 | Developer: Obsidian | Humble Store, Steam
This really shouldn’t have worked. Most licensed games are bad on their own, but a role-playing game based on a crudely animated, foul-mouthed television show should be downright awful. Stick of Truth beats the odds, thanks to the way Obsidian applied the South Park license to some clever RPG tropes—party members are recruited through a Facebook-like interface, a quest sends you to retrieve “Mr. Slave’s Package,” status effects include being “grossed out,” etc. It’s not the deepest RPG on this list, but it’s one of the most immediately fun entries, and makes for a great introduction to the genre