Who are the best modern cRPG developers?

[Skinwalker]

I think the dex got baited into thinking the WL2 and PoE Kickstarter would be the start of a renaissance of cRPGs, but nothing really happened.

That's not true. A lot of boring and woke shit happened.

 

[Lemming42]

If "modern" is the last 5 years...

Larian obviously got the big commercial and critical win with BG3, and they deserved it; the game completely went to shit in the last act but Act 1 is higher quality than pretty much anything else released in that timeframe, and the second act isn't bad.

Bethesda have derailed badly since 2015. I think Starfield is okay and has the systems necessary to support a good game, but the state they released it in was so weak that it's no surprise that the modding community hasn't showed up for it yet.

Iron Tower did okay with Colony Ship but I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as Age of Decadence.

CP2077 is alright for what it is. I liked it a lot more than CDPR's previous output, fuck The Witcher.

Wasteland 3 was solid but nothing more than that. Maybe InXile will knock it out of the park with Clockwork Revolution or w/e.

Obsidian shouldn't exist at this point, the only reason they even have a reputation is because of New Vegas, which is 14 fucking years ago now. It's petty but their continued existence annoys me and I genuinely wish they'd go bust and stop making games. TOW was actively unpleasant, and Deadfire is just too damn boring to care about. I didn't play Pentiment. I doubt Avowed is going to turn things around.

I wish I liked Owlcat games, but I don't. I just can't get into Pathfinder, and Rogue Trader was a mess when I played it.

Yeah it's pretty slim pickings overall. I'd give it to Larian for BG3. If you take "modern" to mean the last decade, I'd probably still give it to Larian because BG3 has a lot more ambiiton than decent-not-great titles of the past decade like Dragonfall and Wasteland 2. Iron Tower would get a huge boost for AoD and Dungeon Rats, though.

 

[Lord_Potato]

These days, there are relatively few CRPG developers who have made more than a single game. Off the top of my head, I can think of Obsidian, inXile, Larian, Owlcat, Harebrained, Bioware, Bethesda, and Iron Tower - and the latter three only barely qualify.

CDPR, duh. And (regretfully dead) Reality Pump (Two Worlds 1&2, Vendetta: Curse of the Raven's Cry). Also Fool's Theory (Seven, Thaumaturge, working on Witcher Remake).

I'd be hard-pressed to call any of them great.

Obsidian and Bioware were, CDPR still is, despite some mistakes.

If I had to pick one it would be Larian, but it certainly doesn't reach the heights of the best old studios.

Gotta play BG3. New Divinities didn't impress me so much, I enjoyed the old ones more.

That said, there are plenty of good CRPGs around. They just take so long to make now that in the five-to-ten year span that most developers of the past made their great games, developers today usually only manage a single game. Mainly because almost all existing developers who are worth a damn are tiny.

true, indies like Stygian or Atom Team are saving the genre.

In a way, it's better like this, but at the same time, you don't get to be in the club with Sirtech and Black Isle off the back of one game.

Fortunately Atom made 2 games and is making a 3rd one, Stygian is producing Underrail sequel. So there is hope.

I was judging them on their output in the modern era, since that's the period we're talking about, which I think of as the last decade or so. Within that time, Obsidian haven't made anything that would make me consider them a great developer (although truthfully all I've played after New Vegas is about 30% of Pillars 1). Same with Bioware, and Wikipedia says Reality Pump shuttered in 2015 so they're out as well. Fool's Theory is borderline for me as I think of Seven as more of an action adventure than an RPG. Anyway, if we're talking total lifespan, Obsidian would be my choice for best surviving dev. Too bad it's in name only.

Also you're right, I forgot about Atom.

Also also, everything CDPR has made is shit.

Nice. You almost fooled me! Until the last sentence I didn't consider you a retard

 

[Lord_Potato]

I think the dex got baited into thinking the WL2 and PoE Kickstarter would be the start of a renaissance of cRPGs, but nothing really happened. CRPGs are still a tiny, almost non-existent segment of gaming. We've got to just get used to the reality that CRPGs are just not a popular genre.

Instead of conquering the market rpgs subsumed it. Now every game, be it strategy, shooter or action adventure, or a fucking football menager includes some rpg elements. Xp, levels, stats etc. Rpgs won, like a freaking Thing, but in the process they lost their clear identity.

 

[Tyranicon]

I think the dex got baited into thinking the WL2 and PoE Kickstarter would be the start of a renaissance of cRPGs, but nothing really happened. CRPGs are still a tiny, almost non-existent segment of gaming. We've got to just get used to the reality that CRPGs are just not a popular genre.

Instead of conquering the market rpgs subsumed it. Now every game, be it strategy, shooter or action adventure, or a fucking football menager includes some rpg elements. Xp, levels, stats etc. Rpgs won, like a freaking Thing, but in the process they lost their clear identity.

It used to be "when number go up, brain feel good."

Now it's "pay for number go up, pay for extra numbers."

 

[Swen]

Bow down peasants

I love how smug Swen looks while holding his cock.

BIG COCK!!!!

 

[notpl]

Heluo studio.

 

[Vlajdermen]

Stygian.

 

[fredsteel]

I'm not a big fan of Styg, but god damn is UD an incredible game. Can't wait to be disappointed by Infusion.

 

[Lord_Potato]

I'm not a big fan of Styg, but god damn is UD an incredible game. Can't wait to be disappointed by Infusion.

Underrail avatar - check
"god damn is Underrail an incredible game" - check
Not a big fan of Styg

 

[Ryzer]

Underrail is shit.

 

[fredsteel]

I didn't say I outright hate him.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Underrail is shit.

having a choice between removing either you or Underrail from the very fabric of existence, I'd save Underrail.

3 times.

 

[Abu Antar]

I hope that 4 Dimension Games will become a studio that launches a series of good games. They are currently developing Archaelund. I never played their first game, but I have read that it was a solid game.

 

[Butter]

Rad Codex btw. Shame it's 3 pages and nobody mentioned him.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I think the dex got baited into thinking the WL2 and PoE Kickstarter would be the start of a renaissance of cRPGs, but nothing really happened. CRPGs are still a tiny, almost non-existent segment of gaming. We've got to just get used to the reality that CRPGs are just not a popular genre.

The three best-selling Steam games of 2023 all identify as RPGs, and Starfield would have sold much better if it had adhered to the Open World RPG formula established by Morrowind.

 

[Kev Inkline]

I think the dex got baited into thinking the WL2 and PoE Kickstarter would be the start of a renaissance of cRPGs, but nothing really happened. CRPGs are still a tiny, almost non-existent segment of gaming. We've got to just get used to the reality that CRPGs are just not a popular genre.

I think you've got it 180 degrees wrong: If crpgs we're a niche genre, we might actually get rather good stuff in the AA bracket. However, as it's very popular, we get these AAA productions and all the respective problems that ensue.

The most dystopic scenario is that it'll be either full on mass market or completely indies, AA companies dying out or bought out by the big studios, something that has also happened to a degree. Of the mid-size companies, kudos for CDPR and Larian for staying independent, although their latest works are hardly AA anymore.

Unless, of course, your definition of rpgs is something more narrow.
(Like only keyboards commands and ASCII graphics allowed - which I'd agree with, btw)

 

[Skinwalker]

The three best-selling Steam games of 2023 all identify as RPGs

And I identify as a Mizrahi rabbi, but they still won't let me into the synagogue. What's the deal with that, huh?

 

[ColossusCimmerian]

If "modern" is the last 5 years...

Larian obviously got the big commercial and critical win with BG3, and they deserved it; the game completely went to shit in the last act but Act 1 is higher quality than pretty much anything else released in that timeframe, and the second act isn't bad.

It's funny how the negative comments go into depth and say why it's BGay is shit and even saying as RPG is very standard without nothing new.

But the positive ones just say it's the best game without any real commentary on the game, basically a bunch of useless "positive reviews" garbage.

When the hype was in their peak most of the positive comments came from reddit (mostly trannies), casual gamers and people new to crpg in general and woke journos.

 

[Cohesion]

Pillows of Returnity. Awoked.

Garbling words doesn't make you funny or witty, liberal.

 

[Lemming42]

It's funny how the negative comments go into depth and say why it's BGay is shit and even saying as RPG is very standard without nothing new.

But the positive ones just say it's the best game without any real commentary on the game, basically a bunch of useless "positive reviews" garbage.

The fuck do you want me to write in a post where I was trying to summarise my opinion on the output of each studio in a couple of sentences.

 

[ColossusCimmerian]

It's funny how the negative comments go into depth and say why it's BGay is shit and even saying as RPG is very standard without nothing new.

But the positive ones just say it's the best game without any real commentary on the game, basically a bunch of useless "positive reviews" garbage.

The fuck do you want me to write in a post where I was trying to summarise my opinion on the output of each studio in a couple of sentences.

I wasn't talking about you specifically. Go to steam review page or check a couple YT video with real analysis.

What I seems everyone agreed on is the 1 act.

 

[Lemming42]

A lot's been written on BG3's strengths, I wrote a couple of posts about it not long ago in the big release thread:
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/baldurs-gate-3-release-thread.147890/page-755#post-9112624
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/baldurs-gate-3-release-thread.147890/page-756#post-9114484

To be honest I get the opposite impression, it seems like a lot of the critical views are ill-thought out. A ton of criticism seems to revolve around the belief that it's "gay" and "woke", which is beyond meaningless at this point. There's plenty of reasonable criticism to make of the game of course, especially the entire third act, and I can see why people wouldn't like the game on the whole, but I don't think the overall hype is unjustified or that the average gamer couldn't explain why they enjoyed the game.

 

[PunchYouInTheFace]

I think the dex got baited into thinking the WL2 and PoE Kickstarter would be the start of a renaissance of cRPGs, but nothing really happened. CRPGs are still a tiny, almost non-existent segment of gaming. We've got to just get used to the reality that CRPGs are just not a popular genre.

The three best-selling Steam games of 2023 all identify as RPGs, and Starfield would have sold much better if it had adhered to the Open World RPG formula established by Morrowind.

"cRPG is the new RPG" cock edit pic you usually post when?

 

[gooseman]

The three best-selling Steam games of 2023 all identify as RPGs

Are they rpgs? Are they good rpgs? Best selling is a meaningless indicator. Mobile games have revenues in the billions, they have to be the best... Typically it means the game has mass appeal, which means it's not a good game, especially for niche genres.
A lot of the best games made no money and their studios died swiftly, which is why mediocrity won.