What is the best RPG of the CRPG Renaissance?

[<3sRichardSimmons]

I've seen a bunch of clickbaity articles/lists about this, but as far as I know our prestigious community has not given an official rating/ranking on this. Here's my extremely unscientific attempt at rectifying this. Not including console/popamole/weeb stuff because I don't care. Pick up to 5 and call me a dumbfuck if I've forgotten your favorite (going off of wikipedia + my old-fart memory so I'm sure I've omitted some notable ones).

Mine are Grimrock 2, Kingmaker, and ELEX.

Edit: And Heroine’s Quest. More people should play that game. It’s fucking great.

 

[Strange Fellow]

https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10535
It's old, but I doubt that anything that's come out since will affect the result much, certainly not the top four. Your omission of Witcher 3 might, though

Anyway, I picked Underrail, NEO Scavenger and D:OS. All very good games. I would've said my favourite of those three is Underrail, but that was before I tried replaying it for the expansion and found it slow, dull going. My first playthrough was still a blast from beginning to end, and I know it's got another replay in it for me, but I'm not feeling Underrail the way those who've gone through it a dozen times with all the different builds do. As it is, I actually think NEO Scavenger just might edge it out. I've gone back to it on a regular basis ever since it came out, and I'm still not tired of it.

My actual favourite game from this list is Battle Brothers, but I can't in good conscience vote for it because it's definitely not an RPG. Not trying to start one of those arguments, just saying.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Yeah I remember that old poll, but I think it’s overly generous in assigning genre. Witcher 3 is a fine game, but I wouldn’t consider it a CRPG. Ditto Dark Souls and Dragon’s Dogma.
And then there are games like Invisible Inc. that, while great, just aren’t RPGs by any sane definition of the term.

And regarding Battle Brothers: I haven’t actually played that one, just seen a lot of dexers praise it so I assumed it was an RPG; my bad.

 

[Humanophage]

What's the point of including EEs as separate games?

Here's my ranking:

1. Underrail
2. Pathfinder: Kingmaker
...
3. ATOM RPG
[ Thea 2 ]
[ Thea 1 ]
4. Age of Decadence
5. Disco Elysium
6. Battle Brothers
...
7. Lords of Xulima
8. Star Traders
9. Divinity: Original Sin 2
10. Legends of Eisenwald
11. Shadowrun: Dragonfall
12. Darkest Dungeon
13. Tales of Maj'Eyal (ToME)
14. Grim Dawn
15. Voidspire Tactics
...
16. Pillars of Eternity 2
17. Legend of Grimrock
18. Expeditions: Viking
19. Caves of Qud
...
20. Tyranny
21. Heroine's Quest

None of these are genuinely annoying the way Mass Effect was, for example. Heroine's Quest is a cute nostalgic adventure game, just not very exciting.

Haven't played properly yet, but will within the next couple of years: Kingdom Come, ELEX, The Witcher 3, Wasteland 2, NEO Scavenger, Dungeon Rats, Serpent in the Staglands, maybe Grimoire (it's a bit janky), maybe Dark Souls. Not going to play Kenshi, seems too time-consuming.

Might give PoE2 another run. It was one of the most beautiful games I've ever played and it had its atmospheric moments, but somehow felt oddly boring and SJWy, and the characters felt overpowered.

Here is the ranking for 2012-2018 games from the major poll with the points assigned to them:

Age of Decadence 192
Pathfinder: Kingmaker 158
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt 154
Underrail 147
Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar 85
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut 70
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen 66
Divinity: Original Sin 2 63
Divinity: Original Sin 63
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 62
ELEX 56
ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game 48
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire 47
Pillars of Eternity 47
Battle Brothers 43
NieR: Automata 42
Dark Souls II 40
Elminage: Gothic 37
Dark Souls III 29
Kenshi 26
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky 22
Prey 20
NEO Scavenger 20
Expedition: Vikings 17
Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok 16
Wasteland 2 15
Tales of Maj'Eyal (ToME) 15
Undertale 13
Tyranny 12
Might and Magic X: Legacy 11
Rance X 10
Lords of Xulima 10
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age 9
Darkest Dungeon 9
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead 9
LISA 9
West of Loathing 8
Fallout: Nevada 8
Blackguards 8

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Serpents in the Staglands should be on this list. Not a vote for it, necessarily, but it should be up there. Same for Satellite Reign.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Legend of Grimrock (2012) was an homage to Dungeon Master, and the only weakness of the game is that it was too similar to its illustrious predecessor. The sequel, Legend of Grimrock II (2014), innovated on the Dungeon Master formula, in particular with more complex character customization/progression.

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (the Codex's top RPG of 2012 2013 2016) focused on action-based combat with a party of 4, where combat is satisfyingly tactile and synergistic.

Age of Decadence (2015) showcased both the strengths and limitations of a focus on "choice & consequences", taking inspiration from Fallout and Arcanum but with an excessive reliance on scripting over game mechanics.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance (2018) offered a historically-accurate Open World to play around in, with a number of well-developed systems of game mechanics but an unfortunate focus on a pre-generated player-character and narrative cutscenes.

Kenshi (2018) allowed the player the options of recruiting large squads and engaging in base-building but could also be played as an exploration-focused RPG in the best alien environment since Morrowind.

Outward (2019) was a promising exploration-focused RPG from a new developer.

Troubleshooter (2020) and Dungeon of Naheulbeuk (2020) are both engaging squad-based tactics games with character customization/progression but no or limited exploration.

Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar (2017) should need no further promotion on the Codex.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

GOD TIER: Grimoire, Dragon's Dogma, Kingmaker

HIGH TIER: KCD, Age of Decadence, Dragonfall, Underrail

GOOD MUSIC: Darkest Dungeon

Everything else I didn't play enough of, thought sucked, or don't give a shit about.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

sci-fi: underrail
fantasy: dos2

 

[Socur Toxanarosa]

Pillars of Eternity or Dragon Age: Inquisition, by far.

 

[TripJack]

it starts with an E and rhymes with sex

 

[Dodo1610]

Deadfire, Kingmaker and Star Trader

 

[samuraigaiden]

How does Dragon's Dogma count and Dark Souls doesn't?

 

[Mustawd]

Realms of Arkania HD.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

How does Dragon's Dogma count and Dark Souls doesn't?

? I specifically didn’t include either.

 

[Fedora Master]

Kangmaker actually delivered what it set out to, unlike pretty much every other game on the list.
The "RPG renaissance" is a nothing but a big fat scam that proves that faggot devs need people in suits whipping them constantly, otherwise they just produce banal garbage.

And putting the EEs up for a vote is just ultimo retarded.

 

[Wunderbar]

<3sRichardSimmons how come you didn't put Atom and KCD into your poll?

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

<3sRichardSimmons how come you didn't put Atom and KCD into your poll?

Because I am an old man who hasn’t played them and they didn’t show up on Wikipedia’s list of RPGs published post 2012.

(I forgot about them; an oversight, not a slight)

 

[Humanophage]

<3sRichardSimmons how come you didn't put Atom and KCD into your poll?

Because I am an old man who hasn’t played them and they didn’t show up on Wikipedia’s list of RPGs published post 2012.

(I forgot about them; an oversight, not a slight)

You can edit them in (and edit the EEs out - come on, man).

 

[Yosharian]

Four people actually picked Deadfire

 

[Yosharian]

Where is Wasteland 3 btw?

 

[Fedora Master]

Four people actually picked Deadfire

It's only going to get worse.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

<3sRichardSimmons how come you didn't put Atom and KCD into your poll?

Because I am an old man who hasn’t played them and they didn’t show up on Wikipedia’s list of RPGs published post 2012.

(I forgot about them; an oversight, not a slight)

You can edit them in (and edit the EEs out - come on, man).

I will once I’m not on my phone (edit them in that is; I’m leaving the EEs in lieu of a kingcomrade).

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

GOD TIER: Grimoire, Dragon's Dogma, Kingmaker

HIGH TIER: KCD, Age of Decadence, Dragonfall, Underrail

GOOD MUSIC: Darkest Dungeon

Everything else I didn't play enough of, thought sucked, or don't give a shit about.

Music in Darkest Dungeon is extremely good at setting the mood. Almost cinematic and well matched to whatever is happening; combat, shops, etc.

 

[Adenocaulon]

I would not consider the infinity engine enhanced editions. Maybe Siege of Dragonspear alone.

The problem with these topics is that some games will be missing.

I would vote for Grim Dawn, it is pc exclusive. It seems that some people in the forum dislike hack and slash ARPG, but while some games like Torchlight and Path of Exile are more limited to the chore elements of Diablo clones (loot and character development), Grim Dawn is fine in these aspects and has more development in secondary elements like setting and world design, so it is more complete as rpg game.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

I would not consider the infinity engine enhanced editions. Maybe Siege of Dragonspear alone.

The problem with these topics is that some games will be missing.

I would vote for Grim Dawn, it is pc exclusive. It seems that some people in the forum dislike hack and slash ARPG, but while some games like Torchlight and Path of Exile are more limited to the chore elements of Diablo clones (loot and character development), Grim Dawn is fine in these aspects and has more development in secondary elements like setting and world design, so it is more complete as rpg game.

I’m on the fence about that, but I do like GD a lot so maybe I will edit it in as an option once I get back to my computer. Depends on how I’m feeling.

Regardless though, it is a great game.