Best RPGs on PC. Archives

Role-Playing Games (RPGs) are the best, they take you to a whole new fictional world. RPGs are favorite of everyone, whether you are new a pro. In RPGs, you are given the responsibility to complete a particular task. There are so many RPGs in the market and in the internet. Some of them are free and some come with a subscription fee, it is always hard to choose the best game so here is the list of the best RPGs to Play on a PC:

Top 10 paid RPGs for PC:

1: The Witcher 3

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the best Role-playing games. In this game, you will be playing as Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter (known as a witcher) who is looking for his missing adopted daughter on the run from the Wild Hunt. You will get to fight so many mysterious and magical creatures in the game. Apart from the main storyline, the game has side quests too. Completing these quests will reward you experience points and gold, which can be redeemed as Power-ups. The game is available at the Steam Store for ₹400.

2: Mass Effect 4- Andromeda

This is the latest game from Mass Effect game Franchise. The game is set in the Andromeda Galaxy during the 29th century, where humanity is planning to populate new home worlds as part of a strategy called the Andromeda Initiative. Here you will play as Scott or Sara Ryder, an inexperienced military recruit who joins the Initiative and wakes up in Andromeda following a 634-year journey. In the game, you will have to find an new homeworld for humanity while also dealing with an antagonistic alien race known as the Kett. The game is available in the official EA website.

3. Diablo 3:

The third game from the Diablo franchise was released in 2012 for PC. The game may be old but its frequent updates keep it fresh. In the game, you can choose to play as one of seven character classes – Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, Witch Doctor, or Wizard – and are tasked with defeating the Lord of Terror, Diablo. You can download the game from here.

4: Final Fantasy 15

Final Fantasy is one of the longest game franchise. The game takes place in the fictional world of Eos; aside from the capital of Lucis, all the world is dominated by the empire of Niflheim, who seek control of the magical Crystal protected by Lucis’s royal family. Here you will play as Noctis Lucis Caelum, who goes on the quest to find the magical crystal that Niflheim was able to steal. The game is available at the Steam Store for ₹2099.

5: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth

The game is the seventh installment in the World of Warcraft series. Battle for Azeroth is an action-packed World of Warcraft expansion, that shows the conflict between the Alliance and the Horde. The game has pretty great graphics with a decent storyline. The game can be bought from Amazon.

6: Borderland 3

This is the fourth installment in the Borderland series. The game is all about Killing or looting the enemy. It is one of the best MMO RPG for PCs. The levels of Borderlands 3 take place on multiple planets. The plot is centered around stopping the cult-leading twins, Troy and Tyreen Calypso, from harnessing the power of the alien Vaults spread across the galaxy. The game is available in the Steam Store and Microsoft Store.

7: Assassin’s Creed- Odyssey

Assassin’s Creed is one of the most loved game franchises. Odyssey is the 11th main game from the series and 21st in total. The game is set in the year 431 BC and the story is about the fictional history of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. You can play as a male or a female mercenary who is trying to unite his/her family. The game can be downloaded from the Steam Store for ₹2999.

8: Star Wars: Knight of the old Republic

Star Wars: Knight of the old republic is based on the Fictional universe of Star Wars movie Franchise. The story is set four thousand years before the Galactic Empire where hundreds of Jedi Knights have fallen in battle against the ruthless Sith. In this game, you will play as a Jedi in order to defeat Sith and save the Republic. The game is available at the Steam Store for ₹349.

9: Divinity: The Original Sin 2

The game is set in the fictional world of Rivellon, centuries after Divinity: Original Sin. People of Rivellon have a special form of Energy known as Source. The story of the game revolves around Lucian.  He has to defeat Braccus Rex in order to bring peace in the city of Rivellon. The game is exciting and takes you to a whole new world of fiction. You can download the game from Steam Store.

10: Pillar of Eternity:

The game’s story takes place in the fantasy world of Eora, mainly inside the nation of Dyrwood. Where every newborn is infected by a recent phenomenon in which they become “hollowborn” upon birth, meaning they are born with no soul. The objective of the game is to find out what caused this infection and how to solve the hollowborn problem. The game is available at the Steam Store for ₹729.

Top 5 Free RPGs for PC:

1: Path of Exile

Path of Exile is developed by Grinding Gear Games. In this game, you will play the character of an Exile. Where you will be struggling to survive on the dark continent of Wraeclast, as you fight to earn power that will allow you to exact your revenge against those who wronged you. The game is available at the Steam Store.

2: Star Trek: Online

Star Trek Online is based on the Star Trek movie franchise. The game is set in the 25th century, 30 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. Since the launch of the game, the developer has launched multiple expansion packs such as Legacy of Romulus, Delta Rising, and Agents of Yesterday. If you are a Star Trek fan, you should try this game. The game is available at the Steam Store.

3: The Lord of the Rings Online

The Lord of the Rings Online is based on the movie series with the same name. The game’s storyline is presented as a series of “Books”, which consist of series of quests called “Chapters”. You can create characters of four races and seven classes and adventure throughout the region of Eriador. The game is based on the Middle earth so you will experience that time and place. The game can be downloaded from the Steam Store.

4: Destiny 2:

The game is developed by Bungie. It is Set in a science fiction world where you will play the role of a Guardian, protectors of Earth’s last safe city. He has the power of Light that helps him in keeping the city safe. Guardian will have to fight Dominus Ghaul in order to keep his city safe. The game is available at the Steam Store.

5: Dungeons & Dragons Online

The game’s story revolves around Korthos Island. Here you will fight with Sahuagin and his army to end his rule on the Island. During the adventures of this game, you will fight with dragons and other magical creatures. The game has a points system, earning these points will help you in upgrading the power of your character. The game is available at the Steam Store.

Western role-playing video games are role-playing video games developed in the Western world, including The Americas and Europe. They originated on mainframe university computer systems in the 1970s, were later popularized by titles such as Ultima and Wizardry in the early- to mid-1980s, and continue to be produced for modern home computer and video game console systems. The genre's "Golden Age" occurred in the mid- to late-1980s, and its popularity suffered a downturn in the mid-1990s as developers struggled to keep up with hardware changes and increasing development costs. A later series of isometric role-playing games, published by Interplay Productions and Blizzard Entertainment, was developed over a longer time period and set new standards of production quality.

Computer role-playing games (CRPGs) are once again popular. Recent titles, such as BioWare's Mass Effect series and Bethesda Softworks' The Elder Scrolls series, have been produced for console systems and have received multi-platform releases, although independently developed games are frequently created as personal computer (PC) exclusives. Developers of role-playing games have continuously experimented with various graphical perspectives and styles of play, such as real-time and turn-based time-keeping systems, axonometric and first-person graphical projections, and single-character or multi-character parties. Subgenres include action role-playing games, roguelikes and tactical role-playing games.

Early American computer RPGs (mid-1970s–mid-1980s)[edit]

Mainframe computers (mid-1970s–early 1980s)[edit]

Simple overhead monochrome graphics of dnd on the PLATO mainframe system.

The earliest role-playing video games were created in the mid-to-late 1970s, as offshoots of early university mainframe text-based RPGs that were played on PDP-10, PLATO and Unix-based systems. These included Dungeon, written in 1975 or 1976, pedit5, created in 1975,^{[Note 1]} and dnd, also from 1975.^[2] These early games were inspired by pen-and-paper role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons, which was first published in 1974, and J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.^[3][4] Some of the first graphical computer RPGs (CRPGs) after pedit5 and dnd included orthanc (1978),^[5] which was named after Saruman's tower in Lord of the Rings,^[6]avathar (1979),^[1] later renamed avatar, oubliette (1977),^[7] named after the French word for "dungeon",^[6]moria (1975),^[1]dungeons of degorath, baradur, emprise, bnd, sorcery, and dndworld.^{[Note 2]} All of these were developed and became popular on the PLATO system during the late 1970s, in large part due to PLATO's speed, fast graphics, and large number of players with access to its nationwide network of terminals. PLATO was a mainframe system that supported multiple users and allowed them to play simultaneously, a feature not commonly available to owners of home personal computer systems at the time.^[8] These were followed by games on other platforms, such as Temple of Apshai, written in 1979 for the TRS-80 and followed by two add-ons; Akalabeth: World of Doom (1980), which gave rise to the well-known Ultima series;^[9]Wizardry (1981), and Sword of Fargoal (1982). Games of this era were also influenced by text adventures such as Colossal Cave Adventure (1976) and Zork (1976); early MUDs, tabletop wargames such as Chainmail (1971), and sports games such as Strat-O-Matic.^{[10][Note 3]}

Gary Gygax [co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons] was pivotal to the development of the gaming industry, and to my own career. (...) Millions upon millions of players around the world live and play in imaginary worlds built on the back of what Gary first conceived.

— Richard Garriott, following Gygax's death, in 2008^[4]

The popular dungeon crawlerRogue was developed in 1980, for Unix-based systems, by two students at Berkeley. It used ASCII graphics, and featured a deep system of gameplay and a multitude of randomly generated items and locations. Rogue was later distributed as free software with the BSD operating system, and was followed by an entire genre of "roguelikes" that were inspired by and emulated the original game's mechanics, and by later titles such as Diablo.^[12] Later examples of roguelikes include Angband (1990), Ancient Domains of Mystery (1993) and Linley's Dungeon Crawl (1997).^[13][14][15]

The keyboard was frequently the only input supported by these games, and their graphics were simple and often monochromatic. Some titles, like Rogue, represented objects through text characters, such as '@' for the main character and 'Z' for zombies.^{[Note 4]} No single game featured all of the characteristics expected in a modern CRPG, such as exploration of subterranean dungeons, use of weapons and items, "leveling up" and quest completion, but it is possible to see the evolution of these features during this era and that which followed.^[16]

Ultima and Wizardry (early–mid-1980s)[edit]

Although simplified for use with the console gamepad, many innovations of the early Ultimas—in particular Ultima III: Exodus (1983) by developer Richard Garriott—became standard among later RPGs in both the personal computer and console markets. These ideas included the use of tiled graphics and party-based combat, a mix of fantasy and science-fiction elements, and time travel.^{[4][17][Note 5]} The game's written narrative was an innovative feature that allowed it to convey a larger story than was found in the minimal plots common at the time. Most games, including Garriott's own Akalabeth, focused primarily on basic gameplay mechanics like combat, and paid little attention to story and narrative.^[19]

Ultima III is considered by many to have been the first modern CRPG.^[17] It was originally published for the Apple II, but was ported to many other platforms and influenced the development of later titles,^[20] including such console RPGs as Excalibur (1983) and Dragon Quest (1986).^[21]

Garriott introduced a system of chivalry and code of conduct in Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (1985) that persisted throughout later Ultimas. The player's Avatar tackles such problems as fundamentalism, racism and xenophobia, and based on his or her actions is tested periodically in ways that are sometimes obvious and sometimes unseen.^[4][19] This code of conduct was in part a response to the efforts among some Christian groups to mitigate the rising popularity of Dungeons & Dragons.^[19] Continuing until Ultima IX: Ascension (1999), it covered a range of virtues that included compassion, justice, humility and honor. This system of morals and ethics was unique at the time, as other video games allowed players to be lauded as "heroes" by the game worlds' denizens, no matter what the player's actions had been. In Ultima IV, on the other hand, players were forced to consider the moral consequences of their actions.^[19] According to Garriott, Ultima was now "more than a mere fantasy escape. It provided a world with a framework of deeper meaning[,] a level of detail[, and] diversity of interaction[,] that is rarely attempted."^[4] "I thought people might completely reject this game because some folks play just to kill, kill, kill. To succeed in this game, you had to radically change the way you'd ever played a game before."^[19]

The Wizardry series was created for the Apple II at roughly the same time, in 1981. Wizardry featured a 3D, first-person view, an intuitive interface, party-based combat, and pre-constructed levels that encouraged players to draw their own maps.^[17] It allowed players to import characters from previous games, albeit with reduced experience levels, and introduced a moral alignment feature that limited the areas players could visit.^[17] The series was extremely difficult when compared to other RPGs of the time,^[22][23] possibly because they were modeled after pen-and-paper role-playing games of similar difficulty.^[11]Wizardry IV (1986) in particular is considered one of the most difficult CRPGs ever created.^[23] It is unique in that the player controls the villain of the first game in an attempt to escape his prison dungeon and gain freedom in the above world.^[4][23] Unlike Ultima, which evolved with each installment, the Wizardry series retained and refined the same style and core mechanics over time, and improved only its graphics and level design as the years progressed.^[4]

By June 1982, Temple of Apshai had sold 30,000 copies, Wizardry 24,000 copies, and Ultima 20,000.^[24][25][26] Garriott even discussed collaborating with Wizardry's Andrew C. Greenberg on "the ultimate fantasy role-playing game".^[27] The first Wizardry outsold (more than 200,000 copies sold in its first three years) the first Ultima and received better reviews, but over time Ultima became more popular by improving its technology and making games more friendly, while Wizardry required new players to play the first game before its first two sequels, and the very difficult Wizardry IV sold poorly.^[25]

Telengard, a BASIC port of the earlier PDP-10 game DND,^[28] and Dungeons of Daggorath, both released in 1982, introduced real-time gameplay.^[17] Earlier dungeon crawl games had used turn-based movement, in which the enemies only moved when the adventuring party did.^[29]Tunnels of Doom, produced the same year, introduced separate screens for exploration and combat.^[17]Dragon Quest is most commonly claimed as the first role-playing video game produced for a console, though journalist Joe Fielder cites the earlier Dragonstomper.^[30]

Golden Age (late 1980s–early 1990s)[edit]

The Might and Magic series, highly popular in the 1980s and onward, began with the 1986 release of Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum for the Apple II. It encompasses a total of ten games, the most recent of which was released in 2014, as well as the popular turn-based strategy series Heroes of Might and Magic. The series featured a mix of complex statistics, large numbers of weapons and spells, and enormous worlds in which to play.^[31] It was among the longest-lived CRPG series, alongside Ultima and Wizardry,^[32] It is also notable for making race and gender an important aspect of gameplay.^[4][31]

Strategic Simulations, Inc.'s series of "Gold Box" CRPGs, which began in 1988 with Pool of Radiance for the Apple II and Commodore 64,^[33] was the first widely successful official video game adaptation of TSR's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons license and rules. These games featured a first-person display for movement and exploration, combined with an overhead tactical display for combat that tried to model D&D's turn-based mechanics. Better known for producing computer wargames,^[34] SSI created one of the defining series of the period.^[32] The games spawned a series of novels, and titles continued to be published until the game engine was retired in 1993, although users who had purchased Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures were able to create their own adventures and play them using the Gold Box engine.^[32] The later titles were developed by Stormfront Studios, who also produced Neverwinter Nights, a multi-player implementation^[35] of the Gold Box engine which ran on America Online from 1991 to 1997. As in the Wizardry series, characters could be imported from one game into another.

SSI had already published many RPGs based on original properties. Its "hardcore" RPG Wizard's Crown (1985) presaged the Gold Box games' design, with eight-character parties, a skill-based experience system, highly detailed combat mechanics, dozens of commands, injuries and bleeding, and strengths and weaknesses versus individual weapon classes.^[36][37][26] The game did not, however, offer much in terms of role-playing or narrative beyond buying, selling and killing.^[36]Wizard's Crown was followed by The Eternal Dagger in 1987, a similar game that removed some of its predecessor's more complicated elements.^[37]

Interplay Productions developed a string of hits in the form of The Bard's Tale (1985) and its sequels under publisher Electronic Arts, originally for the Apple II and Commodore 64. The series became the first outside Wizardry to challenge Ultima's sales.^[25] It combined colorful graphics with a clean interface and simple rules, and was one of the first CRPG series to reach a mainstream audience. It spawned a series of novels by authors such as Mercedes Lackey, something that arguably did not occur again until the release of Diablo in 1997.^[4][22] The series allowed players to explore cities in detail, at a time when many games relegated them to simple menu screens with "buy"/"sell" options. A construction set released in 1991 allowed players to create their own games, and Interplay re-used the engine in its 1988 post-apocalyptic CRPG Wasteland.^[22]

FTL Games' Dungeon Master (1987) for the Atari ST introduced several user-interface innovations, such as direct manipulation of objects and the environment using the mouse, and popularized mouse-driven interfaces for computer RPGs.^[32] Unusually for the era, it features a real-time, first-person viewpoint, now common in first-person shooters and more recent games such as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.^[38] The game's real-time combat elements were akin to Active Time Battle.^[39] The game's complex magic system used runes that could be combined in specific sequences to create magical spells. These sequences were not detailed in the game manual, instead players were required to discover them through trial and error. Sequels followed in 1989 and 1993. The game's first-person, real-time mechanics were copied in SSI's "Black Box" series, from Eye of the Beholder (1990) onward.^[38]Dungeon Master sold 40,000 copies in its first year of release,^[40] and became the best-selling Atari ST title.^[41]

Times of Lore, designed by Chris Roberts and released by Origin Systems in 1988, introduced the action-adventure and action role-playing game formula of console titles such as The Legend of Zelda to the American computer RPG market.^[42][43]Times of Lore and Dungeon Master went on to directly inspire several later Origin Systems titles, including Bad Blood (1990),^[44]Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1990)^[45][46] and Ultima VII (1992).^[47][48]Ultima VI made some major changes to the Ultima formula, including a constant-scale open world (replacing the unscaled overworld of earlier Ultima titles)^[43] and a point & click interface.^[46]

Ultima VII is still my favorite game. It's hard not to look at Oblivion and see the Ultima influence.

The Ultima series went on to span over a dozen titles, including the spin-off series Worlds of Ultima (1990–1991) and Ultima Underworld (1992–1993), and the multiplayer online series, Ultima Online (1997). Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992) offered players a full 360 degree view of the game world. Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992) was the first real-time title in the series, and was fully playable with the computer mouse.^[4] Garriott later left Origin Systems and Electronic Arts to form Destination Games, under publisher NCsoft. He was involved with a number of NCsoft's MMORPGs, including Lineage (1998) and Tabula Rasa (2007), before his 2009 departure.

The Wizardry series' most famous titles did not appear until years after its debut,^[49] and installments were published as recently as 2001. Wizardry VII (1992) has been said to possess one of the best character class systems of any CRPG.^[50]

Quest for Glory (1992) was produced by Sierra Entertainment, known for point-and-click adventure games, and combined CRPG and adventure-game mechanics into a unique, genre-bending mix.^[31] The series featured involved stories, complex puzzles, and arcade-like combat. The last of its five titles was released in 1998.^[31] It was originally conceived as a tetralogy built around the themes of the four cardinal directions, the four classical elements, the four seasons and the four mythologies. The designers felt that the series' storyline made Shadows of Darkness too difficult, and so inserted a fifth game, Wages of War, into the canon and renumbered the series.^[51]

Legends of Valour (1992) provided an early example of open-world, non-linear gameplay in an RPG. It was cited as an influence on The Elder Scrolls series.

Sierra's Betrayal at Krondor (1993) was based upon author Raymond E. Feist's Midkemia setting. It featured turn-based, semi-tactical combat, a skill-based experience system, and a magic system similar to that of Dungeon Master,^[38] but suffered due to outdated, polygonal graphics. Feist was heavily consulted during development, and later created his own novelization based upon the game. The sequel Betrayal in Antara (1997) re-used the first game's engine but—as Sierra had lost its license for Krondor—was set in a different universe. Return to Krondor (1998) used a new game engine, but returned to Feist's setting.^[31]

Westwood Studios's Lands of Lore series (1993) featured a story-based approach to RPG design. It served as a stylistic "mirror" to Japanese RPGs of the time, with brightly colored, cheerful graphics, a simple combat system borrowed from Dungeon Master, and a semi-linear story. These elements contrasted with Western RPGs' stereotype as dark, gritty and rules-centric games.^[52]

Decline (mid-1990s)[edit]

Probably one of the saddest sights over the last couple of years has been the rapid decline in computer role-playing games. [...] The emphasis [among newer CRPGs, such as Ultima VIII: Pagan] is on bigger on-screen characters with more realistic animation in a smaller game world. [...] This seems to be a part of a design philosophy which says that computer gamers don't want to play the big games any longer.

There was this thought that maybe, like adventure games, RPGs were going to die out, too. [...] I wasn't the only developer that thought I'd coded myself into a corner.

In the mid-1990s, developers of Western RPGs lost their ability to keep up with hardware advances; RPGs had previously been at or near the forefront of gaming technology, but the improved computer graphics and increased storage space facilitated by CD-ROM technology created expectations that developers struggled to meet.^[54][55] This caused lengthy delays between releases, and closures among less popular franchises.^[54]Scorpia in 1994 said that "Nothing has come along to equal or exceed" Ultima IV ten years later. She wondered if "maybe nothing ever will. I hope that's not the case, though, because that would mean the CRPG has stagnated".^[56]Computer Games later wrote that "[d]uring the now-infamous mid-nineties CRPG lull, the toughest dungeons were the bottomless pits of failed designs, and the fiercest beasts the deadly-dull CRPG releases".^[57]

Increases in development budgets and team sizes meant that sequels took three or more years to be released, instead of the almost-yearly releases seen in SSI's Gold Box series.^[54] The growth of development teams increased the likelihood that software bugs would appear, as code produced by programmers working in different teams was merged into a whole.^{[58][Note 6]} A lack of technical standards among hardware manufacturers forced developers to support each manufacturer's implementation, or risk losing players.^[58]

Further, competition arose from other genres. Players turned away from RPGs, flight simulators and adventure games in favor of action-oriented titles, such as first-person shooters and real-time strategy games.^[54] Later RPGs would draw influences from action genres,^{[54][Note 7]} but would face new challenges in the form of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), a late-1990s trend that may have siphoned players away from single-player RPGs.^[58] They also faced competition from Japanese console RPGs, which were becoming increasingly dominant around that time,^[59] for reasons such as more accessible, faster-paced action-adventure-oriented gameplay,^[52][60] and a stronger emphasis on storytelling and character interactions.^[61]

North American computer RPGs (late 1990s)[edit]

Diablo and action RPGs[edit]

The dark fantasy-themed RPG Diablo was released by Blizzard Entertainment on December 31, 1996, in the midst of a stagnant PC RPG market.^[4][62]Diablo is set in the fictional kingdom of Khanduras, in the world of Sanctuary, and has the player take control of a lone hero who battles to rid the world of Diablo, the Lord of Terror. Its development was influenced by Moria and Angband,^[12][62] and Diablo resembles a roguelike due to its focus on dungeon crawling, and its procedurally generated levels. Major differences include the commercial quality of the game's graphics, its simplified character development, and its fast, real-time action.^[62][63] A factor in Diablo's success was its support for online, collaborative play over a local area network or through its Battle.net online service. This greatly extended its replay value, though cheating was a problem.^[4][62][63] While not the first RPG to feature real-time combat,^{[Note 8]}Diablo's effect on the market was significant, a reflection of the changes that took place in other genres following the release of the action titles, Doom and Dune II.^[62] It had many imitators, and its formula of simple, fast combat and replayability were used by what were later referred to as "Diablo clones", and more broadly "action RPGs".^[64]

Action RPGs typically give each player real-time control of a single character. Combat and action are emphasized, while plot and character interaction are kept to a minimum, a formula referred to as "the Fight, Loot, and Level cycle".^[65][66] The inclusion of any content beyond leveling up and killing enemies becomes a challenge in these "hack and slash" games, because the sheer number of items, locations and monsters makes it difficult to design an encounter that is unique and works regardless of how a character has been customized.^[65] On the other hand, a game that omits technical depth can seem overly streamlined.^[65] The result in either case is a repetitive experience that does not feel tailored to the player.^[65]

RPGs can suffer in the area of exploration. Traditional RPGs encourage exploration of every detail of the game world, and provide for a more organic experience in which NPCs are distributed according to the internal logic of the game world or plot.^[67] Action games reward players for quick movement from location to location, and tend to ensure that no obstacles occur along the way.^[67] Games such as Mass Effect streamline the player's movements across the game world by indicating which NPCs can be interacted with, and by making it easier for players to find locations and shopkeepers who can exchange items for money or goods.^{[67][Note 9]} Some of the best characteristics of RPGs can be lost when these road blocks are eliminated in the name of streamlining the player's experience.^[67]

One action RPG that avoided these limitations is Deus Ex (2000), designed by Warren Spector. It offered multiple solutions to problems through intricately layered dialogue choices, a deep skill tree, and hand-crafted environments.^[65] Players were challenged to act in character through dialog choices appropriate to his or her chosen role, and by intelligent use of the surrounding environment. This produced a unique experience that was tailored to each player.^[65] According to Spector, the game's dialogue choices were inspired by a console role-playing game, Suikoden.^[71]

Diablo was followed by the Diablo: Hellfire expansion pack in 1997, and a sequel, Diablo II, in 2000. Diablo II received its own expansion, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, in 2001. Diablo, Diablo II, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction and the Diablo II strategy guide were bundled together as parts of the Diablo Battle Chest, which appeared on the NPD Group's top 10 PC games sales list as recently as 2010.^[72] A third game, Diablo III, was announced on June 28, 2008, and released on May 15, 2012.^[73][74] Examples of "Diablo clones" include Fate (2005), Sacred (2004), Torchlight (2009), Din's Curse (2011) and Hellgate: London (2007).^{[Note 10]} Like Diablo and Rogue before them, Torchlight, Din's Curse, Hellgate: London and Fate use procedural generation to create new game levels dynamically.^{[76][77][78][79]}

BioWare and Black Isle Studios[edit]

Interplay, now known as Interplay Entertainment and a publisher in its own right, produced several late 1990s RPG titles through two new developers, Black Isle Studios and BioWare. Black Isle released the groundbreaking Fallout (1997) which, reminiscent of Interplay's earlier Wasteland, was set in an alternate history future America following a nuclear holocaust.^[80][81] One of the few successful late-1990 video game RPGs not set in a swords-and-sorcery environment, Fallout was notable for its open-ended and largely non-linear gameplay and quest system, tongue-in-cheek humor, and pervasive sense of style and imagery.^[4][80] Players were afforded numerous moral choices to shape the game world based on how NPCs reacted to the player, much like the original Ultimas.^[4]Fallout was nearly as influential on post-crash RPGs as Ultima was on Golden Age RPGs, and is considered by some to be the first "modern" CRPG.^[82] Black Isle produced a sequel, Fallout 2, in 1998. Third-party developer Micro Forté produced Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, a tactical RPG based on the franchise, which was published in 2001 under Interplay's strategy division 14 Degrees East.

BioWare's Baldur's Gate series was no less important, the most significant D&D series to be released since the Gold Box era.^[83] The games created the most accurate and in-depth D&D simulation yet, and featured support for up to six-players in cooperative mode.^[84]Baldur's Gate (1998) provided an epic story with NPC followers and written dialogue that continued through both titles and two expansion packs.^[4] Black Isle produced a more combat-oriented series, Icewind Dale, soon thereafter.^[85]

The critically acclaimed D&D title, Planescape: Torment, was developed by Black Isle and published by Interplay in 1999, and became known for its moody, artistic air and extensive writing.^[4] Interplay's Fallout, Planescape: Torment and particularly, Baldur's Gate^[86] are considered by critics to be some of the finest RPGs ever made.^[10]

I think there are a few reasons for Fallout's success. It gave you tremendous freedom to let you wander wherever you chose. This freedom—to take whatever quests you want and solve them however you choose—is what an RPG was always supposed to be about.

Black Isle's games during this time period often shared engines to cut down on development time and costs, and most feature an overhead axonometrically projected third-person interface. Their titles, apart from the two Fallout games, used various versions of the Infinity Engine that had been developed by BioWare for Baldur's Gate. Interplay's collapse resulted in the shutdown of Black Isle and the cancellation of the third games in both the Fallout and Baldur's Gate series, as well as of an original title, Torn.^[87][88][89] Instead, they published a trio of console-only action RPGs based on the two franchises: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (2001), Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (2004), and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (2004). One of the last CRPGs released before Interplay seemingly went defunct was the poorly received Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader (2003) by developer Reflexive Entertainment,^[90] notable for using the SPECIAL system introduced in Fallout.^[91]

Resurgence (2000s–present)[edit]

The new century saw an increasing number of multi-platform releases. The move to 3D game engines, along with constant improvements in graphic quality, led to progressively detailed and realistic game worlds.^[92][93][94]

BioWare produced Neverwinter Nights (2002) for Atari, the first CRPG to fuse the third-edition Dungeons & Dragons rules with a 3D display in which the user could vary the viewing angle and distance. New game content could be generated using the Aurora toolset supplied as part of the game release, and players could share their modules and play cooperatively with friends online. Based in part on experiences while playing Ultima Online, one of the goals during development was to reproduce the feel of a live pen-and-paper RPG experience, complete with a human Dungeon Master.^[95]Neverwinter Nights (NWN) was very successful commercially, and spawned three official expansion packs and a sequel developed by Obsidian Entertainment. BioWare later produced the acclaimed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which married the d20 system with the Star Wars franchise;^[59] as well as the original Jade Empire (2005), Mass Effect (2007–2012) and Dragon Age (2009–2014) series, all which were released for multiple platforms.^[96][97] With the Mass Effect and the Dragon Age titles, Bioware also utilized a save import system where decisions in the earlier games impact the story in the later games.^[98][99]

During the production of Fallout 2, some of Black Isle's key members left the studio to form Troika Games, citing disagreements the development team structure.^[100] The new studio's first title was Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (2001), an original, nonlinear steampunk-themed RPG with fantasy elements. Several Arcanum designers worked on Fallout, and the two titles share an aesthetic and sense of irony and humor.^[100][101]Arcanum was followed by The Temple of Elemental Evil (2003), based on the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition rules and set in the Greyhawk universe; and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (2004), based on White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade. All three games received positive reviews—as well as a cult following in the case of Arcanum—^[101] but were criticized for shipping with numerous bugs.^[100] Troika's reputation became "Great Ideas. Never Enough Testing", and by 2005 the studio was in financial trouble, no longer able to secure funding for additional titles.^[100][102] Most of the developers left for other studios.^[100][101]

When Black Isle closed down, several employees formed Obsidian Entertainment, who released Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords (2005), a sequel to BioWare's successful Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Obsidian later created a sequel to another BioWare game: Neverwinter Nights 2 was released on Halloween of 2006, and featured the 3.5 Edition D&D ruleset. It was followed by two expansions and an "adventure pack", in 2007 and 2008. Obsidian Entertainment began development of a role-playing game based on the Alien film franchise in 2006, but it was canceled, along with an original title under the working name of Seven Dwarves.^{[103][104][105]} Obsidian's most recent RPGs are Alpha Protocol (2010), a modern-day spy thriller released for multiple platforms, and Fallout: New Vegas (2010). The company released Dungeon Siege III on June 17, 2011.^[106]

The Gothic series, by German developer Piranha Bytes, began with the first title in 2001. Lauded for its complex interaction with other in-game characters and attractive graphics, it was criticized for its difficult control scheme and high system requirements.^{[107][108][109]} The third game in particular was notable for a "ton of quests", rewarding exploration, and approachable combat, but also for its high system requirements, unfinished feel and "atrocious" voice acting.^[110] Piranha Bytes split from publisher JoWood Productions in 2007, and due to a contract between the two companies, JoWooD retained some rights to the Gothic name and to current and future games released under that trademark.^[111] Piranha Bytes have since developed Risen, with publisher Deep Silver. A fourth, "casual" installment of the Gothic series, this time by developer Spellbound Entertainment, was released by JoWood in 2010.^[112] The rights to the Gothic series may revert to Piranha Bytes following the release of Risen II.^[113]

Bethesda[edit]

Bethesda Softworks has developed RPGs since 1994, in its The Elder Scrolls series. Daggerfall (1996) is notable as a 3D first-person RPG with an expansive world. The series drew attention to sandbox gameplay, which gives the player wide choices of free-roaming activities unrelated to the game's main storyline.^[4][114] The Elder Scrolls series was seen as an alternative to the "highly linear, story-based games" that dominated the computer RPG genre at the time,^[114] and the series' freedom of play inspired comparisons to Grand Theft Auto III. According to Todd Howard, "I think [Daggerfall is] one of those games that people can 'project' themselves on. It does so many things and allows [for] so many play styles that people can easily imagine what type of person they'd like to be in-game."^[4]

The series' popularity exploded with the release of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002), for the Xbox and PC. Morrowind became a successful and award-winning RPG due to its open-ended play, richly detailed game world, and flexibility in character creation and advancement.^[114] Two expansions were released: Tribunal in 2002 and Bloodmoon in 2003. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006), released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as well as the PC, was a much-enhanced sequel that featured scripted NPC behaviors, significantly improved graphics, and the company's first foray into micro transactions, a recent trend among Western RPG makers.^[115] Two expansion packs, Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine, were developed, as were several smaller downloadable packages that each cost between $1–3. Oblivion's immediate successor, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, was released to critical acclaim on 11 November 2011 and remains one of the most successful, favorably reviewed RPGs (or video games in general) to date.

Interplay's decision to scrap plans for Fallout 3 and Bethesda's subsequent acquisition of the Fallout brand created mixed feelings among that series' fan community.^[116] Bethesda released Fallout 3 in North America on October 28, 2008, to critical acclaim and much fanfare,

Welcome to our roundup of the best RPGs on PC. The list contains hundreds, perhaps thousands of hours of adventure.

Since tabletop RPGs first started getting the digital treatment, the genre has grown into an intimidating, massive beast. Many of the best RPGs you can play on PC are of the action variety, hailing from the explosive years of 3D RPGs like Oblivion. More recently, classic style RPGs  like Pillars of Eternity with closer ties to their tabletop roots have seen a resurgence in popularity. Our list of the best RPGs on PC have something to scratch your roleplay itch whether you prefer fast-paced swordplay or more methodical turn-based games.

The RPG genre is tough to boil down: by the most literal definition, every game is a role-playing game. This list represents our best definition of the canonical RPG—games that likely emphasize story; that let you inhabit a customizable character through skill points, inventory, and dialogue decisions; that include complex, controllable relationships with companions or non-playable characters. Drawing these kinds of lines helps us provide a better service to you, we hope—though we've made some exceptions where we think it's worth it.

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.

Obsidian is also working on a new Skyrim-esque RPG set in the same universe as Pillars of Eternity called Avowed.

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.

Anachronox

Release date: 2001 | Developer: Ion Storm Dallas | Humble Store, Steam

Former id Software designer Tom Hall had a vision for his first, and only, Ion Storm game. He wanted to make a turn-based RPG, like Final Fantasy, but with a distinctly Western voice. It’s that tone that makes Anachronox so brilliant: few other games of any genre have dialogue as funny as Sly Boots’ negotiation with a sock-chewing mutant warlord, and no other game we’ve played lets you add an entire planet to your party.

Ion Storm built the game on a heavily modified version of the Quake 2 engine, and it’s never looked like a normal game. But even today, the blocky character models still have personality, and the facial animations are surprisingly effective. Sly’s look of resignation as he’s thrown out of his own office window is brilliant, and he carries it with him throughout the adventure. The development cycle was plagued with issues and the final product rushed, but playing Anachronox now still feels like a revelation. It’s hard not to wonder what Hall’s planned sequels could have achieved.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Release date: 2018 | Developer: Warhorse Studios | Steam, GOG

In this historical RPG set in the muddy fields of Bohemia, 1403, you play as a peasant called Henry who gets swept up in a war for his homeland. It's a detailed RPG, with a deep sword fighting system, hunger and thirst systems, crafting and more than a dozen equipment slots to fill with meticulously modeled gear inspired by the raiments of the time.  It's also surprisingly open-ended. If you want to wander into the woods and pick mushrooms for meagre coin then off you go, just be careful of bandits as you explore the pretty rural locales.

It's by no means perfect—there are plenty of bugs and wonky moments—but this is an RPG in the Elder Scrolls vein. A few bugs can be excused when the wider experience is this atmospheric.

Grim Dawn

Release date: 2016 | Developer: Crate Entertainment | Humble Store, Steam

If you’ve rinsed Diablo 2 for every magical trinket and are looking for a modern fix, here is your game. Grim Dawn is a gritty, well-made action RPG with strong classes and a pretty world full of monsters to slay in their droves. It’s the distant brooding son of Titan Quest, sharing some designers and mechanics with that fine 2006 Greek myth ARPG. Like its cousin, Grim Dawn lets you pick two classes and share your upgrade points between two skill trees. This hybrid progression system creates plenty of scope for theorycrafting, and the skills are exciting to use—an essential prerequisite for games that rely so heavily on combat encounters.

The story isn’t bad either, for an ARPG. Don’t expect twisting plots and decisions with consequences—this is very much a game about single-handedly destroying armies—but there is a neat faction reputation system that spawns harder mobs and villainous nemesis heroes as you become more hated by the criminals, cults and monsters that rule the wilderness. The local demons and warlords that terrorize each portion of the world are well sketched out in the scrolling text NPC dialogue and found journals. Ultimately, it’s about the monster-smashing and sweet loot, though, and Grim Dawn delivers on both effectively.

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age

Release date: 2018 | Developer: Square Enix | Steam

The smartest Final Fantasy game finally got a PC port in 2018. The game can't render the sort of streaming open worlds we're used to these days, but the art still looks great, and the gambit system is still one of the most fun party development systems in RPG history. Gambits let you program party members with a hierarchy of commands that they automatically follow in fights. You're free to build any character in any direction you wish. You can turn the street urchin Vaan into a broadsword-wielding combat specialist or a elemental wizard. The port even includes a fast-forward mode that make the grinding painless.

Legend of Grimrock 2

Release date: 2014 | Developer: Almost Human Games | Humble Store, Steam

We loved the original Legend of Grimrock and the way it embraced the old Dungeon Master model of making your party—mostly a collection of stats—explore the world one square at a time. The one drawback is that it was too literal of a dungeon crawler. The enemies might change, but for the most part you kept trudging down what seemed like the same series of corridors until the game's end.

The sequel, though, focuses on both the dank dungeons and the bright, open world above, resulting in a nostalgic romp that's immensely enjoyable and filled with even deadlier enemies and more challenging puzzles. As with the first outing, much of its power springs from the element of surprise. One moment you'll be merrily hacking through enemies with ease, and the next you might find yourself face-to-face with an unkillable demon. And then you'll run, and you discover that there are sometimes almost as many thrills in flight as in the fight.

Undertale

Release date: 2015 | Developer: tobyfox | Humble Store, Steam

Play only the first 20 minutes, and Undertale might seem like yet another JRPG tribute game, all inside jokes about Earthbound and Final Fantasy coated with bright sugary humor and endearingly ugly graphics. But take it as a whole (and find out that it isn't all bright and sugary after all), and it's an inventive, heartfelt game. It's a little unsettling how slyly it watches us, remembering little things and using our preconceptions about RPGs to surprise and mortify and comfort. More than a tribute to RPGs, it’s a tribute to RPG fans and an exploration of our relationship with games.

Undertale certainly sticks out among all these cRPGs, but looking past its bullet hell-style combat and disregard for things like leveling and skill trees, it's got what counts: great storytelling and respect for player decisions.

Tyranny

Release date: 2016 | Developer: Obsidian Entertainment | Humble Store, Steam

It isn't quite the accomplishment of its cousin, Pillars of Eternity, but Tyranny's premise sets it apart from other RPGs. Playing as an agent of evil could've been expressed with pure, bland sadism, but instead Tyranny focuses on the coldness of bureaucracy and ideological positioning. 

As a 'Fatebinder' faithful to conqueror Kyros the Overlord—yep, sounds evil—you're tasked with mediating talks between her bickering armies and engaging with rebels who fight despite obvious doom, choosing when to sympathize with them and when to eradicate them, most of the time striking a nasty compromise that balances cruelty and political positioning. The latter is achieved through a complex reputation system that, unlike many other morality meters, allows fear and loyalty to coexist with companions and factions.

As with Pillars, Tyranny's pauseable realtime combat and isometric fantasy world are a throwback to classic cRPGs, but not as a vehicle for nostalgia—it feels more like the genre had simply been hibernating, waiting for the right time to reemerge with all the creativity it had before.

Path of Exile

Release date: 2013 | Developer: Grinding Gear Games | Official site

This excellent free-to-play action RPG is heaven for players that enjoy stewing over builds to construct the most effective killing machine possible. It’s not the most glamorous ARPG, but it has extraordinary depth of progression and an excellent free-to-play model that relies on cosmetics rather than game-altering upgrades. It may look muddy and indistinct, and the combat doesn’t feel as good as Diablo 3, but if you enjoy number crunching this is one of the brainiest RPGs around.

Path of Exile’s scary complexity becomes apparent the moment you arrive on your character’s level-up screen, which . As you plough through enemies and level up, you travel across this huge board, tailoring your character a little with each upgrade. Gear customization is equally detailed. Path of Exile borrows Final Fantasy VII’s concept of connected gem slots. Every piece of armor has an arrangement of slots that take magic gems. These gems confer stat bonuses and bonus adjacency effects when set in the right formations. Ideally you’ll want to build synergies between your gemmed-up gear and leveling choices to create the most powerful warrior you can. Doing so requires plenty of planning, but it’s an engrossing slow-burn challenge.

Darkest Dungeon

Release date: 2016 | Developer: Red Hook Studios | Humble Store, Steam

You might begin Darkest Dungeon as you would an XCOM campaign: assembling a team of warriors that you've thoughtfully named, decorated, and upgraded for battle. How naive! Inevitably, your favorite highwayman gets syphilis. Your healer turns masochistic, and actually begins damaging herself each turn. Your plague doctor gets greedy, and begins siphoning loot during each dungeon run. A few hours into the campaign, your precious heroes become deeply flawed tools that you either need to learn how to work with, or use until they break, and replace like disposable batteries.

With Lovecraft's hell as your workplace, Darkest Dungeon is about learning how to become a brutal and effective middle manager. Your heroes will be slaughtered by fishmen, cultists, demons, and foul pigmen as you push through decaying halls, but more will return to camp with tortured minds or other maladies. Do you spend piles of gold to care for them, or put those resources toward your ultimate goal? 

Darkest Dungeon is a brilliant cohesion of art, sound, writing, and design. The colorful, hand-drawn horrors pop from the screen, showing their influence but never feeling derivative. It's a hard game, but once you understand that everyone is expendable—even the vestal with kleptomania you love so much—Darkest Dungeon's brutality becomes a fantastic story-generator more than a frustration. "Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer," as its narrator reminds.

Mount & Blade: Warband

Release date: 2009 | Developer: TaleWorlds | Humble Store, Steam

There are few games that get medieval combat right, and fewer still that add a strategic, army-building component. Fostering an army of farmers into warriors is great, but we love that Mount & Blade gives us the agency to be a hero figure on the battlefield and shape the outcome of a battle ourselves with our marksmanship or fast riding. The metagame of alliance-making, marriage, looting, and economics underpinning these battles makes Warband a satisfying game of gathering goods, enemies, and friendship. Even when the base game wears thin, Mount & Blade’s mods and multiplayer give you more to do, with some even moving the action to a galaxy far, far away.

Neverwinter Nights 2

Release date: 2003 |Developer: Obsidian Entertainment | GOG

We loved BioWare's original Neverwinter Nights from 2002 (and especially its expansions), but as a single-player experience, Neverwinter Nights 2 was in a class all of its own. Whereas the original had a fairly weak main campaign that mainly seemed aimed at showing what the DM kit was capable of, Obsidian Entertainment managed to equal and arguably outdo BioWare's storytelling prowess in the sequel when it took over the helm.

The whole affair brimmed with humor, and companions such as the raucous dwarf Khelgar Ironfist still have few rivals in personality nine years later. And the quality just kept coming. Shades of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past reveal themselves in the masterful Shadow of the Betrayer expansion's focus on two halves of the same world, but Obsidian skillfully uses that familiar framework to deliver an unforgettable commentary on religion.

Gothic 2

Release date: 2002 | Developer: Piranha Bytes | Humble Store