The 26 Best RPG Games on PC

Baldur’s Gate 3 has been in early access for a few years now but finally saw its official release this past summer (2023). Unlike the previous entries in the series, this game features turn-based combat, and the nature of the choices it gives players and the many possibilities that can arise from a single dice roll means that there are approximately 17,000 endings for the game. Hundreds upon hundreds of hours of engrossing gameplay can be found in this first pick on this compilation of the best RPG games on PC.

It’s hard to overstate how highly anticipated this game was before its shaky release and now that all the kinks have been worked out, it deserves all of the praise that it should have gotten back then. It’s hard not to be sucked into the atmosphere of this world and the immersion of side quests don’t help either. In its current state, Cyberpunk 2077 has finally realized its full potential while also expanding to feature a ton of additional content courtesy of the Phantom Liberty DLC. It's time to stake your claim in "Night City" and see how your character V's life plays out as she encounters some unsavory characters.

If you’re the kind of player who likes their actions having consequences in RPGs, Ion Storm’s Deus Ex is the perfect choice for you. The game’s NPCs have their own agendas and at any given moment, could be trying to swindle you for their own good. How you respond and act is down to you and carves out your path here. Deus Ex is regarded as one of the most revolutionary games of all time, which makes it more than eligible for this list of the best RPG games on PC.

To put it simply, Diablo IV is the game that fans of the first three games have been dreaming of. It combines many of the best elements of those offerings and not just throws them together, but genuinely enhances and expands them. It’s the best in the series and one of Blizzard’s best ever. With a decidedly darker and grim feel that fans of Diablo II prefer, this sequel encapsulates a ton of elements Diablo fans have grown to appreciate over time.

Disco Elysium manages to be one of the most engaging role-playing games out there while featuring very little in the way of combat. The art style is reminiscent of an oil painting and matches the tone of the story. You’re a detective who is suffering from amnesia, tasked with solving a murder mystery. The writing here is to gawk at because it’s so beautifully done.

Gamers eager to play a new RPG don’t have to worry about playing the first Divinity game to understand what’s going on in Divinity: Original Sin 2. This game is set far in the future and can be played as a standalone. It features a great cast of characters in a world so detailed and well-planned that there’s often overlap between quests, giving the game an air of realism that’s refreshing to see.

Dark Arisen is the enhanced version of the original Dragon’s Dogma game. It’s a great RPG to get into as a beginner because it combines RPG elements with more familiar elements from action games. If you jump into this open world with reserved expectations, it’s hard not to be impressed by what the game achieves, albeit on a smaller scale than the biggest RPGs out there.

Without sacrificing any integrity or handholding at any point, Elden Ring became a colossal commercial success as if it were an accessible adventure game. It borrows some elements from fantasy games and has a vast open world and it’s one that you’ll enjoy being in, even while dying over and over… and over again. Once you get over this game's high difficulty hump and bask in the freedom of exploring Elden Ring's bleak world, you'll become enamored with it and realize why it's recognized by many as one of the best RPG games on PC.

New Vegas put Fallout players in the most believable post-apocalyptic world yet and brings back the reputation system from Fallout 2 for a game that lets players become the architect of their own story. Plus, that’s not to say that the actual plot here is lacking, just that there’s enough to do outside of it and enough freedom to feel like you’re the inventor of your own game at certain points.

This game not only combines remastered versions of early 2000s titles Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, but throws in story content that only the international versions of the games previously possessed, meaning that content that was exclusive to Japan now isn’t. That should be enough for fans of the games to play these again, but for first-time players, Final Fantasy X is widely considered amongst the best in the series for its epic proportions.

It wasn’t crazy to call this game a copy of Breath of the Wild when looking from afar, but a closer look reveals that that’s far too dismissive of a game that’s certainly inspired by the Zelda classic, but does enough well on its own that it can stand on its own two feet.

Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 are not just compiled, but remastered here for a revamped version of the classic trilogy that should welcome new players and welcome back older ones. It’s the best way to play some of the best RPGs out there and for that reason alone, it’s worth a go. These games are great for helping your decisions pay off at some point or another. You'll get to experience one of the gtreats trilogies in all of media via this quality remastered compliation that has certainly earned its spot on this list of the best RPG games on PC.

With Monster Hunter: World, the developers trimmed the fat of the previous games and made the game that many fans of the series were dreaming of. Fighting the monsters across from you here is enthralling, to say the least. If you’re a fan, the newer Monster Hunter Rise is also worth playing is another step in a great direction.

Developed by Grinding Gear Games and first released in 2013, Path of Exile sees players pick one of seven character classes before they must fight their way to "Oriath" after being exiled to "Wraeclast." One of the best parts about this game is how much extra content the developers have added to the game since; so much so, in fact, that the developers have saved a bunch of new content in the game that they’re now saving that to be the sequel.

This enhanced version of Persona 5 is the best way to play one of the best RPGs ever. You play as the Joker, a high school student in Tokyo who gets falsely accused of assault, is forced to switch schools and forms the "Phantom Thieves of Hearts." The huge sense of style, amazing storytelling, challenging yet fair approach to turn-based combat, and additional content featured in this version of Persona 5 gives it proper placement on this list of the best RPG games on PC.

Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, Pillars of Eternity is the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale. It’s a great and detailed game that you can tell is made with passion. To date, it’s arguably still the studio’s best game and is a love letter to the RPGs it’s inspired by and worthy enough to stand amongst.

Planescape: Torment is one of the older games on this list, seeing its release before the turn of the new millennium. It was actually somewhat of a commercial let-down at the time, but it’s widely considered a cult classic now and that only speaks to how great it is and how much longevity it has. Developed by Black Isle Studios, the game takes place in a Dungeons & Dragons setting and set the bar in many respects at the time of its release.

If a proxy war between alien-created Machines and human-created androids intices you, pick up NieR:Automata. The game, developed by PlatinumGames, combines elements of role-playing games with hack-and-slash combat and it’s a great mix. The Game of the YoRHa Edition (which is wonderfuly named, by the way) is the best way to immerse yourself in this game since it includes all the previously released DLC and bonus content.

The first Knights of the Old Republic game is heralded as a classic in the RPG genre and this sequel is a worthy successor. The story here is arguably better than the original game’s and for those that appreciate is a solid narrative, we can’t recommend this enough. Just be sure to play its predecessor first so the story beats of this sequel hit you in the feels that much harder.

On paper, this is a farm life sim game, but it’s also an RPG that’s incredibly detailed and lets you live an entire second life within its confines, which don’t feel confining at all. Growing crops, raising livestock, mining, getting married, cooking, having kids and fishing are just some of the things you can take great pleasure in doing here.

This is the game on this list that has gamers worldwide buzzing. Starfield is Bethesda’s latest effort that’s a lot more than just a Fallout game set in space. The scope of this game is hard to fathom and the best part is that it’s all right there, ready to be explored at a moment’s notice. Starfield is a massive undertaking that for the most part, has been knocked out of the park.

Though this game was released in 1999, it’s set in a cyberpunk version of the future, the year 2114 to be exact. You play as a soldier called Von Braun, looking for the cause of an outbreak of a genetic infection on a star ship. This is the best kind of RPG, in other words, one that you want to play over and over again.

Not only do Bethseda Game Studios have a Fallout game and Starfield on here, but Skyrim makes the cut too. Even more than a decade after its release, the game still not just survives, but thrives and stands tall as one of the best RPGs of all time, not just on PC. The Special Edition of that open-world magnum opus comes with remastered visuals and audio that brings its fantasy realm to life in an even more outstanding manner. The Elder Scrolls VI has a lot to live up to, that's for sure.

The Witcher 3 is a game that you don’t just play. You soak it in and feel like you’re genuinely riding on horseback through "Redenia" or "Nilfgaard." As large as the open world is, it’s every bit as inviting and it’s so easy to spend dozens of hours just patrolling the land outside of the game’s missions.

Undertale is a great RPG that doesn’t take itself too seriously, often poking fun at generic tropes of a lot of other games, but from a good place. This game has players control a child who has fallen into an underground portion of earth that’s bound by a magical barrier. You must fight your way back, encountering monsters both friends and foes along the way.

Like a Dragon was a bit of a refresh for the Yakuza series which began a decade and a half before this game came out. It toned down some of the more chaotic combat for a turn-based system, but the wackiness remains in other areas of the game and it makes for a great game that’s oozing charisma.