The 10 Best RPGs of 2023

2023 was undoubtedly one of the greatest years for video games in quite some time, with a calendar stacked from start to end with a new landmark title arriving almost weekly and several franchises receiving long-awaited follow-ups or sequels. One of the more unexpected surprises of 2023, though, is the sheer amount of incredible RPG experiences that were on offer, with the genre seemingly in the full swing of a renaissance. Not only did Baldur’s Gate 3 win both the Game of the Year and RPG of the Year honors at The Game Awards, but it’s brought tons of attention to the sometimes niche CRPG subgenre.

Between excellent CRPGs, JRPGs, and action-RPGs, the role-playing genre had a banner year in 2023, as evidenced by just how difficult it is to narrow down a selection of its best games. Aside from the highly-anticipated follow-up to two of the most-beloved CRPGs of all time, players also had an incredible indie RPG featuring talent from the Chrono Trigger team, a slew of excellent Soulslikes to represent the action-RPG subgenre, and even some surprise remakes that showcase how well the genre’s classics have aged in the modern era. In alphabetical order, these are The 10 Best RPGs of 2023.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a triumph in every sense of the term, representing the culmination of Larian Studios’ years of hard work and creative vision to see the Baldur’s Gate franchise (which BioWare introduced to the world) return to prominence. The game’s combat sandbox is essentially peerless, affording players an unprecedented level of creativity and flexibility with how they approach encounters, and the same can be said of its character interactions and dialogue. And, the lengths that the game goes to have players care about the characters, from Baldur’s Gate 3‘s romances to simple NPCs, as well as providing representation and a voice to the voiceless is the stuff from which the greatest RPGs of all time are made. Truly a once-in-a-generation experience, and where Larian goes from here is heavy with potential for greatness.

Cassette Beasts

Cassette Beasts is an impressive take on the monster-taming RPG made all the more astounding thanks to it coming from an independent studio. It’s not often that games come along to play Pokemon at its own game, and that Cassette Beasts understands so well what makes a great monster-collecting game and a turn-based RPG is a testament to the talents of its developer. Cassette Beasts‘ types follow a similar structure to Pokemon, but the rest is of the game is its own. The world is rich and bursting with brilliantly characterized NPCs, the story is solid, the monsters themselves feature excellent designs and mechanics, and the combat is supremely satisfying and engaging, requiring players to thoroughly strategize which of their Cassette Beasts they prioritize in encounters.

Final Fantasy 16

For all the ways that the game boldly takes a step forward for the franchise in exciting new directions, Final Fantasy 16 is one of the most “Final Fantasy“-feeling games in the franchise in years. Yes, the game abandons turn-based combat in favor of a character action system, but the quality of its new encounter design speaks volumes. Fighting enemies and bosses is both fluid and fun, and the emphasis on action fits the game’s rollercoaster of a narrative perfectly. Aside from its drastically different approach to combat, the story, characters, and lore at the core of Final Fantasy 16 present it as one of the most compelling games of the year, and the Eikon battles are one of 2023’s greatest gaming spectacles.

Lies of P

Developer Neowiz accomplished something many thought was impossible, which is to produce a Soulslike game that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the titles in FromSoftware’s catalog. Mixing elements of both Bloodborne and the classic fairy tale of Pinocchio, Lies of P is one of the best Soulslikes and ARPGs of 2023. The combat is punishing yet precise, the flexibility in builds and outfitting Pinocchio gives reason for multiple playthroughs, the story is compelling, and its boss encounters are some of the most intense white-knuckle encounters on offer from any game this year.

Octopath Traveler 2

While other RPG franchises opted for 2023 to be the year that they pushed the envelope and evolved their respective series, Octopath Traveler 2 definitively looks to the past while also honoring and simply refining everything that worked in the original. Not only does the gameplay harken back to a simpler bygone era of RPG design, but the title delivers what is quite possibly the most beautiful use of the HD-2D art style that the first Octopath Traveler pioneered. It genuinely feels like a game that could have been released on the SNES were it not for its stunning visual presentation. Much like its predecessor, Octopath Traveler 2 is pure classic RPG mechanics wrapped up in an appealing package, and it improves the few weaknesses of the original to be the best game in the fledgling series.

Remnant 2

Building on the proof of concept provided by its predecessor, Remnant 2 is an excellent ARPG and Soulslike that features a unique implementation of third-person shooting and emphasis on cooperative play. Few of the RPGs on this list are playable as anything other than solo ventures, so to have one of the best games in the genre be one built around squading up with friends is a pleasant surprise. Remnant 2 provides nearly limitless build options thanks to its use of hybrid class couplings, and the amount of gear and weapons it’s possible to uncover (as well as its excellent use of procedural generation) give plenty of incentive to keep coming back long after beating the game for the first time. RPGs tend to be longer experiences by nature, but one could legitimately spend hundreds of hours in Remnant 2.

Sea of Stars

Although name-dropping influences is a great way for indie developers to summarize what players can expect in an upcoming title, there’s always the danger of those same influences setting an unrealistic bar for the eventual release to meet. From its reveal and the launch of its Kickstarter campaign, Sea of Stars has always very proudly displayed its love and reverence for the RPGs from Square’s 16-bit “golden era” front and center. Sea of Stars channels all of this into its characters, combat, world design, story, and so much more. A lesser developer trying to match up with the likes of Chrono Trigger may have crumbled under that kind of pressure, but The Messenger developer Sabotage Studios proved to be more than up to the task, delivering one of the best classically-styled RPGs in years. Ultimately, Sea of Stars succeeds by embracing the charm and heart of the genre’s all-time greats, cementing its place among them in earnest.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R

One of the more excellent releases from the latter half of 2023 is the remake of the beloved PS1 classic Star Ocean: The Second Story. Star Ocean: The Second Story R is about as close to a perfect remake as a developer can get, embracing all the brilliance of the original title while also breathing new life into it through visual upgrades, quality-of-life features, and some adjustments to its mechanics and systems. The plot and cast of characters still stand as perhaps the best in the entire Star Ocean series, and the real-time combat is made all the more engaging thanks to a refreshed Skill system and emphasis on recruiting the ideal characters for the adventuring party. Aside from being an excellent game in its own right, Star Ocean: The Second Story R is perhaps the perfect template for more PS1-era RPG remakes.

Starfield

Starfield is one of 2023’s best RPGs and a truly impressive sandbox in which to live out any number of different space-faring fantasies. Like Bethesda’s other RPG franchises Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, where Starfield succeeds as an RPG is in letting players have nearly unprecedented freedom and variety in how they craft their character’s story through exploration and moment-to-moment gameplay. Playing Starfield presents any number of viable options. It’s possible to become a double-crossing pirate, establish a homestead on an uninhabited planet, or be one of the galaxy’s peace-keepers and maintain justice in a zero-gravity version of the Wild West. Starfield excels at letting players try their hand at a variety of scenarios that would otherwise be impossible, and that’s precisely what the RPG genre is all about.

Super Mario RPG

As if one excellent remake of a classic RPG weren’t enough, 2023 also gifted players with the surprise of a Super Mario RPG remake. The predecessor to the excellent Paper Mario games, Super Mario RPG was an interesting collaboration between Square and Nintendo that released late in the SNES’ lifecycle, prompting the game to become somewhat of a collector’s item down the line. With many people missing out on one of the SNES’ greatest RPGs (no small feat given the caliber of titles in the genre on the hardware), Nintendo’s decision to update the game and bring it to a wider audience is an excellent move that all players benefit from, regardless of whether they’ve played the original. The mechanics are easy to understand, the combat is fun and engaging, and the Mario universe and characters are tailor-made for being the cast of their own RPG.