1. The Witcher 2: Assassin's Of Kings
Speaking of fantastic franchises in desperate need of more exposure,
The Witcher 3 saw CD Projekt RED break through to the mainstream and deliver this generation's first must-have RPG - but what of the previous two instalments? Chances are you'll not take to the original's behind-the-back fixed perspective for combat and its archaic menu systems, but Witcher 2 is a solid bridge between that and the completely open-world trappings of Wild Hunt. Still having Geralt struggle to know which of his past events are real and fiction, you can get caught up on Assassin's of King's story premise pretty fast, which then allows you to dive into another weighty tale of moral consequence and supremely polished dark fantasy. Author Andrzej Sapkowski's fiction places Geralt at the centre of everything from political intrigue to everyday village-saving tasks, and although it's Witcher 3 that did a 'true' open world with almost no load times, Witcher 2's is still a series of large expanses with sprawled objectives spaced out enough to sit comfortably in the genre.
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