Best RPGs of the last 40 Years - Infographic of 500+

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UnleashtheGamer has a large infographic of the best 500 RPGs from the last 40 years.

You might've forgotten, but a few months ago, on a cold February afternoon, we released a humongous infographic on the internet containing (what we then thought) a definitive list of the best RPGs.

How It All Began

We won't lie to you - it took a lot of work. Like, a lot. Gathering the data, centralizing the titles, neatly categorizing each game in the appropriate place, and not to mention designing the infographic itself, took a lot of grind and sweat.


  • 3 weeks to gather the initial data, researching, and talking to friends

  • 1 week of proofreading and arguing with said friends about the differences between real-time with pause and turn-based games

  • Several hours making research on the difference between high fantasy and low fantasy only to understand that there is no consensus in the media on either definition, and we're free to accept whichever option we wish

  • 2 days for our designer to come up with a structure that makes sense

  • Hours upon hours to find all the information required

  • 2 weeks of gathering your feedback and doubling the number of games

  • Hours of our designer adding all them and alphabetizing all 500+ games per your request

  • 1836 layers in the Photoshop file

  • A full month of being proven wrong each day when I thought I knew a lot of RPG games

[...]
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More information.
 
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No Ultima, no Wizardry, no Might & Magic …
 
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Whew.......

FINALLY a list without all those classics from the 50s and 60s cluttering it up!
 
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Someone needs to find some useful chores for these kids. :p
 
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HiddenX said:
No Ultima, no Wizardry, no Might & Magic …
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I couldn't see Ultima, but Wizardry and Might and Magic are both there (in the High Fantasy First Person box). I couldn't see any Gold Box games though… and they've included Cyberpunk 2077 despite the fact it hasn't been released yet. And they've included Anthem. :)
 
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Pongo said:
… and they've included Cyberpunk 2077 despite the fact it hasn't been released yet.
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That's hilarious. Another standard raised for gaming journalism. Thanks for saving me from clicking on the link.
 
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Aye, didn't see a single one of the gold box games listed, which just tells me the person compiling this really missed out on some of the best role playing games ever for the computer.
 
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Well 2 things that's clear from this are 1. that there are heck of a lot more RT or TB games than RTwP, and 2. a lot more high fantasy than any other settings.
 
I just didn't understand that they labelled all RPGs according to their combat style. No mention of story, immersion, nothing !

It looked to me as if combat was THE most 9important RPGs ! And that story and everything non-combat could easily be left out !
 
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Alrik Fassbauer said:
I just didn't understand that they labelled all RPGs according to their combat style. No mention of story, immersion, nothing !

It looked to me as if combat was THE most 9important RPGs ! And that story and everything non-combat could easily be left out !
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The list is rubbish for quite a few reasons. Anyway, Im not really sure how to categorize games based on story or immersion further then by setting or perspective and avoid creating completely cluttered mess.
 
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Even the design of the graphic itself is bad.

And if you're going to scoff at "8bit games from 1981" why choose a 40-year time frame going back to 1979?
 
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The list is kinda garbage, but the amount of recognition for the trouble they went through to get it done in here is astonishing :D I hope they had fun doing it and didn't do it "for the gamers", because we are the shittiest, most self entitled collective in the world, and definitely don't deserve anyone's effort.
 
I discovered some games I hadn't heard of so it has value for me. Everyone has a different take and they do update it as they go along so feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments section there.
 
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Please do let us know if something from the list is fun (that isn't well know already).
 
They had Battle Brothers in there. So it's not all trash :) Also, had every Might and Magic on the list, including M&MIX. Not sure that belongs there and I love some M&M.
 
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Nereida said:
I hope they had fun doing it and didn't do it "for the gamers", because we are the shittiest, most self entitled collective in the world, and definitely don't deserve anyone's effort.
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Speak for yourself. They didn't do it "for the gamers", they did it "for the money". I don't really see why we should be paying our respects to a third-rate piece of content, designed to bring clicks to a commercial website.
 
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