TheRPGgenre has been home to some of the best games in the industry for a very long time, with many starting off as adaptations of tabletop rulesets on PCs. Despite all the decades that RPGs have been around, many new RPG titles are still award-winners, and it’s clear that there will always be a hunger for the genre in the industry. It’s the perfect place for innovative gameplay, storytelling, and some of the best music in gaming.
With RPGs being such a breeding ground for innovation and impact,many RPGs over the years have helped define, then redefine the genre, changing how people perceive what can be done with games. Now, many games have RPG elements despite not strictly being RPGs, and it feels like the genre that is helping to push the industry as a whole forward. Still, it is interesting to go back and look through the impact some of the genre’s best titles have had, especially because many are must-plays for RPG lovers.
10The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Needs No Introduction
One Of Gaming’s Most Legendary Titles
Skyrimis one of the most impactful games ever. It pushed the envelope for what open-world games could be and produced the perfect playground for players to explore. While it’s sometimes criticized for lacking depth,the sheer amount that players get to do and the variety of content makeSkyrimspecial to this day. Just exploring and randomly coming across a quest by blindly wandering into a cave is an experience that other games still struggle to match.
Skyrimalso connected with its audience in a way that many other games have struggled to, helping to lay the path for future studios to work with their players through mods.Skyrim’s innovation and impact on modding are unmatched, and this facet is mainly what has made the game seemingly immortal. Looking at thenext-gen graphical capabilities ofSkyrimin the 2020sis astounding, and this level of connection between a game and its modding community has had such a pivotal impact on RPGs specifically and how their shelf life can be extended.
9The Witcher 3 Set A Whole New Bar For RPGs
Titles Struggle To Reach That Bar A Decade Later
Looking back,it almost feels like whatThe Witcher 3achieved shouldn’t have been possible. At the time, it had stunning visuals, a living, breathing world, morally complex quests with stellar writing, and some of the genre’s best characters. Choices and the complexity of playing the role of Geralt of Rivia helpedThe Witcher 3stand out, and it still stands as CD Projekt Red’s magnum opus. The land of the Northern Realms remains one of the best open-worlds in the RPG genre.
Geralt of Rivia was a self-proclaimed title for much of the books, but he was later knighted by Queen Meve of Lyria and Rivia after saving her army by holding a bridge.
That’s without mentioning how alive cities like Novigrad, Oxenfurt, and Beauclair are, or how memorable the dialogue and decisions of even minor content in the game can be. The writing of characters like Gaunter O’Dimm is stellar, while the main cast of Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer, Triss, and so on helps to give the game so much depth. Despitehow goodThe Witcher 4looks,it has a lot to live up to with how high a bar its predecessor set.
8Persona 5 Proved Turn-Based RPGs Weren’t Dead
And The Turn-Based Boom Of Today Is Thankful
Persona 5is a great game, making the series more mainstream than ever and paving the way forremakes of otherPersonaandShin Megami Tenseigames. There have been many arguments about which game in the series is best, butthere is no denying how importantPersona 5has been. While it largely continues the formula set by the series while making improvements expected of a sequel, its impact on the turn-based subgenre of RPGs has been so important to the genre as a whole, especially with franchises likeFinal Fantasygoing away from it.
With its flashing UI and stunning visuals,Persona 5helped make turn-based combat cool again, and while it wasn’t the only great game around that time using turn-based gameplay, it was the most popular. Without the success ofPersona 5, games likeDragon Quest 11,Baldur’s Gate 3, andClair Obscur: Expedition 33might not have taken off to the same degree, and that’s without talking about how greatPersona 5is on its own merits. The characters, the stylized visuals, the combat, and the blending of school life with all the fighting helped make it so special.
7Final Fantasy 7 Is Still One Of The Best RPGs Ever
And The Game That Made JRPGs Global
Irrespective of what people think is the bestFinal Fantasygame, whether that’sFF6, 7, 8, 9, or 10(all representing the franchise’s golden era), it’s impossible to deny thatFinal Fantasy 7is the one that had the biggest impact. Without taking its influence into account,FF7is a stellar title with amazing characters, surprisingly heartfelt writing, an intriguing world, innovative (for the time) combat with its 3D animations, and one of the most heart-wrenching, shocking moments in gaming. Decades later, the fate of one major character is still talked about as if it’s fresh.
On top of all that is the impact the game had. While JRPGs were popular in Japan and the Eastern market,they hadn’t truly conquered the global market untilFinal Fantasy 7hit shelves. It introduced far more players in the Western market to the complexities of the JRPG genre and accustomed them to many mechanics that are still used to this day.Many still callFF7the greatest game they have ever played, and regardless of how people feel about thedirection theRemakeprojecthas taken, the original is unmatched.
6Baldur’s Gate 3 Made CRPGs Mainstream
And Showed A Level That Hadn’t Been Reached Since The Witcher 3
Baldur’s Gatehas always been a series known for its impact on the gaming industry, and whileBG1was one of the first great RPGs on PC,Baldur’s Gate 3leveraged the popularity ofDungeons and Dragonsto appeal to a massive audience. It helped return the RPG genre to classic form and made the CRPG subgenre popular again thanks to innovations like added depth in 3D environments, great combat, and one of the best casts an RPG can hope for.BG3truly proved to be a worthy successor to the franchise.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s party membershave produced a fan base on their own, and the sheer volume of quality content, witty yet heartfelt storytelling, and ability to capture incredible performances by its stellar cast have helped to make it such a unique and powerful experience. While Larian has had a run of quality with theDivinityseries,BG3has helped cement its status at the forefront of the genre. Now, all CRPGs are being compared to the impossible standard Larian has set.
5Fallout 3 Made Blending FPS and RPG Titles Popular
And Made The Post-Apocalypse A Trendy Place To Set An RPG
While the modern perceptions ofFallout 3are more mixed, it shouldn’t be denied how important the title was for future games that blended FPS shooters with RPGs. Sure, games likePaths of Darknessdid it first, butFallout 3made it popular, and it also made the post-apocalypse a common place to set these FPS shooting RPGs.Fallout 3’s influence can be felt directly in games likeAtomfall, Atomic Heart,andThe Outer Worlds.
Falloutwas acquired by Bethesda in 2007 from Interplay Productions.
Fallout: New Vegasmay be the better RPG, butFallout 3is the one that got the ball rolling. It was the first BethesdaFallouttitle and pivoted the series away from its isometric, more traditional CPRG roots to an FPS RPG. While some fans might argue this has been for the worse for the series, it’s been for the better as far as the gaming industry as a whole is concerned.
4Pokémon’s First Generation Started A Billion-Dollar Franchise
And Made Pokémon One Of The Biggest IPs Ever
Pokémon Red & Bluewas the start of something truly astounding, and while the game alone was groundbreaking with its elemental match-ups, hundreds ofPokémon, and turn-based mechanics, what it eventually did for pop culture is difficult to comprehend. Everyone knows whatPokémonis now, and everyone knows a Pikachu when they see one. The games alone have spawned many copycats, such asTemtemandPalworld.
Pokémonhas now become the highest-grossing media property of all time, and it’s interesting to go back and see its humble beginnings.Pokémonis one of those rare titles that has transcended the gaming industry and probably doesn’t even need its games anymore. It makes enough money just selling merchandise, but it began as a game, and with theLet’s Gotitles being solid remakes of Gen 1, the era is easy enough to revisit.
3World Of Warcraft’s Prime Was Unmatched
The Biggest MMORPG Ever
Although it’s struggling a bit now,World of Warcraft’s impact on gaming shouldn’t be overstated. It made the MMORPG genre bigger than ever, and its prime had over ten million players at once during theWrath of the Lich Kingexpansion. While there were plenty ofMMORPGs beforeWorld of Warcraft, likeRunescapeandEverquest,WoWwas the one that took the formulas from before and improved on them to make the quintessential MMO experience still enjoyed today.
It also helped that it took all the good work fromWarcraft 3and brought these strengths to life in a massive, vibrant world that allowed millions of people to connect to one another. The idea of splitting players into two factions, the Horde and the Alliance, is something copied by a few MMOs to this day, such asStar Wars: The Old Republic, and has helped spur a rivalry between the two factions. Despite all the negative criticisms it has suffered,WoWwas once a beacon of what an MMORPG could be,and many have followed its formula.
2Dragon Quest Shaped RPGs As We Know It
A JRPG Classic
Dragon Questis one of the longest-running RPG series ever, and the original game, made all the way back in 1986, has been critically important in shaping the RPG genre as we know it today. For one, it helped make the humble slime an icon in Japan, but it also helped introduce many core JRPG mechanics, like random encounters, the turn-based combat formula, text-based menus, and so on. Without it,games likeFinal Fantasymight not be the way they were during their golden era.
Dragon Questis still going to this day, with its latest title,Dragon Quest 11, still showing the series' appeal in the modern age.Dragon Quest 1& 2are getting HD remakes, sonow is the perfect time to not only get into the series, but also visit the game that made the JRPG what it is today. Almost all JRPGs and RPGs as a whole owe at least something to the originalDragon Quest, and while these mechanics might seem simple now, they might not be around without this title.
1Ultima Changed Everything
The RPG That Made Everything Possible
While it isn’t as well-known today,Ultimais a long-running series of RPGs, and its first title,Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness, changed everything for the RPG genre. BeforeUltima, many RPGs were text-based, likeDungeons and Dragons, butUltimachanged everything by capturing the RPG experience in a graphical form and introducing many fundamental mechanics to the RPG genre. It popularized concepts like detailed NPC interaction, open-world exploration, and morality systems while introducing the open world.
While not the very first RPG, it was a massive step towards the genre’s evolution, particularly on computers, andUltima 3was especially influential for RPGs likeDragon QuestandThe Legend of Zelda.Many considerUltimato be the very first modern computer RPG, and without it, the genre might not exist in the way we know it today. FromBaldur’s Gate 3toFinal FantasyandThe Witcher, all modern RPGs stemmed fromUltima.
