RPGs So Good, You’ll Play Them Twice

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Role-playing games are designed to be played more than once. They usually give players a lot of freedom to make choices – like customizing their main character, influencing what happens to their allies, and even changing the game world itself. When a game offers this kind of depth, players often want to experience it all over again after finishing it.

The games listed below aren’t just enjoyable; they each offer something special that will make you want to play them again. This could be a complex story you appreciate more on a second playthrough, choices that significantly change the game, or characters you genuinely enjoy being around.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Appreciate the Subtlety of the Linear Narrative

Okay, so I just finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and the story really drives everything. It’s pretty straightforward, but packed with twists, genuinely emotional moments, and characters who feel…real, like they’re carrying stuff with them. You don’t get a ton of choices throughout the game, mostly just one big one near the end. But here’s the weird part: I immediately wanted to play it again! I’m still trying to figure out why, but it’s definitely something special.

Clair Obscur boasts a wonderfully crafted world, compelling characters, beautiful environments, and engaging combat. What’s more, the game’s mysterious story subtly hints at things to come, making a second playthrough especially rewarding. Once you understand the full story and know the characters well, replaying the first part of Expedition 33 allows you to appreciate the clever foreshadowing and enjoy spending more time with the characters you’ve grown to love.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Almost Too Many Ways to Experience the Game

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a standout RPG, celebrated for its incredible freedom and the meaningful impact of player choices. Players are captivated, often completing the game many times over to uncover hidden secrets, experience unique quest outcomes, and recognize the immense dedication Larian Studios put into creating what many consider one of the best games in recent years.

One of the best things about Baldur’s Gate 3 is how many different ways there are to play. You can choose to experience the story through the eyes of one of the pre-made companions, create your own unique character, play as the mysterious Dark Urge, or even team up with a friend in co-op. With so many high-quality options, Baldur’s Gate 3 quickly establishes itself as a timeless RPG classic.

Dragon Age: Origins

One of the Last Old-School RPGs Driven by Choices

BioWare considered Dragon Age: Origins a key project, aiming to create a unique and detailed fantasy world in a genre already filled with established universes. After a lengthy development process, the game succeeded as a classic RPG, building on the strengths of both BioWare and the genre itself. Unlike Mass Effect, it didn’t try to reinvent the formula with modern mechanics.

Dragon Age: Origins immediately immerses you in its gritty world, offering smooth gameplay, engaging companions with plenty of dialogue, and unforgettable quests. The game is known for its challenging moral choices that have lasting consequences. Plus, the game features six different origin stories – each around two hours long – depending on the character you create, and your character’s background impacts how certain quests and plot points unfold.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Essentially Two RPGs in One

Although The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a fantastic and highly-regarded open-world RPG, its earlier games are also excellent. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, while shorter and smaller in scale, still provides deep, complex characters and plenty of branching quests, making it very replayable.

Furthermore, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is famous for a major decision early in the game that divides the story into two distinct paths. Choosing to support either Iorveth, leader of the Scoia’tael, or Vernon Roche of the Blue Stripes significantly changes the rest of the gameplay experience. Each choice opens up unique areas, quests, and characters, encouraging players to complete the game multiple times to fully experience its impressive freedom – a level of non-linearity rarely seen in other role-playing games.

Fallout: New Vegas

We Hear “Become Anyone” Too Often, but It’s Truly Possible Here

With Bethesda releasing another updated version of Fallout 4, fans are still hoping older games like Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas might get remastered for newer consoles. While a re-release doesn’t seem likely at the moment, New Vegas remains a standout RPG, even surpassing more recent games from Obsidian Entertainment, such as Avowed and the upcoming The Outer Worlds 2.

Fallout: New Vegas is famous for its incredible role-playing freedom. It lets you create almost any kind of character and make choices that truly shape your experience in the Mojave Desert. The game constantly presents you with meaningful decisions – which group to side with, or whether to go it alone, and who to bring along for the ride. A single playthrough only scratches the surface of everything New Vegas has to offer due to its branching storyline and numerous possibilities.

Mass Effect 3

An Epic and Personal to Each Player Conclusion

The Mass Effect trilogy is widely considered one of the best gaming trilogies of all time, and truly showcases BioWare’s strengths. The studio impressively carried player choices across all three games, culminating in the epic scale and personalized consequences of Mass Effect 3.

All three Mass Effect games are excellent and worth playing multiple times, and many fans consider Mass Effect 2 a perfect follow-up. However, Mass Effect 3 is arguably the most ambitious and emotionally resonant of the series. It focuses on galaxy-wide conflicts where the survival of entire species is at stake, creating truly memorable and personalized experiences for each player. Plus, the gameplay is fantastic, with diverse classes, a huge variety of weapons, and challenging enemies.

Cyberpunk 2077

Maybe It Wasn’t Always Good, but It Surely Is Now

Cyberpunk 2077 is famous for its immersive story, well-developed characters, and innovative futuristic world. While it doesn’t quite reach the level of a traditional, branching-path RPG like some previews suggested, there’s still a rich narrative and plenty of choices to make as you explore Night City.

Honestly, I think Cyberpunk 2077 really hits its stride in the second half. That’s when everything starts to connect and the story gets seriously branching. How you build your relationship with Johnny Silverhand, and other key characters, actually changes things – you can unlock totally different endings and even whole questlines, like when Johnny takes control of my character, V. Plus, the game lets you pick from three different life paths at the start, which is awesome because it gives you a unique way to experience Night City and meet the characters for the first time.

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2025-11-05 11:36