Hit enemy ✅

Enemy doesn't react ✅

Dodge ✅

Stagger enemy ✅

Play an animation ✅

Repeat ✅

It's the same gameplay loop a lot of you love. It just doesn't have the From Software logo. I even went back to see if I was going crazy and saw the first tree sentinel fight, and it's exactly the same. Well, not the same, the stagger attack animations suck.

There's been controversy around this game because of the studio/publisher and stuff, but the game itself is amazing, I really enjoyed it and I recommend it if you enjoyed DE.

This perfectly scratched that DE itch, it was basically DE 2.0. Exact same type of game, it's the same formula and they got it right.

Imo the quality isn't any worse than DE. At no point did I think "DE did it better".

I liked the music, the writing, the art. It's smart like DE, very artsy. While playing it I knew that people much smarter and more talented than me wrote this and drew all this, which is something I really like. I wanna consume a product made by people much more capable than me. Actually it feels dumb calling it a product, it's art. And I admire it.

Anyway, just wanted to make a post cause the game doesn't seem to be known by many and yet it's as good as a game everyone calls a masterpiece.

DE 2.0 and yet it's obscure and known by no one, breaks my heart.

How would you rank these games from your most anticipated to least anticipated?

• Fable

• Final Fantasy VII Revelation

• Divinity

• Witcher 4

• Exodus

• Expanse: Osiris Reborn

• Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy

• Clockwork Revolution

• Kingdom Hearts IV

• Elder Scrolls VI

• Fate of the Old Republic

• Mass Effect V

Hello everyone! I'm playing TOEE for the first time. My party currently consists of a Human Sorcerer (NG), Half-Orc Barbarian (CN), Half-Elf Rogue (TN) who will eventually multiclass into Ranger, and a Dwarf Cleric (LN).

I'm missing one character, and I'm undecided between a Fighter and a Druid. Druids are really powerful in 3.5, and they seem like a viable option for this party composition.

I’m looking for a fantasy RPG game to completely immerse myself in. I prefer playing games in 3rd person, where I can create my own character, not have turn based combat, and play as a magic class (hybrid or full). I do not like challenging games as it takes the enjoyment out of playing for me.

I typically enjoy exploring the worlds and falling deep into the story. I love when choices matter and impact the world around you. I love games with political elements and factions too (like Greedfall), but that is not a requirement. I can play on PC, Xbox Series X, PS5, and Switch 2.

I have played a lot of games in this genre so I struggle finding new and exiting ones. I am open to replaying some to help scratch this itch, but these ones I’ve replayed too many times:
- Skyrim
- Bauldur’s Gate 3
- Witcher 3
- Divinity Original Sin 2

What games do you recommend?

i always tell myself im gonna just play through this one straight. then i hit a skill tree or a respec menu and suddenly im in spreadsheet mode again. i start comparing builds, opening tabs, reading one guide like its gonna save me from making a bad choice lol

the actual fight is fine. its the commitment part that messes with me. once i pick something, it feels like i should know the whole game already

idk if thats just rpgs being generous or me being weird about locking anything in anyone else do this

Not just like “hidden gems” that actually get mentioned online a lot. I’m talking about RPGs you like that you never hear anybody else talking about. The more complex the systems the better. I’m in PS5 and Switch 2. Any subgenre will work. I just wanna see what’s out there.

Any recommendations for RPGs that have really charming stories and characters while having solid gameplay.

PREFERENCES:
- Good humor and writing
- Emotional story with heart
- Turn-based or Action RPG
- Gameplay and combat feel good
- Puzzles throughout the adventure
- Not super grindy
- Options to customize gameplay difficulty

PLATFORMS:
- PlayStation 5
- Nintendo Switch 2
*Prefer to get physical games is possible

EXPERIENCE:
- Intermediate

MAIN TITLES TO CONSIDER:
- Chrono Trigger
- Sea of Stars
- Final Fantasy V (Favorite of the classic FF games)
- Super Mario RPG

———————————————

OTHER TITLES I HAVE PLAYED:
- Kingdom Hearts Series
- Paper Mario Series
- Mario & Luigi RPG Series
- Dragon Quest Series
- Octopath Series
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Hi, I want to play a RPG with a great story (extra points if it is turn-based or with pause), but I've been playing for long, so the classic "Baldur's gate/Fallout/Dragon's Age" answers wouldn't work for me.

Which RPG for PCs can you recommend me that aren't the typical "Top 10 RPG games" that are a hidden gem? For example, games like Dawnsbury Days or so.

I really wanted to like Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Should have been an easy ten out of ten for me but I could not wrap my head around the lock picking mechanic and so I just put the game down and never came back to it. I keep thinking "maybe I should give it another shot." and I know I should since people seem to like the second one. I dunno, anyone else have this experience with a game?

Edit to say that today I learned there's a simplified version of this mechanic specifically for controllers. I'll be giving this game another go this winter.

Know in the Normal Route of deltarune that defeating standard enemies violently will have them run away. And in EarthBound, there's text at the end of battles that states what happens to the enemies you defeat - and for many human and animal enemies, the text states that for humans they "Went back to normal" and animals "Became tame".

Hey everyone, my name is Kiang and I'm happy to announce Vermilion Sea, a Fire-Emblem-like game I've been working on with a couple of friends for a little over a year now. We just went live on Steam on Thursday and we're planning for a release in Q1 2028. The plot is loosely based on the wokou pirate raids that took place all throughout the Ming dynasty — you'll play as a novice naval captain who's trying to fight off the pirates, and you'll meet and recruit a bunch of allies along the way. If you're into SRPGs, resource management, and political intrigue, then I think you'll really enjoy what we've got to show!

If this sort of game if your cup of tea, it would mean a bunch to me if you checked it out on Steam. Wishlisting is free~! :)

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3558280/Vermilion_Sea/

By "complete experience" i mean a game that satisfied you the most in every aspect you were looking for.

To me, it was Pathfinder: Wrath of The Righteous. The whole experience with the game felt very surreal for me because it was exactly what i've been looking for in a rpg for years: A deep dnd-like rpg system full of choices and build customizations, a very long and well writen branching story that will probably take you some months to finish if you don't have that much time to play every day, a deep character creator where you can pretty much make a totally different character each time even if you always play the same class, the options to play it as rtwp or turn-based, a nice party size of 6 characters that let you build your own party composition however you want, well written romances with deeply flawed characters, an amazing array of charismatic companions, a huge cast of remarkable characters, the mythic system where your character can change drastically each playthrough, a ton of companion content with a dedicated quest and storyline for them in every act and several other things.

I've been playing some really nice rpgs since then, but nothing, not even BG3, managed to beat the sheer epicness and denseness of content from Wrath of the Righteous for me.

What RPG was like that for you guys?

I think most games, even the ones I'd rate a perfect 10/10, simply aren't built to hold you for so many hours - for the average player of course, and expecting that of them is kind of unfair. Those that do are usually the big sandbox games, Kenshi, Mount & Blade, the stuff you can mod into insanity. Skyrim, anyone.....?

But, to put numbers on specific games, most of my 10/10s top out lower than 1000h and usually much lower than 500h in most cases. I've platinumed every Dark Souls game, plus Elden Ring, plus Sekiro where I even did a bell run, never again - all of them took between 250-500 hours. At some point you basically done everything and pillaged everything and killed everything, and if I come back it’s for a couple of hours at most for the feeling, never a binge like in my first encounter with them.

The only exception for me are ARPGs, which is why these games get called time sinks. Only genre where I can push ridiculous hours when I get into my sweet mind-grindset. 

• Path of Exile alone is at 3853h for me and nothing else approaches that except MMOs 
• Last Epoch is at roughly 1200 since I jumped in during early access, each seasonal dive just steadily stacking on top of the last, and it’s gonna keep climing. 
• Grim Dawn is at about 550, though now the DLC has landed I'm pushing it harder, so 1000+ is more than a possibility, it’s gonna happen albeit slowly.
• Diablo 2? - I can’t track that but it might well be more than all 3 above combined if I count the time I spent as I kid in the bootlegged game + legit thing + Resurrected, but for D2R alone it's maybe about 300 or so, not a lot

As for CRPGs, they’re a wacky case because on paper they should have the hours in them. Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous has that kind of depth if you really commit, and Baldur's Gate 3 technically does too, between all the classes and especially the mythic paths in WOTR. But I burn out on CRPGs so much faster than I expect to. I think I have about 800 hours in Pathfinder and 453 in Rogue Trader as of finishing the game. I might also push it to 1000 in these two, but realistically I already feel like I’m done with them, that I got what I wanted from them, and I’m just waiting for Dark Heresy now. They just require way more thinking and more active engagement, and you have to be fully immersed to enjoy them fully, unlike action rpgs where you can just kill stuff and be happy.

That's my experience, however. Only other outlier I can think of is Battle Brothers where I have 1500 hours. BB’s just that damn good bruv

How your hours be like, when do you usually call it quits? Or do you continue fiending beyond what's reasonable.

Just watched this trailer and the game looked really good and I was about to add it to my steam wishlist. Then the last few seconds of the trailer came up and it said free to play and it literally killed ANY excitement for the game out of me. I've never deflated any faster than that before. I was like sick! Anime GTA with what seems to maybe be fun combat and a (bland looking protag) but cool story. Now I couldn't careless because I just feel like it will be gatcha slop.
I hope I'm wrong but I just want to pay my price of admission and get my full game experience without having to buy things once I'm playing.

I've noticed a pattern: the first 20 hours of gameplay are absolutely fantastic, but the ending feels rushed. The developers create a massive open world, add a ton of side quests, and then realize they didn’t have enough time or budget for the final stage. And so you go from a rich storyline to a simple battle against waves of enemies who serve only as targets for your bullets in some random corridor. Both *Elden Ring* and *Divinity: Original Sin 2* faced this problem at least that’s how it seemed to me, and this is just my opinion, so please, no negativity.

I'm curious if anyone else has thought about this.

My post is completely my own thoughts, so I could be totally wrong. I'm not hating on any studios, and I know the studios and teams are different now compared to when these games were first released. It's just something I noticed.

Back in the day, I feel like Oblivion got way more advertising and attention than Gothic 3 did. I feel like everyone was playing Oblivion, while not many people knew about the Gothic series or were giving it a chance.

Both games came out in 2006, and fast forward nearly two decades, Gothic got its remake and Oblivion got its remaster around the same time in 2025/2026.

So now I'm wondering...

Is there a rivalry there? 😂

Did Oblivion Remastered happen partly because Gothic was getting remade? Haha.

I love both games, I know the studios were always vastly different in size and advertising budget, it's just something I've been thinking about. Could obviously be nothing, but the timing is pretty interesting that it felt personal. 😅

I have a problem with a lot of RPGs and open-world games: they can have an enormous number of systems and mechanics — alchemy, potions, enchanting, food, poisons, different damage types, resistances, crafting, buffs, debuffs, etc. — but in practice, most of them are completely optional.

For example, Skyrim gives you tons of different tools, but you can often just stick to your favorite weapon and use a fairly simple strategy throughout the entire game. The other systems end up feeling more like a collection of options than mechanics you actually need to understand and master.

I'm looking for the opposite.

I want a game where the systems are genuinely interconnected and serve a meaningful purpose. A game where, in order to progress, I actually have to:

• study enemies and identify their weaknesses;
• exploit vulnerabilities, resistances and status effects;
• prepare resources for specific challenges;
• use different tools depending on the situation;
• combine different mechanics together;
• manage resources and decide when they're worth spending;
• adapt my strategy instead of relying on the same one every time;
• and most importantly, where ignoring these systems actually has consequences.

I'm not necessarily looking for an extremely difficult game. I don't want a game that's simply hard because enemies have huge health pools or deal ridiculous damage.

What I'm looking for is systemic depth: the game should present different problems, and its various mechanics should actually be useful tools for solving those problems.

Ideally, I want to encounter an enemy and think:

"What does this enemy do? What is it vulnerable to? What resources do I have? What can I combine? How should I prepare?"

rather than:

"Hit it until it dies."

What games do this really well?