Venturebeat: - The best RPGs of 2018

The D20 Beat: 2018's RPGs -- my critical hits and made saving throws

When I think about 2018's role-playing games, I don't see lots of bombast and flash. Blockbuster studios often stayed away. Square Enix's main offerings this year weren't triple-A releases. You didn't see anything from BioWare, and Bethesda's Fallout 76 sure doesn't feel like an RPG to me.

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The critical hits

These are my favorite RPGs of 2018. They tell fantastic stories, pose interesting combat situations, and have engaging character development (either through story or through stats).

• Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
• Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
• The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep
• Book of Demons
• Battletech
• Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu

Making their saves

These are solid RPGs, but they don't qualify as critical hits. They are worthy of playing.

• Octopath Traveler
  
• Tower of Time
• Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition (Switch)
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker
• Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

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The genre of role playing games has been one of the pillars holding up the video games industry for as long as anyone can remember, and in all these years, it has never wavered, constantly delivering excellent stories and worlds. 2018 was no different in that regard. This year, we got to play some amazing RPGs, coming from Japanese developers, western developers, and indie developers alike, and a whole lot of these ranked as some of the best games we’ve played all year. Picking out just ten out of all the RPGs we’ve played this year was no easy task, and selecting a winner from those ten was even more difficult, but of course, that is just what we did.

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Darkheart said:

This is a wider definition of the term "RPG." I love Battletech/RogueTech to bits, but wouldn't consider it a RPG. Since most RPG players also prefer true turn-based it is ok, I guess!

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BattleTech is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Harebrained Schemes and published by Paradox Interactive.

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