Gamereactor’s Gamer Guides: Essential RPG -.

Of the essential guides we’ve created so far, this one may be the most difficult to create. Not because it’s hard to think of five RPGs that are truly essential, but there are just way too many that come to mind.

As such, to narrow it down to five games, we left out some absolute stunners. 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 could have easily filled our top 10, but I won’t be the first to violate convention in this article series, which is why I picked five. Sue me.

5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

You Morrowind and Oblivion purists out there may still hold those games in high regard, but if you haven’t played them before and load them up today, you’ll notice they’ve aged a lot. The same goes for Skyrim, but this baby carriage 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 is a reason why so many of us are still returning to the land of the Nords more than a decade later.

4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Speaking of an RPG that surpassed Skyrim, here we have The Witcher 3. The game that really got people hyped to play Cyberpunk 2077, the experience that attracted so much of The Witcher’s fanbase, and one of the best games of all time. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a game that somehow made me replay it three times, even with 100 hours odd per run. It may not let you be who you want to be, but the plot, characters, world and quests will make you feel that special kind of hollowness when you’ve packed it all back in.

3. Mass Effect

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

2. Fallout: New Vegas

In a way, you could read this list more as a tribute to some of our favorite RPG makers than to the games themselves. Speaking of beloved RPG makers, few are held in higher esteem than Obsidian, and much of that adoration is due to Fallout: New Vegas. Bethesda’s best game they didn’t develop, Fallout: New Vegas took the franchise by the horns and allowed it to soar to 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 haven’t yet entered the wasteland of the Mojave, this is your time.

1. Baldur’s Gate III

Recency bias be damned, I put it on the list. Baldur’s Gate III has been out for less than a year at the time of writing, and yet even after early reviews, people knew we were in for something special. Combining the likeable companions of a BioWare classic with intricate classes, a detailed character creator and, at times, so much player freedom that it felt better designed than some true D&D campaigns, Baldur’s Gate III set a new bar for the CRPG genre that we probably won’t see it reach in the coming years. By now you’ve probably heard more than enough praise for Larian’s remarkable achievement, and if you’ve already tried it, maybe try something like Divinity: Original Sin II to get more of a similar experience, but otherwise do yourself a favor and make your first Tav.

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