While the 100+ hour time to beat may seem intimidating at first, Persona 5: Royal keeps you hooked with intricate mechanics and it's wonderful cast of characters, and it’s gripping narrative about high school kids finding their place in the world. You spend half of your time in this game being a normal high school student, taking exams, working a job, and hanging out with friends. The other half of your time is spent fight interdimensional demons with your closest friends and allies. The game goes to great lengths to make every moment meaningful for the overall progression.
Arguably the studio's best outing, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is a compilation of the first three games in the series, each of which have been remastered with visual and framerate upgrades and quality of life improvements (returning players will note that the combat system in the first game has received a massive overhaul.)
Players shoot their way through one of the most engaging worlds in the genre, while focusing on building out the relationship with your party members. Decisions, customization, and plot threads carry over to each game, creating a unique experience where each decision matters.
This 1997 PlayStation classic offers a great introduction to not only the basic mechanics of RPGs, but of the massive world the is Final Fantasy VII. You play as Cloud Strife, a moral conflicted mercenary who joins an eco-terrorist group known as Avalanche, whose goal is to save the planet from a nefarious mining corporation.
If you enjoyed any aspect of the original game, Final Fantasy VII Remake is very much worth your time. While less of a remake and more of a companion piece to the original, this game boldly reimagines almost every aspect of its predecessor. Combat, world design, and structure all receive an overhaul in a love leader to both the original game and the fans that have been playing over the last 25 years.
A tactical RPG that takes place on battlefields and classrooms. You play as Byleth, a mercenary who’s hired to teach at a Knight Academy. After choosing a fraction to align yourself with, players perform activities that boost their units’ stats that gives them advantages on the battlefield.
Considered one of the best titles on the Nintendo Wii, Xenoblade Chronicles got a new lease on life after a limited release in North America, with the Definitive Edition on Nintendo Switch. The game mixes tactical and real-time actions in its combat. It would be unfair to gloss over the fact that the game has one of my all-time favorite stories in video games. I have cried many times while playing this game.
Undertale is remarkable for several reasons, not only was it developed over the course of several years by one person, but because of its unique blend of gameplay and storytelling. How you decide to approach the minute-to-minute can greatly alter the story’s outcome. That and its relatively short length make it perfect for multiple playthroughs.
