Who are the best modern cRPG developers?

[Nifft Batuff]

Bioware.

 

[Swen]

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.

BG3 is objectively a very good crpg yes.

 

[Dark Souls II]

The best currently active developer is, without doubt, Eeny Meeny Miny Moe also known as Toro Yori Ebi. Perfect, immaculate oeuvre so far with Red Hood's Woods, Black Souls & Black Souls II. Yes, the same Black Souls games that have been known to "save the RPG genre", and to be "spiritual successors to Dark Souls II and Planescape: Torment".

The next game in the franchise, Dead Red Hood, is also looking quite promising judging from the leaks. I'm interested to see how the stealth & assassination mechanics will play out. Will definitely be worth checking that one out before Black Souls III gets released sometime in the 2030s.

 

[Swen]

The best currently active developer is, without doubt, Eeny Meeny Miny Moe also known as Toro Yori Ebi. Perfect, immaculate oeuvre so far with Red Hood's Woods, Black Souls & Black Souls II. Yes, the same Black Souls games that have been known to "save the RPG genre", and to be "spiritual successors to Dark Souls II and Planescape: Torment".

The next game in the franchise, Dead Red Hood, is also looking quite promising judging from the leaks. I'm interested to see how the stealth & assassination mechanics will play out. Will definitely be worth checking that one out before Black Souls III gets released sometime in the 2030s.

 

[cioran]

The best currently active developer is, without doubt, Eeny Meeny Miny Moe also known as Toro Yori Ebi. Perfect, immaculate oeuvre so far with Red Hood's Woods, Black Souls & Black Souls II. Yes, the same Black Souls games that have been known to "save the RPG genre", and to be "spiritual successors to Dark Souls II and Planescape: Torment".

The next game in the franchise, Dead Red Hood, is also looking quite promising judging from the leaks. I'm interested to see how the stealth & assassination mechanics will play out. Will definitely be worth checking that one out before Black Souls III gets released sometime in the 2030s.

Any particular reason you chose this very tanned dude?

 

[Ryzer]

Underrail is shit.

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

3 times.

Did I ask your opinion pidor?

 

[fredsteel]

What didn't you like about UD?

 

[Lemming42]

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.

Can't speak for Hogwarts, but in what universe are Starfield and BG3 not RPGs. BG3 is literally a turn-based adaptation of tabletop rules.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

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

The previous poster's assertion was that "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.", belied by the fact that the three top-selling Steam games of 2023 are RPGs.

Quality is a separate characteristic from popularity.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

How come Trese Brothers doesn't get attention here?
So far they've been improving between every game that they've made.

 

[notpl]

How come Trese Brothers doesn't get attention here?
So far they've been improving between every game that they've made.

At this rate, by game 7 or 8 they might even make something good.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Tis a tragically sad question.

Obsidian (of Black Isle heritage) have turned to utter shit for the last 14 years or so.

Bethesda was always shit, but since 2011 or so, they have become such high density shit, that even their most rabid fanboys have trouble speaking up for the studio, with their firm fecal matter firmly lodged in said fanboys' craws.

Piranha Bytes have never been able to replicate their early success (with 2 back to back legendary games in early 2000s), and despite a gem here and there (Risen, ELEX), struggled to be consistently good and have now shut down.

CDProjektRed have managed to produce several high quality games (Witcher, Witcher 3, and CP2077), but their recent focus on spreading their efforts in multiple directions (new Witcher trilogy, a Witcher spin-off, CP2077 sequel, W1 remake, etc) and their rumored new emphasis on wokeness (high chance of a female protagonist in W4 for example), brings their future success into question.

Bioware has not really done anything good since Baldur's Gate saga days, but even their lukewarm more recent shit (e.g. Dragon Ass Origins or Ass Effect) has steadily dribbled downhill until even their most rabid fans have trouble getting excited about their modern offerings.

Larian has gone from a niche purveyor of underrated games (Divine Divinity) to maker of horrible co-op games you play with your (in Codex's case imaginary) girlfriend, peddling illegal Belgian humor and various sorts of sexual degeneracy.

Logic Artists, after making 2 excellent and original games in Expeditions Conquistador and Viking, has decided to produce an utter woke shitfest that was Rome, which was so bad, it forced them to restructure into cryptocurrency and then immediately shut down in shame.

Similarly, Harebrained Schemes, after making 3 decent nuShadowrun games (Dragonfall in particular was truly excellent), has decided to follow video game logic and switched to making low demand mech and other shit type of games.

Meanwhile, old school legends like Richard Garriott and Paul Neurath are making games like Shroud of the Avatar and Underworld Ascendant, which are so bad, we won't even talk about them. Chris Roberts has started a new version of Scientology with Star Citizen, but that's not really an RPG. And the old Daggerfall guys tried to make a new open world RPG that failed even before they left their first meeting. Warren Spector is supposedly working on a new Disney game helping kids invest into cryptocurrency, with Peter Molineux being the chief advisor.

So given this, I would say the answer to the OP is as follows:



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If you are still here with us: Warhorse Studios, Tarn Adams, some guy in basement working on the next big thing.

 

[ColossusCimmerian]

The best currently active developer is, without doubt, Eeny Meeny Miny Moe also known as Toro Yori Ebi. Perfect, immaculate oeuvre so far with Red Hood's Woods, Black Souls & Black Souls II. Yes, the same Black Souls games that have been known to "save the RPG genre", and to be "spiritual successors to Dark Souls II and Planescape: Torment".

The next game in the franchise, Dead Red Hood, is also looking quite promising judging from the leaks. I'm interested to see how the stealth & assassination mechanics will play out. Will definitely be worth checking that one out before Black Souls III gets released sometime in the 2030s.

A shit game made with RPG Maker. Watch the gameplay. It seems "Dark Soul 2" guy like the game because you can rape girls.

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.

Can't speak for Hogwarts, but in what universe are Starfield and BG3 not RPGs. BG3 is literally a turn-based adaptation of tabletop rules.

Larian should die right now, their disease it is contagious. I don't see anything good about BGay. Everything will turn to shit from now on. Befare was shit, now It will be the worst. Stupid people say that I "mark" the industry. Yes, with garbage. And now that garbage will be everywhere.

Best-selling means mass appeal, casual gamers, and hype.

Larian has gone from a niche purveyor of underrated games (Divine Divinity) to maker of horrible co-op games you play with your (in Codex's case imaginary) girlfriend, peddling illegal Belgian humor and various sorts of sexual degeneracy.

Divine Divinity is a mediocre game, you can play better games without missing anything about Divine Divinity. After several hours of playing, the writing is very bad, the story is mediocre, the quests are infinitely stupid, you basically run from one side of the map to the other to please some NPC. I left it unfinished because it's so boring. It has a few good points, sure, but it's still a mediocre game.

BGay

So given this, I would say the answer to the OP is as follows:

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

Teyon, developers of RoboCop: Rogue City.

Larian on all fronts, just ask Swen if you don't believe me!

Sure if you like gay butt fuckin.

 

[Dr1f7]

well sadly there are none but the good news is that we already have at least 20 great crpgs that can be replayed many times. also i'm sure in the next 10 years some slav will make another underrail or arcanum-like thing so we have that to look forward to

 

[Tyranicon]

If KC:D2 gets at least a "good" rating then Warhorse Studios basically becomes the best AA cRPG dev.

Or are they closer to AAA now, like Larian? I didn't keep track.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

At least Henry won't get fucked by a bear.

 

[Dr1f7]

we're counting KCD as a crpg? crpgs are top down and party based

if KCD is a crpg then I guess that means skyrim, dark souls, minecraft, honkai star rail, zelda, and halo are crpgs as well
so then yes there are good modern crpg developers like fromsoft and whoever made that new space marine shooter game

 

[anonagon]

Some people even had the balls to say that it's ''impossible'' to create another game on the level of BG3, for fucks sake.

The backlash from other devs to BG3 was funny to see. Similar thing happened with Elden Ring. Larian and Fromsoft have been reaping the benefits of "make decently sized game, retain talent and build a slightly bigger game the next time". Other devs are mad that they can't throw together a 500-person team and build a BG3 from scratch. They could absolutely do it if they just made their own D:OS 1 and 2 first.

 

[ColossusCimmerian]

well sadly there are none but the good news is that we already have at least 20 great crpgs that can be replayed many times. also i'm sure in the next 10 years some slav will make another underrail or arcanum-like thing so we have that to look forward to

Yes. It's better to replay good old cRPGs than new bad or mediocre ones, until something comes around.

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

Rockstar West, shimmy the rest. On a more serious note, it's complicated. As to the bigger names:

Larian? Brought some inclince. Seem to grow more interested in exploring cutscenes and motion-captured sexytimes than in the systemic nature of their games now though. That immediately wastes potential right here. We'll have to wait for their next game. It's the only way to be sure.

Warhorse? Need a tiny bit more polish. And given that their games are portraying a certain kind of historical setting, I don't mean that necessarily for diversity's sake, if ya catch the drift.

Obsidian? All their better projects from the past 15 years have been smaller scaled ones. And now they're doing Avowed ("I wanna turn PoE into more like a Skyrim product"). And a sequel to The Outer Worlds -- a game so mid you get the impression it was outsourced to cheap workforce doing their best in trying to ape Obsidian's trademark New Vegas style.

Owlcat? Seem on a quest to dwarf all LOTR trilogies, prequel trilogies, and TV shows combined. All of which within a single game each. Unfortunately, they're doing this on a schedule for an episode of Xena - Warrior Princess. tl;dr: Quantity Over Quality: The company.

CDPR? Aren't even in the business of making games. And would rather produce their own Hollywood movie outright. If they can make it there, they can make it anywhere -- except for gaming.

Bioware? Have faced a party wipe and are unable to venture forth.



tl;dr (2): I'll go with Vogel. If you wanna have some fun, Vögeln is the place to start.

 

[Infinitron]

They could absolutely do it if they just made their own D:OS 1 and 2 first.

Plenty of developers have tried to do that. The sequel almost always sells worse than the first game instead of better, even if the first game got good reviews on Steam. Making a game with enough word-of-mouth popularity to grow a fanbase is really hard!

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

we're counting KCD as a crpg? crpgs are top down and party based

Wizardry-likes, Dungeon Master-likes, Underworld-likes, Morrowind-likes, and Action RPGs beg to differ about the perspective.

Spoiler

Rogue-likes, Underworld-likes, Morrowind-likes, Action RPGs, and most C&C RPGs beg to differ about being party-based.

 

[Dr1f7]

we're counting KCD as a crpg? crpgs are top down and party based

Wizardry-likes, Dungeon Master-likes, Underworld-likes,

those are blobbers..

Morrowind-likes, and Action RPGs beg to differ about the perspective.

ARPGs have a genre, it's called ARPG

wtf is going on here???? fine, elder scrolls games are 'crpgs', diablo is 'crpg', then diablo immortal is 'crpg' and genshin impact is 'crpg' and dark souls is 'crpg' and my IRL friend's dog is 'crpg'
what's the point of genre if everything is crpg
the f@*$!ng sky is 'crpg' i guess

 

[Butter]

Your definition of CRPG is retarded and bad if it excludes blobbers (incidentally, UUW isn't a blobber).