The 9 Best PC RPGs of 2021

Best Overall: CD Projekt Red The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a stunning role-playing game from beginning to end. Even if you haven’t played the previous titles in the series or read any of the books from which the franchise is based, you can dive right in with The Witcher 3 and enjoy the rich fantasy world.

Everywhere you go in the game world, you’ll be faced with dazzling detail, remarkable design, and no lack of fantastic creatures to battle. While you’ll play as Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher specialized in combating magical creatures, and Ciri, you can customize your weapons, armor, abilities, and some aspects of your appearance.

The base game offers a massive story, woven together with plenty of engaging and delightful characters and an expansive world. There’s also a wide array of side quests, and with multiple endings, you can play it multiple times making different choices. And, all of that is before factoring in the major expansions, which add on new areas and plots to follow, making The Witcher 3 an even better RPG than it already is. Since the graphics can scale up with your PC, the game just gets that much more stunning when you pair it with a powerful gaming rig.

Runner-Up, Best Overall: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (PS4)

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Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla takes this venerable third-person action-adventure franchise to Norway and England in the Middle Ages. As with previous Assassin’s Creed games, you get to explore a vast open world, fight hordes of enemies or murder them stealthily from the bushes, and jump from high places into tiny little piles of hay. 

Though the regions of Norway and England you explore in Valhalla are ridiculously huge and sprawling, they are also packed with fascinating stories, intriguing mysteries, and hidden treasure. Every square inch of this landscape is worth investigating, and there’s always something new around every bend. Combat is intense, and there is a deep level of cosmetic customization, item upgrades, learnable skills with which to customize your character.

Our reviewer found the attention to detail taken by the developers in creating this detailed medieval setting to be particularly impressive. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is graphically spectacular with immense sweeping vistas and vibrant, living cities and towns. The main story arc is also engrossing and well written, weaving realistic historical fiction with Assassin’s Creed trademark sc-fi elements.

Whether you’re looking for the latest Assassin’s Creed game, a deep and compelling RPG that is comparable in tone and setting to Skyrim, or the best game about Vikings ever made, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is easy to recommend. 

Best Open World: Watch Dogs: Legion

3.2

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Watch Dogs: Legion is an open world game with a lot of the same tropes you’ve probably seen before—travel through the world, complete missions within the main storyline, and get distracted with side missions. This game does, however, have a neat feature you don’t see in too many other titles: a play as anyone engine that allows you to play as any character you encounter in the world. This adds an extra layer of intrigue to Watch Dogs: Legion, and it makes the game more fun.

This is an action-adventure game, and it’s reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto. You steal cars, drive around the world to travel to missions, fight bad guys, and encounter police. There’s not really a leveling up engine in the same sense as you’d see in a traditional RPG. The only leveling up is a tech tree of sorts, which allows you to unlock different skills and abilities for multiple characters. The skills allow you to hack different drones, which makes your in-game life a bit easier. There are 12 upgrades and 12 gadgets, and several upgrades and gadgets have three different levels you can upgrade to. You level up by collecting tech points and completing missions.

The storyline, while entertaining, is a bit bland. You’re part of a group called dedsec, and your group was framed for a terrorist act. However, that terrorist act was really performed by a group called Zero Day. In addition to Zero Day, you have other enemies in the game, and your ultimate goal is to give London back to the people.

Best First-Person: Bethesda The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Nintendo Switch)

3.8

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim takes place in an entirely different part of the world from Morrowind and at a very different time, but fans of the series can catch hints of events from the past and events yet to come, furthering the sense of immersion in the game world.

The Elder Scrolls V lets you create your own character and explore the Nordic world of Skyrim. The world is massive, and the graphics are a lot less dated than Morrowind for folks that care about that. Similar to Morrowind, there is a massive storyline and plenty of side stories that offer nearly as much gameplay. Unlike Morrowind, for better or worse, Skyrim doesn’t let you kill characters that are necessary for the story to unfold. That said, Skyrim really does let you do a lot, choosing from a variety of classes, leveling up to tackle the most daunting challenges however you prefer.

Best JRPG: SEGA Yakuza: Like a Dragon

4

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If you’re a fan of games like Dragon Quest, you’ll enjoy Yakuza: Like a Dragon. It’s a modern JRPG, with a party system that allows you to manage who you fight in turn-based combat and an epic story filled with side quests. The game begins with a long intro where you get to know the main character, Ichiban Kasuga, who was an orphan raised in a Soap House. Kasuga goes through some trials, and ends up spending 18 years in prison after confessing to a murder that someone else committed. Things change in the Yakuza family while you (as Kasuga) are in prison, and you no longer have the same relationship with the family. Once your character gets out of prison, you’re trying to find out what went wrong. 

 The intro period is incredibly long, but you eventually get to explore the world. The game has amazing visuals, with details that bring the world to life. You get hit by cars relatively often, which can be frustrating but adds to the challenge. There’s a turn-based combat system, where you select your attacks from a menu. You also take advantage of a job system, gear, and side missions. Yakuza: Like a Dragon uses humor in its mechanics, with funny characters, quests, and fighting moves that add to the overall experience. A lengthy game that takes around 60 hours to play through, Yakuza: Like a Dragon keeps you engaged with its compelling story and deep characters.

Runner-Up, Best Isometric: Larian Studios Divinity Original Sin II

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Since advanced 3D graphics have allowed for immersive RPGs in first- and third-person perspectives, it may seem like the old-school isometric game perspective has been lost to a forgotten time or obscure games. But, as Divinity: Original Sin II demonstrates, the isometric perspective still has life in modern video games, and excellent ones at that. And, the Definitive Edition improved on an already excellent game.

In Divinity: Original Sin II, you’ll create your own character, choosing their origin, appearance, skills, and more. Together with a crew of NPCs or other human players online or locally, you'll explore the beautifully rendered and highly detailed world of Rivellon.

You’ll get to engage in advanced combat that will let you get a lot more clever about how you take down enemies than just hitting them in the head with a sword. If you love an old-school RPG with lots to do and see but just can’t get behind dated graphics, this is a great option for you.

Best Old School: Bioware Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

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Licensed properties used to make video games can be a dicey prospect, but Star Wars fans got incredibly lucky with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The role-playing game takes players into the early days of the Star Wars universe, well before the events of the original Star Wars trilogy and even the prequel trilogy.

In Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic, you will create your own character, choosing from multiple classes and picking skills. Your character will wake up with amnesia, unsure of who they, and all that mystery will play out over the course of the game. Of course, what fun would it be if there wasn’t the opportunity to become a Jedi.

You’ll get to enjoy lightsaber battles while you explore the galaxy along with multiple NPC (non-player character) companions. As you make decisions in the game, your character’s alignment with the light and dark sides of the force will also change. Want to be a Sith Lord or a Jedi Knight? This game gives you the choice amidst a giant world and epic storyline.

Best Character Customization: Obsidian Entertainment The Outer Worlds

4.2

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A first-person sci-fi RPG with a satirical sense of humor, The Outer Worlds isn't only about building up your strengths. Your hero can also pick up gameplay-affecting "flaws" based on your weak points as you play the game, balanced out by an extra perk of your choice. Beyond this unique mechanic, an expansive stat point system lets you customize and progress your character in distinct ways to suit your preferred playstyle, much of which will be familiar if you've played Fallout or similar action RPGs. You can specialize in an assortment of melee or ranged weapons, ammo types, and skills such as persuasion, stealth, or technical abilities. These can improve your effectiveness in combat or avoid it altogether.

Though it's a single-player experience, The Outer Worlds doesn't make you take the trek alone. Much like in the Mass Effect series, you'll meet and take aboard a crew of companions during your planet hopping, each with their own combat abilities, hidden backstories, and complex motivations. But your goals don't necessarily have to remain aligned—you can choose whether to help them on their missions or have them serve your own purposes. The power of your choice runs through all your quests, interactions, and even most dialogue across the game. Your decisions aren't always clearly right vs. wrong or good vs. bad, but you see the results in the world and characters around you.