10 Best RPGs Of 2018
1. Octopath Traveller
On the surface, Octopath Traveller may have appeared little more than a nostalgia-driven throwback. However, Square Enix utilised their vast experience of the genre to produce a eight distinctive stories that each centre on equally intriguing protagonists who can then team up and join your party, all the while exploring a visually charming world.
What appears an homage gives way to a delightful fusion of classic graphics and modern power, with 16-bit trees swaying in the win and realistic water lapping the shores of the 2D-but-3D environments. Combat, too, is suitably modernised.
Rather than just relying on traditional systems, Octopath Traveller enables any of the simplest attacks to turn the tide of battle. Each enemy has a weakness that must be exploited to "Break" them, enabling characters to deal massive damage. You are also able to hold attacks off to stack them up and act multiple times in a single turn. This additional layer of complexity changes each and every random battle, making the inevitable JRPG grind way more satisfying.
Octopath Traveller at once paid homage to it's SNES roots, but also drove the genre forward, making it easily one of the best RPGs of the year.