18 Greatest Role-Playing Games Of The Decade (So Far)
Tens of thousands of hours between them, but who comes out on top?
In years gone by, labelling something as an 'RPG' was easy. Stat-progression, character-building, usually a custom-named protagonist - think Final Fantasy, Pokémon, Dragon Quest.
However, following what feels like GTA: San Andreas' genre-blending mash-up of things like training at the local gyms to build up your strength, learning new fighting styles, changing your physical appearance and indulging in a huge range of clothing options, every game under the sun has had some sort of 'RPG-like' mechanic.
Now, flash-forward to this ongoing decade and you can't get moved for them. Whether it's The Division's loot-grind that was formerly attached to the likes of Diablo, Fallout 4's perk system that supports some DOOM-like shooting mechanics or Dark Souls' hack n' slash combat which hinges numerically on precisely how much damage you're dealing out and absorbing, what an RPG 'is', can be a myriad of things.
To be honest, it's easier to say what isn't an RPG than what is, and in the spirit of crowning one of the following games as the true lord of the role-playing kingdom, let me know how much you agree or disagree in the comments below.
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18. South Park: The Stick Of Truth
The Stick of Truth was a damn fine RPG, especially if you don't usually consider yourself someone who plays them as a genre of choice. Besides that, it remains one hell of a graphical accomplishment, completely nailing the look of South Park to the degree where it feels like you're controlling an episode of the show.
Yes, it suffered some balancing issues in that the, ahem, "fart and burn damage" was a bit too overpowered by game's end, but in terms of letting you fully customise a character and live out the role of living in South Park amongst all the iconic kids and characters, Obsidian knocked it out the park.