Best Western RPGs

The art of creating a truly good RPG is not an easy one. A lot has to align to deliver an experience that does justice to the genre: great writing and storytelling, excellent worldbuilding and lore, and plenty of player agency to carve out your path. Throughout the years, we’ve seen countless excellent JRPGs and WRPGs take on this challenge, but today, we’ll only focus on titles made by Western developers.

Given the number of RPGs out there and how different their systems are, as well as the different rankings already available online, it’s pretty tough to give a definitive ranking of the best Western RPGs. That said, we’ll try. The best games here manage to nail all of these must-have categories: writing, worldbuilding, visuals, buildcrafting, and role-playing. Bonus points if the soundtrack is fire, or if they were industry-defining in some other ways.

Honorable Mentions

Picking just ten games to be the kings of Western RPG is almost impossible, so let’s go over a few honorable mentions first before diving into the cream of the crop.

Planescape: Torment

Shallow stories can be the death of a good RPG, and Planescape: Torment knows that. Plot-wise, it’s one of the most intricate RPGs out there that invites you to take a deep dive into some pretty hefty but amazing lore. It’s incredibly unique and dense, and excels at delivering that classic feel of branching, narrative paths that make RPGs, well, RPGs!

Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt Red’s dive into Mike Pondsmith’s TTRPG world was off to a rough start when it released in an incomplete state back in 2020, but it went through one of the biggest redemption arcs seen in gaming (save for No Man’s Sky). Its iconic neon visuals, deep storytelling, and subsequent improvements, along with a fantastic DLC side story, cannot be understated.

Path of Exile

We’ll talk about Diablo down the line, but another action-RPG worthy of note is Path of Exile due to its replayability. It’s stocked full of content with a solid endgame and takes excellent advantage of procedural generation in its map-making. The buildcrafting and variety in skills are unmatched. It’s a game where you’ll enjoy a kind of build freedom that you’d be hard-pressed to find in other, bigger games.

Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

Famous for introducing one of the most insane plot twists in gaming, Knights of the Old Republic showed what happens when you give players the freedom to carve their own path. The sheer amount of freedom, the memorable companions, and the excellent use of the Star Wars setting and lore don’t even begin to explain what made this title so good.

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion

For many The Elder Scrolls fans, Oblivion is the game in the franchise, and there’s no doubt its release was a big deal back in the day. It set a high standard for Skyrim and left a lasting impression with its excellent gameplay and depth in role-play. There’s a reason so many of its references, from music to Oblivion-tier NPC speech, are iconic video game memes today.

10

Deus Ex

A Master Class In Player Freedom And Agency

One of the first early examples of the immersive sim genre, it’s not hard to see why Deus Ex deserves a spot here. RPGs should be all about the freedom of making your own path and decisions, and then living with the consequences of those choices. That’s where Deus Ex shines.

It extends that freedom to how you choose to solve each level and conflict, whether your approach is to go stealth or full-on guns blazing. The game takes into account your approach and creativity. It doesn’t stop you or railroad you to a specific path. This, coupled with really good writing and solid gameplay justify its spot among the kings of Western RPGs.

9

Diablo 2

A Highly Customizable And Addictive ARPG

On the action-RPG side, Blizzard Entertainment’s finest is without a doubt Diablo 2 (and, arguably, its remaster). Returning to the game now, it has an incredible retro charm and darkness to it that Diablo 4 has done its best to try to emulate after the more vibrant style of Diablo 3.

It’s the ultimate dungeon-crawling experience that often gets praised for some of the absolutely incredible buildcrafting you can get up to, as well as the looting system that any loot goblin will fall in love with. There are some silly builds to do, but also a ton of powerful options that truly felt impactful as you went through the leveling progress and committed to it.

8

Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn

Packed Full Of Delightful TTRPG-Like Content

Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn might be showing its age nowadays, but it is without a doubt a staple among Western RPGs. Featuring a system of 2nd Edition D&D, it’s a perfect deep-dive into what truly feels like a detailed and expansive TTRPG scenario.

Returning to it today will almost certainly highlight to players just how shallow some modern titles can feel. Quests and the main story are incredibly deep and well-written, peppered throughout the world in abundance, and the combat system, while requiring a bit of practice, has an interesting take on magic gameplay that will satisfy hardcore RPG players the most.

The Game That Changed Everything For The Franchise

While Morrowind and Oblivion are the favorites of many The Elder Scrolls franchise fans, it’s impossible to deny the lasting impression that Skyrim had on open-world gaming and the industry as a whole. For years, it has been known as the open-world fantasy RPG, gathering an audience that was much wider than the one in previous games. It improved on several key aspects from Oblivion, not just by increasing its sheer scale, but also by variety.

Skyrim’s dungeons may reuse assets, but you’ll never see the completely samey locations you find in the previous title. The team of VAs was also greatly expanded. While it did have its shortcomings, mainly due to a main quest that left players lukewarm, it has grown through mods and DLCs into something of a worldwide phenomenon over the years. With multiple re-releases of questionable utility and a very robust community that continues to mod and improve the game, it stands as the Elder Scrolls game with the greatest longevity to date.

6

Dragon Age: Origins

Unforgettable Writing, Combat, And Companions

It’s a shame the Dragon Age franchise hasn’t been able to make a return with a bang with Veilguard, but it’s genuinely tough to live up to a magnum opus like Dragon Age: Origins. This is another one of those games where everything just clicks for being high quality, and it’s difficult to pinpoint a specific part that isn’t.

The companions and their interactions, first and foremost, are a major highlight. They’re memorable, well-written, and showcase BioWare’s strength that was also evident in its Mass Effect franchise. With that, dialogue was also top-tier, and you always had a chance during the main quest and the side activities to really shape who your Warden was, while also affecting the main quest, somewhat similar to some of the content seen in Mass Effect. Beyond that, the combat and party setups, as well as buildcrafting, all hit the nail on the head for players.

5

Mass Effect 2

BioWare’s Strongest Offering In The Trilogy

The Mass Effect trilogy is one of the finest we have in terms of sci-fi RPGs, but between those three games, the second installment is easily the most iconic one. It improved just enough from the first game, and delivered an amount of content that could be considered staggering by today’s standards: a myriad of unique companions, side quests, and decisions that all affected the final outcome as you stepped forward into the Suicide Mission.

That part of the story the most epic, cinematic content seen in the genre of RPGs ever, and will go down in history as the finest quest design. The action-packed combat with companion interactions, romance, and the timeless Paragon and Renegade system make Mass Effect 2 a titan in its league.

4

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

A Masterpiece With Unique Turn-Based Combat

One of the latest arrivals to the hall of fame of Western RPGs, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 nabbed the GOTY award for 2025 for multiple categories, and for good reason. It’s yet another game that comes so packed with content that it fully justifies its own price tag. One look at the game will show just how much care and thought has put into it, from visuals to writing, and even its soundtrack.

What was unique about it was its very JRPG-esque vibe, including turn-based combat, which was designed in a way that simply won’t put off even the most staunch defenders of real-time combat away from it, thanks to the peppering of real-time actions to keep it interesting. With an unforgettable story that needs to be experienced to truly get a feel for how revolutionary it is, it may be the new kid on the block among other Western RPGs, but it stands its ground without failure.

3

Fallout: New Vegas

The Ultimate Fallout Game, Perfected

The Fallout franchise already had a nice concept going for it, but when Obsidian Entertainment took on the task of making New Vegas, it went above and beyond. Not only did they create a world that felt believable and dynamic, but the depth of role-play for a game of that time was absolutely incredible. Every choice, every stat, every interaction could change how the wasteland treated you, and it made leveling up and developing your character feel truly impactful.

The writing is also some of the best we’ve seen in the Fallout franchise. Companions like Boone have such dark backstories that you have to wonder how they even managed to make the final. Some of the quests and factions hit a little too close to home (ahem, slavery). And that’s the thing: New Vegas doesn’t shy away from the dark, the gritty, and the whimsy. It managed to combine it all together into an experience that feels fundamentally ‘Fallout.’

2

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

A Peak-Quality RPG That Popularized The Franchise

Back in 2015, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt made waves despite some pretty stiff competition. It was against titans of video games, like GTA 5, Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain, and Fallout 4. Bloodborne was also released in the same year. Needless to say, it was a stacked year in gaming, yet it climbed to the top and received the GOTY award. It was well-deserved, too.

Nothing in The Witcher 3 feels like an afterthought, with absolutely every side quest, no matter big or small, written with excellence in mind. The world was beautiful and fully immersive, the music captivating, and while the combat wasn’t always a favorite for everyone, it was nice to have a pretty solid variety in how you chose to build Geralt. The game is bursting with content that isn’t just samey stuff, and like the next entry on this list, it’s a trend that’s not easy to find in the world of video games.

1

Baldur’s Gate 3

The Finest Larian Studios Has Offered (So Far)

And here we are, with Baldur’s Gate 3 at the top. This is the game that brought CRPGs to the mainstream audience, introduced newcomers to D&D, and proved that indie studios can pave the way for an entire genre. The road to success wasn’t by no means easy for Larian Studios. After a lengthy Early Access period, it was unclear whether the game could capture a wider audience. Those doubts vaporized quickly, however, even if the game can be justifiably criticized for being front-loaded.

Still, the beautiful visuals, plentiful quests and branching options, and impressively deep D&D 5th edition combat turned this game into a gold standard of RPGs. It deserves its spot at the top mainly because it’s unlikely we will be getting something as incredible and all-encompassing as Baldur’s Gate 3 for the price tag it released at for a long, long time. Here’s to hoping that Larian Studios’ upcoming Divinity game blows us all away.