Western RPGs That Are Incredible From Start To Finish

Japanese role-playing games, or JRPGs, often receive a lot of attention, and for good reason – Japan is home to hugely popular series like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. JRPGs also have qualities that many fans love, though sometimes they can be overwhelming with their sheer amount of content. Despite this, Western developers are equally capable of creating fantastic RPGs.

Western RPGs also offer immersive worlds and memorable characters. Here are ten highly-rated games that consistently deliver quality gameplay from start to finish.

10. Child Of Light

A Fairytale Ride Through Lemuria

I first played Child of Light back in 2014, and it’s still one of my favorites. Ubisoft Montreal made this gorgeous game that feels like you’re stepping into a storybook, and they built it using their UbiArt Framework. You play as Aurora, and basically, she wakes up in this magical place called Lemuria after… well, let’s just say she had a near-death experience. She’s trying to get back to her dad, who’s really upset, and to do that, she needs to collect the Stars, Sun, and Moon. But there’s a catch – this evil queen, Umbra, has taken over Lemuria, and Aurora has to beat her to restore everything and finally go home. It’s a really cool adventure with a bunch of fantastical companions she picks up along the way.

From the village of Bolmus Populi to the Cynbel Sea, and through the winding Mahthildis Forest and the homes of the Capilli people, Child of Light fully commits to its fairytale style. This is evident in everything from its beautiful piano soundtrack to its rhyming dialogue and unique battles. These fights take place on a stage-like area where you can control time to dodge enemy attacks. While it’s not a particularly long RPG (taking around 11 hours to complete the main story), its concise length and satisfying side quests make it very easy to pick up and enjoy.

9. Disco Elysium

Never Predictable For A Moment

Sometimes games give you too much freedom, letting you make obviously terrible choices just to see what happens – and that can be fun! If you enjoy that kind of experience, Disco Elysium is perfect for you.

In Disco Elysium, you play as a detective investigating a murder in a small town, but with complete amnesia. This allows you to shape your character and the investigation however you like – you can be a careful, logical thinker, get lost in intriguing side stories, or constantly confuse your partner, Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi, with your strange choices. The game focuses heavily on dialogue, featuring writing that’s funny, disturbing, and wonderfully unpredictable. It keeps you hooked not through action, but through a compelling need to discover what happens next. Plus, the game is highly replayable because your decisions and how you build your character significantly impact the story’s outcome.

8. Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

Join The Dark Side (Or Don’t)

When it comes to video games based on existing franchises, the most crucial element – and the one often overlooked – is making players feel truly immersed in the world they already love. Ideally, a game based on a movie should feel like playing through that movie. Star Wars games have generally done this better than most, with titles like Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader perfectly capturing the feeling of reliving iconic battles from the original trilogy. Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic achieves this in a different, but equally successful, way.

Created by the RPG experts at BioWare, this 2003 game lets you play as a warrior who eventually trains to become a Jedi. Your mission? To defeat Darth Malak. The powers and abilities you develop, including Force powers, are shaped by the choices you make, leading you down either the path of the Light Side or the Dark Side. These decisions impact the story’s ending and even which characters will join you in battle. KOTOR is still celebrated for its innovative combat, compelling story that stays focused, and the freedom it gives players – something fans had been wanting for a long time.

This game, one of the first in the Star Wars series, remains enjoyable today. Playing as either the hero or the villain is equally fun.

7. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Hunter And The Hunted

Since the show is adapted from a popular book series, it’s no surprise that The Witcher’s strongest point is its storytelling. Like the monster hunters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Witchers are incredibly skilled fighters with powers beyond those of normal people, and they use those abilities to defeat monsters and other supernatural dangers. However, despite Geralt of Rivea’s immense strength, the combat in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt isn’t actually a standout feature. In fact, the fighting system is fairly simple, relying mostly on sword combinations and dodging, with magic playing a smaller role.

This role-playing game focuses more on a rich, long story than intense combat. It takes roughly 51.5 hours to finish the main story, and around 174 hours to fully explore everything. Throughout that time, you’ll experience a captivating tale of Ciri, who is relentlessly hunted by the powerful Wild Hunt due to her special heritage. You’ll journey across a diverse and detailed world, build relationships, and see how your choices impact the lives of characters and ultimately lead to one of multiple endings. The game’s world is incredibly well-developed, and even small decisions can have significant consequences.

6. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

The Skyrim Is The Limit

Many role-playing games have side quests that feel unimportant – simple tasks like collecting items or defeating enemies that don’t really contribute to the story. What makes The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim so memorable, even after all these years and re-releases, is that its optional content is often truly exceptional.

Joining factions like the College of Winterhold or the Thieves Guild can be surprisingly in-depth. These aren’t just quick detours for rewards; they’re full-fledged storylines with tons of quests that can easily pull you away from the main adventure for hours. They really let you explore the rich world Bethesda built and learn so much more about it. This is a big reason why players spend so much time in Skyrim before finishing the main Dragonborn quest – because the side content is often just as good, and sometimes even better. Skyrim doesn’t just have one great story; it has many, and some of the best parts are easy to overlook.

5. Baldur’s Gate 3

Shaping A Narrative That Never Lets Up

When Baldur’s Gate 3 launched in 2023, it quickly became a hit with RPG fans, and also attracted many new players to the genre. Unlike The Witcher 3, which focused heavily on creating a detailed world with simpler combat, Larian Studios aimed to deliver excellence in both areas. Built on the rules of Dungeons & Dragons, Baldur’s Gate 3 gives players incredible freedom in battles – if your character has the ability, you can try almost anything. This makes combat feel like a complex chess match, requiring players to carefully position their characters, time their skills, and constantly assess the changing battlefield, including environmental effects like fires, to gain an advantage.

The developers clearly invested a lot of effort into the game’s story and how everything unfolds, both in the main quest and the optional side adventures. Like in Skyrim, these side stories are really important for getting to know your companions and building strong relationships with them. The relationship system is a standout feature in Baldur’s Gate 3, and the side content offers just as much depth and understanding as the main storyline. If you enjoy this type of game, there are other similar titles available too.

4. Mass Effect 2

A Unique Place In Series History

The Mass Effect series by BioWare has always balanced action and role-playing elements. While the second game shifted focus a bit from the deep RPG mechanics of the first, it ramped up the action with features common in first-person shooters, like health that regenerates when you’re safe. Thankfully, this didn’t come at the cost of a good story. In this installment, Commander Shepard and their crew work to stop the Collectors, who are capturing human settlements.

Although we learn who the Collectors are and how they relate to the Reapers, this game feels unique within the overall Mass Effect story, falling between the first and third games. Fans still discuss where it fits in the original trilogy, and how its character customization and ability development differ from the other games. What it did deliver were fantastic Loyalty Missions that connected the main story with optional side quests, ultimately influencing the final battle. Plus, some of the game’s most memorable moments are found in that side content, making it well worth exploring everything it has to offer.

3. Planescape: Torment

An Almost Timeless Adventure

If I’m making a role-playing game where story and choices matter, looking to Dungeons & Dragons for inspiration is a really solid move. We’ve seen how well that worked with Baldur’s Gate 3, and Black Isle Studios did something similar with Planescape. In that game, you play as this character, The Nameless One, trying to figure out why his life is so messed up – it’s a quest that takes you all over the city of Sigil and beyond. Like Disco Elysium, it’s mostly set in a city environment, which means it doesn’t focus a ton on combat. Instead, it really makes up for that with a story that just pulls you in and doesn’t let go. It’s a game where the narrative is king.

Planescape: Torment, like the worlds it portrays, is filled with sorrow, difficult choices, and painful situations. The game excels at immersing you in these experiences, often forcing you to make tough decisions as the protagonist and then deal with the consequences. It also poses thought-provoking questions about immortality and what it truly means to live forever. While it’s not a fast-paced action game, Planescape remains one of the most profound and disturbing stories ever told in gaming.

2. Cyberpunk 2077

The Phenomenon It Always Deserved To Be

It’s disappointing when games with great potential don’t deliver on their promises, often because they try to do too much at once. Cyberpunk 2077 initially faced this problem with a rocky launch. However, the developers, CD Projekt Red, worked hard to improve the game over time. While performance still varies depending on your computer, it’s now a fantastic and imaginative RPG that’s definitely worth playing.

Set in the futuristic Night City of 2077, the game explores a world deeply changed by technology like nanotechnology and cybernetics. You play as V, who has a chip implanted containing the personality of rock star Johnny Silverhand. The story follows how Silverhand’s past actions create problems for V in the present. It’s a thought-provoking narrative about what it means to be human, the power of memories, and the potential – both good and bad – of advanced technology. Gameplay is diverse, with exciting vehicle combat and extensive character customization options. You can choose to play stealthily, using hacking, or go in guns blazing. Crucially, your choices matter, especially a key decision near the end that affects which ending you receive. For players wanting more, the 2023 expansion, Phantom Liberty, adds a substantial new storyline that delves deeper into the relationship between Johnny and V, and features compelling stories for new and existing characters.

1. Fallout: New Vegas

The Battle For The Platinum Chip

A game doesn’t need a complicated story to keep players engaged. Fallout: New Vegas immediately makes it clear that a single item – the Platinum Chip – will be central to everything that happens. The game starts with a dramatic opening, introducing the world and the communities that rose from the ashes of a past conflict. Almost instantly, the player character is seemingly killed, and the crucial Platinum Chip is stolen by a character named Benny.

The Courier miraculously survives an attack and begins a quest to find who tried to kill them, a journey that takes them all over New Vegas. They’ll need to pick allies along the way, as the region – and especially Hoover Dam – is a hotly contested prize for various factions. Groups like the New California Republic offer numerous quests that help the Courier progress the story, build relationships, and improve their standing – similar to earning reputation with gangs in games like Grand Theft Auto. Each faction has unique goals and characters, leading to diverse and engaging missions, and a vast open world to explore. Ultimately, the faction you support will win control of New Vegas, resulting in one of several different endings. And if you enjoy this Fallout experience, there’s plenty more to discover!

2026-01-18 02:40