Gamereactor's Gamer Guides: Essential RPG

If you've ever really wanted to escape through a game and become someone else, there are few better ways to do it than through an RPG.

Out of the Essential Guides we've done so far, this one might be the hardest to create. Not because it's hard to think of five RPGs that really are essential, but there are simply far too many of them that come to mind.

As such, to narrow it down to five games, we've left some absolute bangers out. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, Diablo II. These are all games that would easily have filled out our top 10, but I'm not going to be the first one to break convention in this article series, and so I've picked out five. Sue me.

5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

You Morrowind and Oblivion purists out there might still hold those games dearly to your heart, but if you've not played them before and load them up today, you'll notice they've aged a lot. The same is true for Skyrim, but this buggy beauty still manages to hold enough charm to get its spot on this list. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an amazing achievement of an RPG, and while more modern games may have surpassed it, there's a reason why so many of us still return back to the land of the Nords more than a decade later.

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4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Speaking of an RPG that surpassed Skyrim, here we have The Witcher 3. The game that really made people hyped to play Cyberpunk 2077, the experience that pulled in so many of The Witcher's fanbase, and one of the greatest games of all time. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a game that's somehow made me replay it three times, even at 100 hours odd per run. It might not let you be whoever you want to be, but the plotting, characters, world, and quests will make you feel that special kind of hollow once you've wrapped it all up again.

3. Mass Effect

We couldn't not have a BioWare title on here, and while we did struggle for a while on whether to put Dragon Age in this spot instead, there's enough fantasy on this list already, and BioWare's space opera is one of the most unforgettable stories in gaming from start to finish. Memorable characters, lines you'll quote years after you've finished the games, and the best final mission in all of gaming make the Mass Effect trilogy an unmissable ride for anyone interested in RPGs.

2. Fallout: New Vegas

In a sense, you could read this list more as an homage to some of our favourite RPG creators rather than the games themselves. If we're talking beloved RPG creators, few are held in higher esteem than Obsidian, and a large portion of that adoration is thanks to Fallout: New Vegas. Bethesda's best game they didn't develop, Fallout: New Vegas took the franchise by the horns and let it into new heights, even after the brilliant success of Fallout 3. Even today, the game still stands as a pinnacle of what RPGs can achieve, so if you've not yet entered the wasteland of the Mojave, now's your time.

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1. Baldur's Gate III

Recency bias be damned, I'm putting it on the list. Baldur's Gate III hasn't even been out for a year at the time of writing, and yet even following early reviews people knew we were in for something special. Combining the loveable companions of a BioWare classic with intricate classes, a detailed character creator, and so much player agency at times it felt better designed than some real D&D campaigns, Baldur's Gate III set a new bar for the CRPG genre that we're not likely to see met for years to come. By now, you've probably heard more than enough praise of Larian's stand-out achievement, and if you've already given it a go, maybe try something like Divinity: Original Sin II to get more of a similar experience, but otherwise do yourself a favour and make your first Tav.

What's your favourite RPG? Did we miss it? Let us know and check out our other guides for Action, Adventure, and Platform.