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What are the best RPGs on PC? Roleplaying games can have everything from interplanetary exploration, lightsaber duels, and bloodthirsty vampires to irradiated mutants who need to be beaten with golf clubs, lizards who can talk to cats, and a whole lot of dice rolling if that’s your jam. It’s a pretty diverse pool.
The scale and scope of RPGs are like never before, with tech finally catching up to developers’ ambitions, enabling vast, open worlds previously unseen. As a result, some of these adventures are among the best PC games ever made. So, dear traveler, gather your party and head out. We’re about to bear witness to the best RPGs available on PC.
The best RPG games on PC are:
Baldur’s Gate 3
We used to have Baldur’s Gate 2 on this list, but there is no overlooking the fact that Larian’s most recent DnD game deserves to be here instead – especially given the heaps of praise we have for the game in our Baldur’s Gate 3 review and that it won our 2023 Game of the Year award.
The world is your oyster in Baldur’s Gate 3, as your dialogue choices, companions, and random decisions decide how your own unique story unfolds – and that’s before you consider the difference a failed dice roll can make. There are apparently 17,000 different Baldur’s Gate 3 endings, and almost no two playthroughs are the same, which makes BG3 among the ultimate RPGs.
Honkai Star Rail
Honkai Star Rail is effectively Genshin Impact in space, so if you’re tired of the high fantasy world of Teyvat, then HoYoverse’s latest outing might be your best bet. Honkai Star Rail follows the Astral Express crew as they chart their trailblazing voyage across the stars. Their journey to new worlds coincides with meeting new people and inevitably getting into a heap of trouble – whether that’s trying to contain the destructive Stellarons or facing down the armies of the Antimatter Legion. All of this adventure is wrapped up in HoYoverse’s signature gacha model, which we dissect in our Honkai Star Rail review.
If you’re looking for character customization in your RPGs, then Honkai Star Rail is the one for you. Every Honkai Star Rail character requires powerful relics and light cones in order to get them performing at their best. Once you have them kitted out accordingly, you then have to find the best Honkai Star Rail team comps to create powerful synergies that can tear through the toughest enemies. Of course, you can only pull the majority of them from the latest Honkai Star Rail banners. If you need help getting started, check out our Honkai Star Rail tier list for the ones to watch out for, as well as the latest Honkai Star Rail codes for free currency.
Neverwinter
Let’s get a couple of things out of the way first. Yes, Neverwinter is a free MMO, but it’s also one of the best free RPGs around. If you have a soft spot for the lore and history of D&D’s Forgotten Realms, then it’s also a great Dungeons and Dragons game. You can pick one of eight possible classes covering all of the classics, from rogues and rangers to wizards and paladins.
Across the main campaign, dungeons, and raids, you’ll get to embark on some truly memorable adventures, whether finding a disgruntled demon somewhere to rest where they won’t be disturbed or engaging in a 12-part campaign to defeat Baphomet. Almost every key location you’ve heard of in the Forgotten Realms, from Ravenloft to Chult, and all content in Neverwinter, old and new, is free. Just be ready for a grind when it comes to some high-tier items.
Goddess of Victory: Nikke
Goddess of Victory: Nikke is a bit of a hybrid between an RPG and an on-rails shooter, tasking you to assemble a squadron of Nikkes to eliminate the robotic forces trying to wipe out mankind. As their commander, it’s up to you to bond with your squadmates and lead them into battle against increasingly larger threats.
With new events appearing on a frequent basis, including full limited-time campaigns and more opportunities to unlock new Nikkes without spending a single penny, there’s never been a better time to lace those boots and get on the battlefield.
Play Goddess of Victory: Nikke for free.
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth might be the latest in a long series of games that may feel impenetrable to some, but this is the best game in a series that has shifted from action brawler to turn-based RPG. While Yakuza: Like A Dragon was a risky swerve, it became one of the most beloved entries and a great starting point for newcomers. Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth shows that going in this direction is the right choice for every game in the crime game series going forward.
It’s also the first time the series has ventured outside of Japan, with the beautiful Honolulu island home to many attractions, side quests, and gangsters in need of a good punch to the face. According to our Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth review, it’s “a behemoth of a game” with a nearly insurmountable amount of stuff to do. If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll likely find this a bittersweet experience, but for everyone else, this is the best of the series so far and well worth exploring.
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 world with saucy scenes to rival the most salacious of sex games. The result is an extraordinary RPG that sets the standard for open-world adventures, as seen in our The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt review.
Every quest is an opportunity not just to learn more about the war-ravaged lands and their inhabitants but also to be drawn into the knotty drama. A simple contract, such as directing series protagonist Geralt to slaughter a monster, can transform into an elaborate series of consequence-laden stories that span several hours, making this one of the best single-player games of all time.
Navigating this dark, complex fantasy world being brought from book to screen is a delight, even with its occasionally oppressive and miserable locals who need your particular brand of problem-solving. Even better, CD Projekt Red produced arguably the best DLC ever made with Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine (our Witcher 3: Blood & Wine review is here), which has even better quests than those in the base game. The Witcher 3 is meant to be devoured until nothing remains. Since we’ll be waiting a while for The Witcher 4 release date, you can try replaying this third entry with a selection of the very best Witcher 3 mods.
Elden Ring
Elden Ring is a great RPG game, but it also ticks a ton of other boxes. It’s a top-tier open-world game and a wonderfully vivid fantasy game. It’s got hardcore combat as a key part of the gameplay loop, so it skews more toward the action RPG side of the spectrum if that’s important to you. But don’t just take our word for it; not only can you read our glowing Elden Ring review.
As one of the ‘Tarnished’, you must explore the Lands Between and unravel the mystery of what’s transpired, but you must also take on the realm’s fallen heroes to become the Elden Lord. You’ll need to find and wear the fabled Elden ring to begin a new age. If you’re going to brave the horrors of this land, you’ll want to arm yourself with some Elden Ring beginner tips, as well as guides to all of the Elden Ring bosses, the best Elden Ring weapons and armor, and you might want to read up on Elden Ring Great Runes as well. You know, just in case.
Disco Elysium
When you awake in Disco Elysium after an obliterative night of drinking, you’re so hungover you can’t even remember who you are. From thereon out, it’s up to you exactly what type of disheveled, dysfunctional, disturbed detective archetype you want to be in this secret detective game.
Unlike many RPGs, Disco Elysium eschews any conventional combat and entrusts all its interactions to dialogue screens. As the game’s opening makes clear, your rapidly assembled psyche isn’t exactly stable. Disco Elysium lets you play with each strand of thought, expand them, and use them to your advantage as you seek answers about a grim murder case. Check out our Disco Elysium review for a more in-depth analysis of why this game is so good.
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Like the original – which we love, as it happens – Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a love letter to classic pen-and-paper RPGs. It’s a tactical RPG that, unlike many modern RPGs, refuses to give you simple binary choices, sucking you utterly into an enticingly detailed world.
The extensive freedom you will have begins with the character creator, which teaches us to roleplay as someone other than ourselves. You can, of course, design your hero, but there are also six unique origin characters to choose from with their backgrounds – from the arrogant lizard, the Red Prince, to the new undead race. Every decision matters, as you’ll have to live with the consequences that give every tricky dilemma an unnerving gravitas. Gameplay is no less punishing: you will need to learn and exploit the contours of the terrain to gain an advantage in combat. Prepare for a spanking if you fail to get to the high ground to deal greater damage.
In our Divinity: Original Sin 2 review, we said: “Divinity: Original Sin 2 stands as a remarkable example of three genres: the classic roleplaying game, the online arena battler, and the tabletop-style adventure enabler.” We haven’t even gotten started on the multiplayer aspect, including the Game Master mode, which really brings the Dungeons & Dragons inspiration to the fore.
Cyberpunk 2077
To say Cyberpunk had a bit of a rocky launch would be an understatement. CDProjekt Red’s massive Cyberpunk RPG has great potential, as noted in our Cyberpunk 2077 review, but its first year was rough. The good news is that it eventually got good, and the game’s finally ready to take its place in our compendium of top RPGs.
You play as highly customizable protagonist V, a mercenary outlaw tasked with chasing down a one-of-a-kind implant that may hold the key to immortality. You explore the gigantic metropolis Night City, meeting a whole array of quirky characters as you embark on countless main and side quests. Once you’ve sampled the city’s delights to your heart’s content, you can check out some Cyberpunk 2077 mods to further enhance things.
Pillars of Eternity
Pillars of Eternity is an exceptional RPG. It evokes the best parts of old games using the Infinity Engine, like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment (both found elsewhere on this list), while digging its path with a compelling fantasy yarn and a richly detailed original world. No wonder we found it one of the best games of 2015.
This is Obsidian Entertainment at the top of its game, with the beautiful writing the studio is known for wrapped up in a polished adventure – a combination that the team has struggled to nail in the past. Despite Pillars of Eternity being a massive RPG with many options and boasting plenty of choices and consequences when interacting with the many Pillars of Eternity characters, everything is crafted with so much care, down to the smallest detail. Religion, philosophy, class warfare, and the world of Eora overflow with conflict and crises – every region on the map is filled with problems waiting for nosey adventurers. Even the most seemingly mundane quests can offer insight into the world or the chance to create a reputation, good or bad – as we discovered in our Pillars of Eternity review.
Instead of cashing in on the popularity of its spiritual predecessors, Obsidian builds on those strong foundations to create an experience that doesn’t rely on nostalgia to deliver its hits. It’s a solid step forward for this type of RPG, and the overall experience is even more reminiscent of tabletop RPGs than many of those rooted in D&D. It might have been a more iterative sequel. However, our Pillars of Eternity 2 review finds that it loses no sense of adventure that the original game established.
Starfield
Will you be a pacifist? How about a rampaging pirate? Maybe you just absolutely love the deep-space trucker lifestyle. Whatever it is that you want to do, you can probably do it in Starfield. Bethesda Game Studios’ latest mammoth RPG puts you squarely in the role of an absolute nobody, who may or may not be important in some way. Clawing out your own little haven in the Settled Systems is what it’s about here – as well as blowing things up with your fancy spaceship.
Check out our Starfield review if you want to know more; the scope of this RPG is almost unrivaled and will give you the freedom to be who you want to be. If you’re just setting off on your adventures, take a peek at our Starfield walkthrough, which is an invaluable resource in a chaotic universe. We’ve also got expert guides to the best Starfield mods to mix up your game, the best Starfield traits to pick at the start of your adventure, and the best Starfield ship builds to experiment with.
Wasteland 3
Set in a frozen and bleak Colorado, the inhabitants of this apocalypse game fall into two camps: helpful and well-meaning townsfolk or psychopathic monsters out for blood. There’s no real middle ground, and everything has a price. Combat is turn-based, like in previous Wasteland games, and it can be tough to survive out there in the wilderness, but it’s a rewarding experience once you get into good habits.
This means conserving resources where you can, picking unnecessary fights is the fastest way to drain your ammunition, use up medkits grenades, or lose one of your best fighters to a bullet to the head. Doing favors for NPCs puts you in good standing with some factions and provides valuable resources, but you risk rubbing other people up the wrong way, so striking a balance is paramount to finishing the game.
Our Wasteland 3 review says it’s a game that “takes you on a moral journey and corrupts you, making everything you thought was so unfeasible about an apocalypse seem so normal”. With plenty of different companions to recruit, you can outfit your squad with all the best Wasteland 3 builds, but quick thinking can keep your group alive. If impending peril sounds up your street, this RPG is well worth picking up.
Fallout: New Vegas
Obsidian took the format of Bethesda’s 3D, first-person Fallout. Then it reinstated the theming that made the original isometric games great, blending it with features resembling some of the best Western games. You feel like you’re fighting through the wastelands instead of being nudged by an invisible director.
Fallout: New Vegas makes you one of the unfortunate survivors of this world. After the first hours, your mission runs out of leads, leaving you to venture where you like: interacting with whomever you want, being good, evil, or anything in between to make New Vegas the most adventurous Fallout game. You can team up with the New California Republic, join the slave-loving Legion, stand up for the sleazy people of New Vegas, or be a self-serving asshole. You can also build your own game by combining the best Fallout: New Vegas mods should you exhaust the main game’s offerings.
The writing, worldbuilding, and black comedy are all spot on in New Vegas – Fallout: New Vegas’ Come Fly With Me quest remains one of our favorites. While we are on the subject, what will it take for Bethesda to let Obsidian take another crack at the universe?
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
It’s hard to say which Mass Effect game is the best, but luckily, we don’t have to, thanks to EA’s ‘legendary’ compendium of all three. Our Mass Effect Legendary Edition review shows this is the best way to play the space saga. It has everything you could ever ask for in an RPG: thrilling battles, epic storytelling, and many Mass Effect Legendary Edition romance options across all three games. You can play all three games in order, keeping your relationships with characters across the entire trilogy, or jump into the game you choose.
Mass Effect also perfectly marries the sub-genres of speculative fiction and space games and 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 are all on show, artfully combined in this tense (and ultimately, suicidal) mission to save the galaxy.
BioWare’s typically excellent dialogue punctuates dramatic set-pieces and workmanlike squad-based combat. Simply wandering around alien locales, sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong – because that’s what humans do in space, apparently – adds to the overall package. With all of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition mods now available, it’s the best way to play the trilogy.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim isn’t just one of the best RPGs on PC. It’s an institution that remains relevant and eminently playable long after its 2011 debut – tirelessly tugging players back in by their mage robes. With the help of many Skyrim mods and Skyrim console commands, of course.
The atmosphere is infectious, aided by perhaps the finest musical theme of any videogame. Whether you’re battling gargantuan dragons atop the Throat of the World as its frosted mountain peaks pierce the sky or simply answering the enigmatic chime of the Nirnroot plant by a river’s edge, Skyrim is a game that implores you to unravel every narrative and leave no stone unturned.
The Elder Scrolls V doesn’t just offer you an engrossing fantasy tale or satisfying freedom of choice – it endures because few other games nail how an adventure should feel quite like Skyrim does. If you’ve done everything there is to do in this fantastical land, here are some games like Skyrim that might scratch that magical itch – you’ve certainly got some time to kill before the Elder Scrolls 6 release date.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II
Where its predecessor – made by BioWare and not Obsidian – is a fantastic addition to the Star Wars universe, complete with a twist worthy of comparison to the famous one in The Empire Strikes Back, KOTOR II takes the venerable IP and pulls it in a completely new direction to make it one of the best Star Wars games on PC. No longer is the focus on the constant battle between the Light and Dark sides of the Force. Republic versus the Empire. Instead, we’re treated to a narrative that explores the nature of the force and what it means to be cut off from it. Its story of misfits and traitors feels like Star Wars through Planescape: Torment.
Shades of grey permeate the entire adventure, as the Exile – KOTOR II’s protagonist – is forced to think about every action and how good deeds can beget evil, being pushed further towards pragmatism. An often depressing and 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 is certainly plenty of that, too.
Perhaps the best aspect of KOTOR II is Kreia, the Exile’s secretive mentor. As the impetus for much of the game, she pushes the Exile, berates her, and attempts to teach her important lessons, all while presenting the force in much more interesting ways than any of the films manage. It makes the pupil-mentor relationship between Luke and Yoda, or Ben Kenobi, 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 reminiscent of strategy games like XCOM. It ticks a lot of boxes and, somehow, manages to deliver on all these features. Set on a future Earth where science and the realm of the arcane struggle to coexist, and beings like elves and trolls walk the streets alongside humans, you find yourself in the shoes of a Shadowrunner – a shady mercenary proficient in espionage.
A freeform character creator lets you make unusual classes, from spirit summoners who can enter a digital realm and fight computer programs to samurai who run around with many remote-controlled robots. Dumping some points into charisma also unlocks affinities for different types of people; 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 fully realized likable characters. It’s a more intimate game, too, 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 plague the entire city.
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 – even 18 years on, it’s a joy to play and one of the best PC games ever devised.
We could expend much energy reminiscing about the dramatic narrative that weaves themes of conspiracy, terrorism, and transhumanism together with intriguing characters in a believable dystopian future. Equally, we could go on and on about the breadth of character customization, letting you hone the trenchcoat-wearing J.C. Denton into a cybernetically enhanced soldier, expert hacker, or ghost who lurks in the shadows. But what we want to discuss is the incredible level of design.
Every map represents a complex sandbox ripe for experimentation, whether you are playing this as one of the best FPS games or as a straight stealth game. Every combat encounter has the potential to play out in remarkably different ways, should you 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 litter the levels. If you happen to talk about your experiences with another player, it’s like you are talking about two different games. Newer games in the series haven’t captured what makes the original Deus Ex so special.
Diablo 4
Diablo 4 is a return to form for the series, with Sanctuary portrayed as a bleak place where death is around every corner. In many ways, it expands on the previous successes with Diablo 2 Remastered and Diablo 3 while also debuting lore about the creation of the world and its new big bad: Lilith.
Our absolutely glowing Diablo 4 review showers Blizzard’s latest entry in the series with praise, saying that it “embodies the essence of what makes Diablo so great, taking the best elements of its predecessors and sewing them together to create an ever-changing, ever-evolving chimera that we can’t wait to play for years to come”. There are five playable Diablo 4 classes, each with the potential to make the best builds to annihilate hordes of demons in stylish ways.
In many ways, Diablo 4 excels in the ways the previous games have, but with a more realistic look and convenient vendors to help you take advantage of its systems. You still gather tons of loot, but in addition to salvaging items for parts, you can now extract aspects from Legendary items and put them onto better ones to get their buffs. With such a massive open world to explore, filled with dungeons and Strongholds to liberate from hell’s monsters, we couldn’t be further away from the original Diablo, one of the most important PC games ever. And yet, Diablo 4 is the best in the series.
And there you have it, our list of the best RPGs on PC. It’s certainly not a short list, but how could it be when there are so many gems out there? For more expert lists, why not explore our list of the best JRPGs, or for something completely different, try out some great racing games or even management games if you’ve got your thinking hat on.
We’ve also got a list of all the best upcoming PC games to keep an eye on, including promising new RPGs like Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 and Dragon’s Dogma 2.
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