We purchased the The 8 Best Single Player RPGs so our expert reviewer could thoroughly test and assess it. Keep reading for our full products reviews.
Many of the best single-player RPGs (as well as many of the best story games in general) feature large worlds with important stories to tell. These immersive experiences are designed for solo play, providing hours of tantalizingly good entertainment that feel like diving into new worlds over and over. Most RPGs are also long, massive experiences with a lot of content for a low price compared to the number of hours of entertainment available.
Despite the fact that most single-player RPGs aren’t the most replayable, most single-player adventures provide dozens, if not hundreds, of hours of fun before the credits roll. Add in expansion packs, secret missions, and “new game plus” runs with new content to unlock, and you’ve got a genre that’s bursting at the seams. The games on this list are some of the most immersive, challenging, and rewarding RPGs available for all platforms, including Xbox Series X|S and PC. You might discover a new favorite to dive into.
For a long time, The Witcher was a relatively obscure RPGs (role-playing game) series that only the most ardent fans sought out. The Witcher 3 (Check latest price on Amazon) is widely regarded as one of the best RPGs ever made, providing everything you could want from the genre. You take on the role of Geralt the Witcher, a highly trained monster slayer who travels the globe assisting both peasants and kings. Do you want to assist people in need or expose corruption? Sure, but there’s also the option of going down a darker, more sinister path. The Witcher 3’s world is vast, complex, and as politically complicated as real life. But it doesn’t have to be so serious; at the local tavern, you can unwind and play some cards.
Upgrade your weaponry as you see fit, or have Geralt develop his Witcher magic skills. It’s entirely up to you whether you’d rather spend your time competing in horse races or not. However, because the game is so large, you’ll probably end up doing a little bit of everything because every action leads to a satisfying reward, even if every choice you make has an unexpected consequence. Because combat is action-based rather than turn-based, expect to spend a lot of time learning how to fight ghosts and ghouls, as well as how to survive when facing mythical creatures and undead armies.
The Witcher 3 has a stunning visual style and a scope that feels almost endless. With its choices, it provides a compelling narrative and almost infinite replay value. It can be played on a PC, Xbox One, or PlayStation 4.
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Best Action/Adventure: Nintendo The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo Switch)
Breath of the Wild is widely regarded as the best The Legend of Zelda (Check latest price on Amazon) game ever made, and it was responsible for many Nintendo Switch purchases when the console was first released. It’s unlike any other Legend of Zelda game, as it features a much larger open world than previous installments and borrows heavily from modern RPGs like Dark Souls and Fallout.
You’ll be able to explore vast fields, oceans, volcanoes, castles, ruins, dungeons, caves, forests, and snow-capped mountain ranges in the game, with seemingly no restrictions on where you can go. To see what you can uncover, you can glide over areas or simply travel on foot or by horse. There’s a compelling story here, but the most enjoyable part is simply getting off the beaten path and seeing what’s out there. While reviewing it, our tester discovered that some of the best content was found outside of the “main narrative.”
It’s possible to scavenge for new weapons, fight massive beasts, solve environmental puzzles, and make food to keep you alive in the scorching heat or the freezing cold. The way you approach objectives is delightfully open-ended, though you must keep an eye on your resources and stamina. Unlike other Zelda games, you can “overuse” your weapons, causing them to lose their effectiveness or fall apart completely, so be careful how you use them.
JRPGs (Japanese role-playing games) are generally quirky and distinct from Western RPGs. That is certainly true of the Persona series, and Persona 5 (Check latest price on Amazon) is unquestionably one of the best. The plot follows a group of teenagers as they spend their days at school and their nights as Phantom Thieves, a group dedicated to exposing others’ inner vulnerabilities through the use of protective masks.
Simple high school tasks such as attending class, participating in after-school activities, or going to a part-time job fill the days. The shift from day to night dungeon crawling is noticeable and unexpected, but as you learn more about the characters and level them up, each aspect of gameplay complements the others. It may appear disjointed at first, but the turn-based combat is fast-paced and thrilling, and you grow to care about everyone involved, whether they’re dressed in a school uniform or a trench coat.
Persona has a unique art style and memorable character designs that will stay with you for a long time. As you play through the hundred-hour campaign, an acid jazz soundtrack adds to the stylish and cool atmosphere. Don’t worry if you haven’t played previous Persona games; the plot isn’t inextricably linked to previous titles, so you’ll be fine. The only drawback? PlayStation 4 owners are the only ones who can get it.
Best for Co-Op RPG: Blizzard Entertainment Diablo 3: Eternal Collection (Xbox One)
Diablo III (Check latest price on Amazon), also known as a loot-based RPG, is all about finding new gear at every turn. Almost every enemy you kill will drop some sort of equipment or weapon, as well as large amounts of gold that can be sold to earn more money. The combat is fast-paced and almost shoot-’em-up-like, and you’ll easily wipe out hundreds of enemies in a single session. You select and equip your loadout, then mash buttons until the screen is clear.
It’s also a lot of fun to play with a friend, whether online or in person. Diablo III has a complex story that’s wrapped in a lot of lore, despite the fact that it sounds like it’s fairly shallow. While the previous games aren’t yet available on consoles, you’ll soon be immersed in Deckard Cain’s adventures as he and his companions navigate treacherous and dangerous worlds on an epic quest to defeat Diablo.
Diablo III has a lot of different character types, so there’s always a reason to play it again. Each class has different abilities and powers, so taking on enemies and bosses requires a different kind of strategy each time. What may appear to be mindless action soon reveals its depth as you find yourself juggling different combinations depending on the enemies you’re up against, as well as who’s in your party and how you can complement your skills together.
Fallout 4 (Check latest price on Amazon) is a post-apocalyptic open-world game from Bethesda that already has hundreds of hours of content in its base game. Players explore a vast wasteland. Despite its large single-player environment, Fallout 4 is also well-known for being easily moddable by curious players who want to make the game feel more like their own personal creation. The Fallout modding community is thriving, with skilled players creating their own heroes, NPCs, weapons, and stories to breathe new life into the game.
Fallout 4 has become something of a beacon for modders to delve into and truly make their own, from improved versions of the base game to new voices for companions that make Fallout 4 feel almost like a brand new game, five years after it first debuted. There are so many mods in the Fallout 4 universe that it will make your head spin, whether you want to change things a little or a lot.
What if President William McKinley had not been assassinated at the Pan-American Exposition in 1901, and Roosevelt had never been elected? The world could resemble the alternate future depicted in The Outer Worlds, which depicts a future ruled by megacorporation’s that have colonized space and begun terraforming alien planets. Colonists work to reach the stars and find suitable planets to live on, but the mission goes awry at some point, and your player character is jolted awake from cryosleep.
As a result, you’ll need to join a faction, figure out what’s going on in the Emerald Vale colony, and adjust to the new world. Oh, and there are plenty of quests to complete as well as loot to collect. The Outer Worlds (Check latest price on Amazon) is one of the funniest and most unique RPGs we’ve seen in a long time, thanks to some truly hilarious quests, NPCs, and dark humor.
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Best Sci-Fi RPG: Cyberpunk 2077
With Cyberpunk 2077 (Check latest price on Amazon), developer CD Projekt RED did the same for the world of science fiction and the cyberpunk aesthetic as it did for fantasy with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The game takes place in the dystopian world of Night City, which is divided into six distinct regions. They can customize their body down to body type and cybernetic modifications as the customizable mercenary V, all while exploring different disciplines in hacking, weapon proficiency, and melee combat in order to take on a variety of missions and objectives that will change depending on character class, back story, and alignments.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a massive world brimming with personality on the cutting edge of technology, complete with a wide range of cars, weapons, clothing, consumables, music, and even sexualities to sample. It’s a colossal undertaking for anyone looking for an excellent single-player RPG, and a tour-de-force in terms of what sci-fi is capable of.
Best Fantasy: Bethesda Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Check latest price on Amazon) is unrivaled in terms of creating an immersive world in which you can lose yourself for hours on end. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which was first released in 2011 for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, continues to enchant fans all over the world. There’s a reason why so many people have played it multiple times: it’s now available in a special remastered version for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. It’s a timeless classic with a thrilling setting and an endless supply of things to see and do.
You take on the role of the Dragonborn, a person whose destiny is to slay ancient dragons and free the realm. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim follows standard RPG conventions, but it’s so much more than a collection of fantasy clichés. Vampires, trolls, and dragons stand in your way, and defeating them rewards you with souls, which you can use to gain special abilities and cast magic spells.
Character development is linked to how you play, so you gain strength based on how you deal with challenges. Are you able to talk your way out of a jam? You’ll notice a rapid improvement in your speaking ability. Do you prefer a one-handed sword to a staff? The more you hack and slash at enemies, the better. The game adapts to your playstyle while also throwing numerous stumbling blocks in your path to keep you on your toes. It’s ideal for “any player who enjoys fantasy, dragons, and magic in an expansive open world,” according to our reviewers.
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The Final Word
Some of the best RPGs are open-world fantasy epics, which is unsurprising. You can’t go wrong with The Witcher 3’s endlessly rich universe if you want something gritty, intense, and with some of the best storytelling in video games. If a fully realized, living world with amazing clockwork systems and one of the best character progression systems of all time appeals to you, then Skyrim is the game for you (or, ideally, just play both).
