Best RPGs Of 2024 (So Far)

2024 has been an unbelievable year for games, especially RPGs. Despite not even being six months in, 2024 has yielded a barrage of top-tier turn-based experiences alongside awe-inspiring action sequences. There’s something for everyone to enjoy among the best RPGs of 2024 so far, with a diversity in the releases that suggests the genre has remained incredibly healthy in spite of its long-standing presence within the industry.

Interested in top-tier, white-knuckle frenetic battles? Stellar Blade wowed reviewers with its combat system. Want a slower pace with a focus on tactics? Unicorn Overlord arrived earlier this year to challenge a sub-genre dominated by Fire Emblem in past years. Craving something that’s achieved near universal acclaim and may be one of the best RPGs ever made? There are actually a few options – Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth and Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth have both been widely praised for their innovations and impact.

10

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes

Metascore: 79

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a Kickstarter darling that received over $4 million USD in backing over its development fundraiser. It’s also got a pedigree thanks to who is involved – while Rabbit and Bear Studios isn’t a household name, the creator of Suikoden, Yoshitaka Murayama, heavily influenced and collaborated on the design of the game prior to his tragic passing.

Eiyuden Chronicle is, for better and worse, married to the idea of what a classic JRPG should look and feel like. Excellent pixel art character designs and a deep combat system make it rewarding for those who stick with it – not to mention its 100+ cast of characters and deep, war-torn world – but it also won’t hold anyone’s hand, with plenty of ease of life mechanics ignored in favor of maintaining that nostalgic ideal.

9

Rise Of The Ronin

Metascore: 76

Rise of the Ronin is a rich open world with plenty of activities to participate in, alongside the sort of engaging combat mechanics that Team Ninja is known to produce. As a PlayStation 5 exclusive, it is also another compelling reason to have some presence within the Sony ecosystem, which has also churned out two more entries in this list.

Part of what makes Rise of the Ronin so interesting is its adherence to its own combat mechanics – it rewards players who take time to explore each weapon type and it pays them off with satisfying excellence in battle. Another major selling point – and perhaps even moreso now with the success of FX’s Shogun – is the fact that its historical time period drama stays true-to-source fairly often, making for a fun exploration of a cultural moment.

8

Sand Land

Metascore: 73

Sand Land is another game that features iconic work from a creator who tragically left us in 2024, fully realizing the world of its creator, Akira Toriyama, in gorgeous manga-style graphics. It’s a faithful adaptation that expands the classic story found in the manga, and adds new characters who fit seamlessly into the eclectic and varied crew that surrounds Prince Beelzebub, Sheriff Rao, and Thief.

Beyond being a successful adaptation, however, Sand Land is also an enjoyable action-RPG with decent hand-to-hand combat that’s complemented by bombastic tank battles. It bends genres and its vehicular sections, bounty hunts, and treasure maps all add to a playthrough that doesn’t overstay its welcome and captures the charm that made this manga such a cult classic when it first released.

7

Granblue Fantasy: Relink

Metascore: 80

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is an expansion of developer Cygames’ Granblue Fantasy universe, which has been around for a decade and shows no signs of slowing down. As a series, Granblue Fantasy has been massive in Japan while a bit more niche in the West, with its fighting game spin-offs coming overseas while its much more successful mobile game remained in Japan.

That all changed with Granblue Fantasy: Relink, which is an excellent console RPG that makes good on a short, succinct story that never overstays its welcome and is accompanied by satisfying, quick combat. Variation is the name of the game for the latter, with co-op multiplayer complemented by genre-bending character styles, like Eugen’s lean into third-person shooting instead of the more traditional Granblue Fantasy hack-and-slash.

6

Unicorn Overlord

Metascore: 87

Unicorn Overlord arrived with expectations – that a game developed by Vanillaware (13 Sentinels) and published by Atlus could build upon the studio’s earlier successes and create another leap forward for what is clearly a very talented team. That the game they chose to pursue was a tactical RPG – niche even among many fans of the broader roleplaying game community – was a risk, especially with Fire Emblem having such a stranglehold over the sub-genre.

Luckily for both players and Vanillaware, Unicorn Overlord is a legitimate contender and a worthy rival of the storied Fire Emblem franchise. Its focus on diverse combat and a slightly more simplified story paid off, with memorable skirmishes more than making up for a lack of social scenes among the game’s large cast. It’s not exactly trying to mimic FE, which is exactly what was needed, instead establishing that there’s more than one way for a modern tactical RPG to resonate among many interested parties.

5

Persona 3 Reload

Metascore: 87

Persona 3 was the blueprint for what would later become refined, innovated, and beloved about later games in the Atlus franchise. Social simulation systems coupled with turn-based JRPG combat tied together with an end of the world plot that involves a lot of confused teenagers – if it sounds familiar, that’s only because P3 was so successful that it became a foundation for a lot of other narratives, too.

Persona 3 Reload is the definitive way to play the game. It’s a remake with vastly improved graphics and aesthetics, smoothed out content with smart quality of life upgrades, and a timeless story that remains in contention as Persona‘s best; at the very least, it’s one of its darkest. That’s before commenting on Persona 3: Reload‘s soundtrack, which is just as good an album as the iconic Persona 5 discography.

4

Stellar Blade

Metascore: 82

For a game many dismissed early as a Nier: Automata clone, Stellar Blade has certainly done well for itself. Developer Shift Up certainly isn’t shy about its inspirations, as Yoko Taro’s fingerprints are all over the game’s aesthetic, story, and gameplay, but Eve’s investigation into the Nayitbas is its own game and does so much right with its mechanics that its impossible to ignore as another PS5 exlusive that’s a must-play.

Stellar Blade‘s best feature is its action-oriented gameplay, asking that players be precise in their approach to battles rather than simply hacking and slashing. In that regard, it plays a lot more like a Soulslike than a Nier game – learning perfect parries and dodges is a must to progress, and boss battles are a frantic, sweaty mess of gorgeous visuals and nail-biting victories that feel like they’re achieved by a hair’s breadth.

3

Dragon’s Dogma 2

Metascore: 86

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is the long-awaited sequel to a Capcom cult classic, and rather than remaining a niche title mostly for hardcore fans, it broadened its scope and its audience followed. Dragon’s Dogma 2 took the RPG world by storm when it released in March 2024, and it’s easy to see why – so much of what it does is unique to itself, with an irreverence for modern systems that don’t suit the brutality and scope of its environments.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 features the return of a Pawn system that helps players flesh out a party of adventurers, with player-made Pawns available for hire across towns and other areas. Its gameplay is closest to an open world action-RPG, with several incredible moments occurring purely because its systems allow for them to happen – a griffin carrying a player into an entirely new zone, or a troll tripping, dying, and forming a bridge across a ravine while doing so are just a few of the breathtaking ways this game keeps players hooked.

2

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Metascore: 89

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is the sequel that the Yakuza series desperately needed – not because recent entries had been shaky, but because new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga needed a strong follow-up to his first turn as the hero to solidify himself as the future of the franchise. In that regard, Infinite Wealth could not possibly be better, as it establishes Ichiban as the new face of Like A Dragon and also neatly ties up previous lead Kiryu’s story in a way that’s satisfying without pandering.

Infinite Wealth isn’t just an incredible story, though. It’s turn-based RPG gameplay is a resounding positive, with combat that’s both strategic and silly. Boss battles are either ridiculous or cinematic and moving, and the exploration of Hawaii as a series-first is a welcome setting change that keeps things feeling like they’re moving forward. An amazing narrative, beautiful battles, deep gameplay systems, resonant characters, and a slew of mini-games and side content make Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth one of the best RPGs of 2024, a game of the year contender, and one of the best RGG games ever made.

1

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Metascore: 92

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is Square Enix taking what people loved about FF7 Remake and honing it to near-perfection. Rebirth follows protagonist Cloud and his party of would-be world saviors as they navigate an increasingly complex political landscape that threatens to halt their progress at every turn. While it stays mostly true to the original’s story, its deviations are completely unexpected, with more questions than answers by the time the narrative comes to a close in this second part of the remake trilogy.

While a breath-taking story and characters that feel larger than life are enough on their own to make the game worth playing, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth also has incredible action-JRPG combat across a number of different play styles associated with each character. Boss battles feel more cinematic and deep than its predecessor, and the switch to an open world to roam within offers more side content and the feeling that FF7 Rebirth is more about the journeys of its characters as they learn more about themselves than it is the story of Sephiroth’s attempts to bring ruin to the world. It’s a must-play game, one of the best RPGs of 2024, and one of the best RPGs of all-time.