The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher
3 takes all the moral ambiguity, challenging subjects like racism and bigotry
and, of course, monster hunting from the previous games and puts them in a
massive, mostly open world. The result is an extraordinary RPG that sets the
standard for open world adventures.
Every quest
is an opportunity to not just learn more about the world, but to be drawn into
it. A simple monster contract, directing series protagonist Geralt to slaughter
a monster (there are many such quests, and for the first time it actually feels
like we’re getting to see Geralt doing his actual job), can transform into an elaborate
series of consequence laden stories that span several hours, closing and
opening doors as it hurtles towards a usually satisfying conclusion.
Pillars of Eternity
Pillars
of Eternity is an exceptional RPG; a game that evokes the best parts of the classic
Infinity Engine games like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment (both found
elsewhere on this list) while striking out on its own path with a compelling
fantasy yarn and a richly detailed original world.
It’s
Obsidian Entertainment at the top of their game, with the beautiful writing
that the studio is known for wrapped up in a polished adventure, something
they’ve struggled with in the past. Despite being a massive RPG with a daunting
amount of options, everything has been crafted with so much care. Religion,
philosophy, class warfare, the world of Eora is one overflowing with conflict
and crises -- every region on the map is fat with problems waiting for nosey
adventurers, and even the most seemingly mundane quests can offer some insight
into the world or the chance to create a reputation, good or bad.
Instead of
just cashing in on the popularity of its spiritual predecessors, it builds on
those strong foundations to create an experience that doesn’t rely on the past
or on nostalgia. It’s progress, and the overall experience is one that’s even
more reminiscent of tabletop RPGs than even those rooted in D&D.
Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New
Vegas returns after briefly being ousted by Fallout 4. We still love Bethesda’s
latest, with its improved shooting, crafting and the fantastic settlement
construction element, but New Vegas is simply a better, more liberating
RPG.
Obsidian
took Bethesda’s formula for a 3D, first-person Fallout, and chucked back in all
the things that made the original isometric games so great. You really feel
like you’re making your own way through the game, instead of being nudged along
by an invisible director.
Unlike
Fallout 4, which makes you a parent searching for your child, New Vegas just
makes you a denizen of the world. You carve your own path, interacting with who
you want, being good, evil or anything in between without feeling like you’re
going against the grain. You can team up the NCR, join the slave-loving Legion,
stand up for Vegas itself or just be a self-serving asshole.
Planescape: Torment
While this
list is in no particular order, Planescape:
Torment still deserves to be near the top. Black Isle Studios,
the titans of Dungeons & Dragons CRPGs, turned convention on its head when
they crafted this Planar adventure. There are no more typical fantasy races,
morality is not defined, or is at least mutable, and every character attribute
is tied to conversations and out of combat actions. It’s a game of philosophy
and discovery rather than a monster slaying adventure.
“What can
change the nature of a man?” is the question at the heart of Planescape:
Torment. The Nameless One is an immortal amnesiac, living many lives, doing
deeds terrible and great, changing the lives of those around him, often for the
worst. Waking up on a mortuary slab, the mystery of his past propels the
Nameless One through the Multiverse, one of the most bizarre settings of any
RPG, where he deals with Gods, zealotic factions – like the Dustmen, a faction
that believes life is a fleeting precursor to the ultimate existence: death - and
mazes both mechanical and magical.
The ambition
of Planescape: Torment would have been for naught were it not for the superb
writing that accompanied it. Chris Avellone and Co penned a tale saturated with
nuance and memorable characters that, even 14 years on, stands the test of time
and has yet to be outdone. It’s the only RPG where you'll find yourself
searching through the protagonist’s organs to find an important item, or where
you may allow an NPC to kill you so that she could experience what it would be
like to murder somebody. And all the while you'll wrestled with philosophical
conundrums and questions of identity. If that all sounds a bit grisly and
esoteric to you, then fret not, as the Nameless One is also accompanied by a
floating, talking skull who is an unrepentant flirt, so it’s not all serious.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Vampire: The
Masquerade - Bloodlines was lamentably riddled with bugs at launch, to the
point of being nearly unplayable, but with some patience (and the myriad of
community patches) you might find yourself becoming besotted with this
bloodsucker.
You’ve just
become a vampire. Surprise! It’s not all seducing teenage girls and sparkling,
though, because the world of Vampire: The Masquerade - based on the excellent
White Wolf tabletop game - is decidedly more mature. Set in modern Los Angeles,
it’s rife with undead politics and secret wars amid the glamour of Hollywood
and corporate America.
The
inventive quests, like a visit to the site of a vampire-run snuff movie set, an
investigation in a haunted hotel that features no combat and plenty of scares
that make even a vampire whimper, or a sneaky infiltration mission in a huge
museum are large affairs, and laden with multiple routes and plenty of
opportunities to exploit vampiric abilities like mind control or shapeshifting.
The setting of modern America is one unfamiliar in RPGs, and Troika takes full
advantage of it with little touches like vampires making deals with blood banks
or infiltrating the Hollywood glitterati.
Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Starting
with the original Baldur’s Gate in ‘98 and concluding with the expansion
Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal in ‘01, the Bhallspawn series charts the
trials and tribulations of an adventuring party from the rugged Sword Coast to
the wealthy city of Athkatla, where magic is mostly illegal, and beyond to the
tumultuous realm of Tethyr.
The Dungeons
& Dragons land of the Forgotten Realms is meticulously recreated, filled to
the brim with gorgeous environments just waiting to be explored. And within
them, quests! So many bloody quests. Hundreds of hours of saving villages,
delving into mines, fighting mad wizards, slaughtering Gnolls and even a trip
to the Planes – explored in more detail in Planescape: Torment – and a deadly
adventure into the Underdark.
Elevating
these many quests is exceptional writing and dialogue. Baldur’s Gate juggles
wit and satire with solemnity and gravitas, drawing players into even
ostensibly simple quests. It’s the party of adventurers that join the hero that
get the best lines of course, and none more so than Minsc, the infamous Ranger
who talks to his cosmic space hamster, Boo. Baldur’s Gate II also has the
distinction of having one of the best antagonists in any game: Jon Irenicus,
expertly voiced by top-notch player of villains David Warner. Arrogant,
powerful, deformed and with a hint of tragedy around him, Irenicus has all the
hallmarks of a classic villain, and even while he’s not present throughout most
of the game, his influence seeps into everything.
Mass Effect 2
Marrying the
sub-genres of speculative fiction and space opera, Mass Effect 2 is Bioware’s greatest achievement
in terms of world or, rather, galaxy building. The exploration and
pseudo-science of Star Trek, the cinematic action of Battlestar Galactica and
the fantastical elements of Star Wars or pulpy science fiction of the early 20th
Century are all on show and artfully combined in this tense suicide mission to
save the galaxy.
Humans are
the new kids on the block, recently joining the galactic community, and must
shake things up to get all the older races to acknowledge a growing threat to
their existence. How do they do that? With an ass-kicking soldier, of course.
Commander Shepard is a great character because he’s your character. It’s
impossible to define him, because for many he’s actually a she, and rather than
being the glory-hunting hero who became a grizzled, downtrodden veteran as he
was in my game, he or she might have been a cruel, racist bastard or a paragon
of virtue who refuses to let anyone die.
Dramatic set
pieces and workmanlike, if not particularly interesting, squad-based combat are
punctuated by BioWare’s trademark, excellent dialogue and simply wandering
around alien locales, sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong because that’s
what humans do in space, apparently. Suspend your disbelief for the last ten
minutes, and you’ll find yourself on one hell of an sci-fi ride.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Where Arena
and Daggerfall have aged badly, and Oblivion is a bit of a bore (besides the
Shivering Isles expansion), the third Elder Scrolls installment remains the gem
in the crown of the franchise, and even Skyrim doesn’t quite manage to surpass
it.
One of the
first encounters you'll have in The Elder
Scrolls III: Morrowind can kill you right out of the gate.
Leaving the prison vessel that transports you to this bleak and alien land,
you'll spent little time in the small port town, before venturing out into the
wilderness. It's there that you'll encountered a wizard. We say encountered,
but he actually almost lands on you, falling from the sky. If you loot his
corpse, you'll discover a scroll that the wizard believed gave him the power of
flight. Ignoring the results of what was clearly his first experiment with the
spell, you may cast it. That's when you'll be launched high up into the sky,
able to see the whole land from you amazing vantage point… until you fall to
your death
That early
encounter – which isn’t a quest, it’s just something that happens –
encapsulates what makes Morrowind so magnificent. There’s a gigantic alien
landscape begging to be travelled across, filled with strange people and the
promise of countless quests and random misadventures. It’s a game where you can
murder an important NPC, failing the main quest, and yet can keep
playing.
Diversity is
the name of the game in Morrowind. Where Oblivion had its European forests and
Medieval towns and Skyrim had its Scandinavian themes, Morrowind is utterly
unique, rarely looking like a real-world counterpart. Giant mushroom forests,
homes made out of bone and carapace, large floating beasts – the lovable silt
striders – for transportation, it’s a weird place. This variety extends to all
aspects of the title. Skills, magic and equipment are all much more abundant in
Morrowind compared to its successors, and offer more in depth customisation and
substantially more character builds. At first it’s confusing, bursting with
choice but little direction, but when you start to chart your own path, it
becomes a game unlike any other.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II
We were
hesitant about putting a game so riddled with bugs that was released in a
completely unfinished state in this list, but beneath
Knights of the Old Republic II’s cracks and flaws is the best Star Wars game
ever made, and an amazing RPG.
Where its
predecessor, made by BioWare and not Obsidian, was a fantastic addition to the
Star Wars universe complete with a twist worthy of The Empire Strikes Back,
KOTOR II takes the venerable IP and takes it in a completely new direction. No
longer is the focus on the constant battle between the Dark Side and the Light
Side, Republic versus Empire. Instead, we’re treated to a narrative that
explores the nature of the force and what it means to be cut off and lost. It’s
a story of misfits and traitors and, in retrospect, sometimes feels very much
like Star Wars by way of Planescape: Torment.
Shades of
grey permeate through the entire adventure, as the Exile, KOTOR II’s
protagonist, is forced to think about every action and how good deeds can beget
evil ones, being pushed ever further towards pragmatism. An oft depressingly
bleak game, it’s as much about personal exploration as it is about gallivanting
across the galaxy, getting into lightsaber battles and using the force, though
there’s certainly plenty of that too.
Perhaps the
best thing about KOTOR II is Kreia, the Exile’s secretive mentor. The impetus
for so much of the game, she pushes the Exile, berates him and attempts to
teach him all the while presenting the force in much more interesting ways than
either of the film trilogies managed. It makes the pupil mentor relationship
between Luke and Yoda or Ben exceptionally dull in comparison.
Shadowrun: Hong Kong
Shadowrun
Hong Kong is a welcome throwback to the ‘90s. Based on the classic tabletop
roleplaying game, it’s a neo-noir cyberpunk mystery with plenty of magic,
fantasy elements and combat that’s reminiscent of XCOM. That makes it a lot of
things, and all of them are just great. Set on a future Earth where science and
the realm of the arcane struggle to co-exist and beings like elves and trolls
walk the streets along with humans, players find themselves in the shoes of a
shadowrunner, a shady mercenary proficient in espionage.
A freeform
character creator lets players make all sorts of unusual classes, from spirit
summoners who can also enter a digital realm and fight computer programs to
samurais who run around with a bunch of remote controlled robots. Dumping some
points into charisma also unlocks affinities for different types of people, be
they corporate security, other shadowrunners or street gangs, opening up new
dialogue options and avenues in your investigation.
Hong Kong
builds on the previous two games, lavishing improvements upon the series like
overhauled decking (hacking) and fleshed out, likable characters. It's a more
intimate game, as well, as you investigate the death of your foster father with
a rag tag group of Shadowrunners and find yourself embroiled in conspiracies,
mystical events and a mystery involving dreams that are plaguing the entire
city.
Mount & Blade: Warband
The best of
the series, Mount & Blade: Warband is an
open-world fantasy RPG crossed with a Medieval simulator, which
basically means you never have to pay attention to the real world again.
Warband dumps players into a giant sandbox, where six factions duke it out for
supremacy, there’s no real story and it’s left to the player to decide what
they want to do.
Perhaps the
showman in you will inspire you to become a master jouster and champion of many
tourneys, or maybe your eye for a good deal will lead you down the path of the
wealthy trader, using your mountain of gold to fund a mercenary army to protect
you and bring you glory or maybe you’re just a good for nothing crook, and if
so, then it’s the bandit’s life for you.
Travelling
around the map, you’ll no doubt find yourself waylaid by enemies, or maybe
you’ll be the one doing the waylaying, but either way, you’ll no doubt get into
scraps. Combat is skill-based, requiring fancy footwork, excellent timing and
employment of the right weapon and right attack for different situations. It’s
tough to get the hang of, but ultimately very rewarding. You’ll likely have an
army at your side, too, leading to some particularly massive conflicts. And
that army can be trained, gain experience and be equipped with new gear -
though you will have to pay their wages.
With the
multiplayer mode added in Warband and a wide variety of mods, including some
impressive overhauls, it’s a game that will easily swallow up your life if you
let it.
Deus Ex
Ah, Deus Ex.
More of a stealth FPS/RPG hybrid and one of the
best cyberpunk games on PC, it’s still more than deserving of a
place on this list, as even 16 years on it’s a joy to play and one of the best
games ever devised.
We could
expend a great deal of energy reminiscing about the dramatic narrative that
weaves themes of conspiracy, terrorism and transhumanism together with
intriguing characters a believable dystopian future. Equally, we could go on
and on about the breadth of character customisation, letting players hone
shades and trenchcoat wearing J.C. Denton into a cybernetically enhanced
soldier, expert hacker or a ghost, lurking in the shadows. But what we really
want to discuss is the incredible level design.
Every map
represents a complex sandbox ripe for experimentation. Every combat encounter
has the potential to play out in remarkably different ways, should you actually
participate in said encounter rather than slinking past it. Secret paths, hidden
caches, informants waiting to be bribed and confidential information opening up
new routes and options litter levels, ensuring that when players discuss their
experiences, it’s like they are talking about different games.
Dark Souls
Dark Souls
is the masochist’s RPG. A cruel, relentless battle through a bleak, dead land
where the “You Died” screen starts to become an old friend, albeit a mocking
one – it’s a punishing bastard of a game but infinitely rewarding. Every battle
is a puzzle, demanding skill, good timing and an eye for enemy tells. It’s
exhausting, because death is only ever a missed attack or a misreading of an
opponent away. But that makes every victory a hard-fought prize, bringing with
it the potential for increased power, and progression to the next, even more
challenging area.
The freeform
character development and top notch enemy design, both in terms of their
grotesque appearance and tricky mechanics, are worthy of high praise, but it’s
the sense of accomplishment - coming from surviving despite the odds - that
makes Dark Souls worth hammering away at, despite constant failure.
An
unapologetically old-fashioned philosophy to game design permeates throughout
the whole stressful adventure, but it’s one blessed with modern complexity and
scale. Different weapons and armour completely change the flow of battle and
the feel of a character, with the heft of a sword and the weight of plated
armour having a massive, tangible impact on strikes and movement. And secreted
away through the vast, semi-open world is a cornucopia of trinkets and magical
items, rewarding inquisitive players for their risky exploration of long
forgotten tombs and subterranean cities.
Divinity: Original Sin
Larian’s
latest Divinity game isn’t just a throwback to classic CRPGs, it’s a
continuation of them. It’s a modern game, but based on the design philosophies
of the classics like Ultima and Baldur’s Gate.
Just check
out our glowing Divinity: Original Sin review: “When
I play Divinity, I’m back in my parents’ study, gleefully skipping homework as
I explore the vast city of Athkatla. I’m overstaying my welcome at a friend’s
house, chatting to Lord British. And it’s not because the game is buying me
with nostalgia, but because it’s able to evoke the same feelings: that delight
from doing something crazy and watching it work, the surprise when an inanimate
object starts talking to me and sends me on a portal-hopping quest across the
world. There’s whimsy and excitement, and those things have become rare
commodities. Yet Divinity: Original Sin is full of them.”
It is an RPG
that focuses what the genre can be, and not what it has become. Where conflict
isn’t just about fighting, where magic can be used to solve puzzles and
manipulate the environment and not just kill enemies, and where simple
side-quests can transform into rewarding, huge undertakings involving setting
cats up on dates. And it comes with a robust editor so you can create your own
adventure, and fleshed out co-op system so that you don’t have to take on the
world alone. Halting evil in its tracks is a job for friends, after all.
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls
When first
making this list, we didn't even give any thought to Diablo III. Blizzard had
lost its way, creating a ridiculous economy and removing the need to actually
go looking for the best pieces of loot. Playing Diablo III just wasn't very
satisfying.
Then
everything changed.
The build up
was massive, with systems being overhauled completely. And then the expansion
threw in so many novel features that it became hard to remember why Diablo III
was best avoided, helped by the fact that the troublesome Auction House was
shut down. It gained a new lease on life, and now you’d be loopy to not pick it
up if you love your ARPG clickfests.
