10 Best Fantasy RPGs Of All Time
Elden Ring, Final Fantasy, Dragon Age...
If you’re sitting there ready to debate me for what’s on this list and what’s off it and wondering how I could possibly make a definitive version of this list in 2024 when the medium has given us far more than 10 Fantasy RPG slam dunks then you probably have some idea of how terrified I am to run you through this one.
But run you through I must and will. It’s just worth saying there will be some inevitable Jessica bias peppered in, but not to worry as that comment section is open and ready for you to apply your rossiaconis242, BlueInkAlchemy, and Vodka4MyLlamas biases as well. Sub in your own username above.
Because this is a list of ten games and not fifty I’ve had to leave off games I wish I could include like Dragon’s Dogma, Fable II, Path of Exile, Bloodborne, Chrono Trigger, and World of Warcraft, but just trust me that there’s some real gold on here given those are the ones I couldn’t fit in, even if not every entry ticks your personal top ten boxes.
That’s more than enough caveats and stalling, let me try to delicately explain why the following fantasy RPG games represent the cream of the crop. I think. Probably. Don’t hurt me.
10. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3 is a game that needs no introduction but as this is a list of the greatest fantasy RPGs ever created by a series of talented developers and publishers, that line pretty much applies all the way through this one so let’s talk about why Geralt’s journey to save his pseudo-ward Ciri is so damn good.
The Witcher 3 continues the story from the first two games which themselves are based on the fantasy novels by Andrzej Sapkowski that would later spawn the Henry Cavill-led TV show. Apart from slotting neatly between the other two forms of popular media, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt stands at the narrative and mechanical apex of its own series as well as being perfectly accessible to those unfamiliar with the source material or the earlier video game entries. This is part and parcel due to the familiarity of Geralt’s classic heroic journey through a larger-than-life, lore-loaded fantastical open world. While Geralt is a bit of an anti-hero he’s a deeply relatable and often empathetic one. Your experience playing as him is ever engaging whether you’re taking on Witcher contracts, making story-defining choices, or showing the Continent just how good you are the card-based minigame Gwent.
Through it all you’ll grow your skill set and expand your combat playstyle of choice, but there’s also opportunities to drop into the shoes of Ciri, who’s equally enjoyable to embody for her unique abilities and charisma.
The Witcher 3 stumbles here and there with some overly long collectathons which are really only a trap for diehard completionists like myself, as well as extensive alchemy and mutation systems that don’t prove necessary to master unless you play at a high difficulty, but that’s pretty much the only nits we’d be picking.
The Witcher 3 brings something new to the RPG table with its combat, especially for those new to the series, but for that tried and true gritty and engrossing hero fantasy campaign, it’s exactly what you’d be looking for.