Community The RPG Codex's Top 70 PC RPGs (And Some Hidden Gems)

[Kev Inkline]

Quite collapse for Ultima VII.

You have to be a certain age to have played Ultima 7 and remember it. The Codex schism has caused many grognards to move to HQ, and personally, I don't bother with those bullshit polls anymore.

Schism: We lost a few deranged shoutboxers, a FBI/CIA psyop team and its operator, and a Brazilian who couldn't figure how 2FA works.

 

[Butter]

Icewind Dale receives a lot of favor for being a competent fantasy game released in 2000 with the art and writing style that existed in the period between 1996 and 2003. As the Kickstarter revolution proved, you can't go home again when it comes to style, it's just not the same.

I'd kill for more games like Icewind Dale. Almost nobody has the restraint to make them. I can't describe how great it felt to play Knights of the Chalice and see a game that wasn't trying to impress me with its word count. If it had the breadth of classes and production value of IWD, it would be the best RPG ever made.

 

[Jvegi]

You're free to like the game, I like it too. But a slam dunk linear combat crawl game just can't be viewed as being on an entirely different level of quality and achievement than Owlcat's games. They're either both on the list or they're both off of it.

Doesn't sound like a description of a c-tier game. You went too far, and are now backtracking. Also, most games are linear, they all just pretend. Kotor is linear, obviously. BG is also linear and it suffers for pretending otherwise. IWD knows what it is and this focus gives it strenght.

This is not the iwd thread though. The list is actually quite nice. More inspiring somehow. Betrayal at Krondor being described as having one of the best combat systems ever, for example ( although I'm a bit confused if all mini-reviews for old entries are re-used).

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

You're free to like the game, I like it too. But a slam dunk linear combat crawl game just can't be viewed as being on an entirely different level of quality and achievement than Owlcat's games. They're either both on the list or they're both off of it.

Doesn't sound like a description of a c-tier game. You went too far, and are now backtracking. Also, most games are linear, they all just pretend. Kotor is linear, obviously. BG is also linear and it suffers for pretending otherwise. IWD knows what it is and this focus gives it strenght.

This is not the iwd thread though. The list is actually quite nice. More inspiring somehow. Betrayal at Krondor being described as having one of the best combat systems ever, for example ( although I'm a bit confused if all mini-reviews for old entries are re-used).

All mini reviews for games already featured in 2019 are reused, only new entries got a new ones.

 

[luj1]

I'd kill for more games like Icewind Dale.

Knights of the Chalice 1-2

 

[octavius]

What is HQ? I don’t follow drama.

A dude wanted to be a mod, hated trannies and became angry after the mods here gave preferential treatment to a trannie. He made his own forum. Good conversations over there, just a bit slow moving. Oh, and it hosts mods that other hosting sites are afraid to host (no, not porn).

https://rpghq.org/

I wonder which Codexer goes by the name of "Shillitron" over there.

 

[Gargaune]

Finally! Good effort, though I remain disappointed that Mankind Divided didn't make the cut, it deserved the spot over Human Revolution.

Earlier this year, Codex voted for JA3 over BG3 as 2023 Game of the Year. And yet here we are with BG3 making the Top 70 and JA3 nowhere in sight. You've been found out.

Funny how that works, huh?

In a poll this broad, many of the people who voted for JA3 would just vote for JA2 instead. Meanwhile BG3 is a seminal enough game to stand on its own.

Also, as I've pointed out before, this Top "70" poll is actually compiled from Top 10 votes and...

Where are JA3 fangirls in this poll? Oh right, they didn't even like the game much, but were just butthurt BG3 was the best game of the year.

Now, now, you can't draw that conclusion, it could easily be that said JA3 fangirls thought JA3 was better than BG3 in 2024 but neither was good enough to make their top 10 RPGs ever...

What this poll does categorically prove, however, is that NWN2 is better than BG3.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

BG2 being #7 is offensive, and I don't mean go-cry-on-twitter kind of offensive, more like rounding up all the local retards and giving them a bullet in the back of the head kind of treatment offensive. Decline, through and through.

Also, the formatting fucking stinks.

Indeed, that game shouldn't be near the top 20.

 

[Rincewind]

Remove rankings, A-Z sort, then it's an okay to good list of recommendations.

But some classics are still missing: Starflight, Eye of the Beholder, Wasteland, System Shock, Quest for Glory series, etc.

But like I said, if I treat it as an unranked and incomplete list of recommendations, I'm okay with it (with the rankings, it's a joke, man).

 

[Jaesun]

The Codex Holy Trinity™ still remains.

I liked the Hidden Gems addition.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

I still think Hidden Gems should've had at least 1 arbitrary rule. Something like, if it's on steam, it can't have >1000 reviews.

People were voting for shit like New Vegas and treating the Hidden Gems portion as their top 11-20. Luckily those retards weren't big enough to completely fuck over the list. Unfortunately, these "Hidden Gems" still feel too popular. Maybe not for a more mainstream crowd but this is a Codex list and should have higher standards.

 

[Tweed]

Disco is a visual novel, not an RPG and no amount of RPGCodex awards will miracle it into being one.

It is rather a blow to Ultima VII to be bumped off the list especially when toss like Deadfire and soulslop is on there. We also lost both RoA games and Wasteland, this place is really slipping.

Archolos is not high enough on that list, not even close.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Earlier this year, Codex voted for JA3 over BG3 as 2023 Game of the Year. And yet here we are with BG3 making the Top 70 and JA3 nowhere in sight. You've been found out.

Every Codex Top ## Games of All Time poll uses a voting system, as opposed to the rating system employed for the Codex Game of the Year polls. This has several important effects, one of which is that a small portion of the user base can propel a game into the rankings (possibly into a fairly high spot in the rankings), even if the large majority of the Codex despises that game. People who dislike, detest, moderately enjoy, or are indifferent to a game have zero impact on that game's rating, except for the indirect effect of voting for other games. Moreover, this particular poll had much lower Codex turnout than previous polls.

 

[Bastardchops]

Dark Souls #21 ? For shame. It must be in top 10 at least.

Not an RPG. Just a metroidvania.

 

[Mortmal]

Icewind Dale receives a lot of favor for being a competent fantasy game released in 2000 with the art and writing style that existed in the period between 1996 and 2003. As the Kickstarter revolution proved, you can't go home again when it comes to style, it's just not the same.

I'd kill for more games like Icewind Dale. Almost nobody has the restraint to make them. I can't describe how great it felt to play Knights of the Chalice and see a game that wasn't trying to impress me with its word count. If it had the breadth of classes and production value of IWD, it would be the best RPG ever made.

Icewind Dale is a real-time with pause hack-and-slash game that offers a good story and atmosphere but lacks tactical depth. Similar games are still being made today by developers like Owlcat. If Codexers were honest and consistent, they would rate those newer games higher. If you're really into RPGs and tactical combat, Icewind Dale and similar titles are subpar. The Codex darlings are vastly overrated, and the top three games only maintain their status due to nostalgia. Many other titles are forgotten as older players pass away and newer generations neither remember nor play them.

 

[Arthandas]

 

[Mortmal]

It does, and right now it's clearly on story mode setting.

 

[Xorazm]

Interesting to compare how this shook out to the "Age of Incline" 2012-2016 list that dropped in 2017 - https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10535

Witcher 3 mopping the floor, now overtaken by several entries it had beaten out. Original Sin rolling in at number 2, now nowhere to be found, as well as just about everything outside the top 7, many of which made the 2019 list, except for a couple that were saved in the hidden gems bucket. A lot of omissions are understandable but it's still a shame to let Legend of Grimrock 2 fade into memory, along with at least something from the Expeditions series (Vikings being my call).

Also interesting to note that in addition to one GOTY being absent (JA3), another GOTY (Wasteland 3) didn't seem to make an appearance, and that's without a more popular entry potentially stealing its thunder, particularly when the 2019 list had room for both its rather, ah, rougher predecessors. Wasteland is so seminal it seems odd to exclude it, but I have a feeling it'll fall into the category where plenty of people like it, the expected crowd hates it but it just doesn't nudge its way to being anybody's favorite.

 

[lukaszek]

iwd got unmatched graphix. Stop trying to compare titles in a single dimensional way

 

[sebas]

Somebody explain to me in what way is Fallout or Fallout 2 better than Underrail. Other than McHamburger jokes.

 

[Ryzer]

Underrail is the most overrated game here, propped up by the Serbian diaspora. In reality, it's medium tier garbage, with forgettable storyline, railroaded questlines and full of trash mobs.

Coincidentally, it has the most aggressive and retarded community, with temperature room IQ fanboys that spend their life making builds for a specific type of weapons, muh fun.

They are worse than PST fans, because they don't even enjoy the game, they enjoy making builds like a Diablo like.

 

[sebas]

Sorry, that was my bad.

Somebody not intellectually retarded explain to me in what way is Fallout or Fallout 2 better than Underrail. Other than McHamburger jokes.

 

[Bastardchops]

Joke list, BG3 much too low.


BG3 is the highest rated metacritic game and highest rated crpg on steam.

Stop coping with your old boomer rpg's.

When are we going to get a "Gay," react? This post deserves it.

 

[Arthandas]

Somebody not intellectually retarded explain to me in what way is Fallout or Fallout 2 better than Underrail.

I think Fallout and Underrail compliment each other quite nicely. Fallout has better writing, quests and general role-playing while Underrail is superior from a pure gameplay perspective. I love both, but I would still put Fallout higher just because it was first. Add Atom and you have the holy trinity of post apo RPGs.

 

[Ryzer]

Somebody not intellectually retarded explain to me in what way is Fallout or Fallout 2 better than Underrail.

I think Fallout and Underrail compliment each other quite nicely. Fallout has better writing, quests and general role-playing while Underrail is superior from a pure gameplay perspective. I love both, but I would still put Fallout higher just because it was first. Add Atom and you have the holy trinity of post apo RPGs.

"You must wait 3 turns to throw the next grenade" - Superior in gameplay perspective. lmao.