The best RPGs of 2024, ranked

From Black Myth: Wukong to Mario and Luigi: Brothership, these are the role-playing games of the year

Dragon Age The Veilguard is one of our RPGs of the year / BioWare

Is it just us or are RPGs getting absurdly good?

2024 has seen no shortage of incredible role-playing experiences across PC and console. Fancy some high fantasy with branching dialogue and fiery romance? Dragon Age: The Veilguard is for you. 
After some hybridized turn-based/realtime combat wrapped up in juicy political drama? Check out Metaphor: ReFantazio.

In fact, we’d go so far as to say 2024 has been one of the strongest years for the genre for ages. It’s no coincidence four of the six GOTY nominees at The Game Awards 2024 are RPGs. Check out our list of the year’s best below.

Another Crab’s Treasure 

The crab you play as / Aggro Crab

In a genre usually brimming with brooding characters and dark themes, Aggro Crab’s charming soulslike casts you as a friendly crustacean scouring the seabed for the means to survive. 

Don't underestimate the challenge, though. Tough bosses include a lance-wielding pistol shrimp and a crab with a box of noodles on its head called Curdled Carbonara Connoisseur. You’ll have to scavenge discarded forks to use as weapons and pack on stray shells as armor while you upgrade abilities to uncover more of this inviting undersea world.

Rise of the Ronin

Rise of the Ronin is a captivating historical RPG / Team Ninja

Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja’s historical RPG is the most grounded game on the list, which makes it ideal if you’ve any interest whatsoever in tracing back the roots of modern-day Japan.

Set across Yokohama, Edo and Kyoto, in the mid-19th century, you’ll dive into a multi-faction war as a member of the Blade Twins, a resistance group trained as ronin to overthrow the Shogunate. Exploration is always inviting, but combat excels as you wield a wide array of era-accurate weaponry, including katanas, firearms, grappling hooks and gliders.

Dragon's Dogma 2

Dragon's Dogma 2's cutscenes are stunning / Capcom

Few RPGs plunge you into the sort of spectacular encounters Capcom’s RPG does. You’ll go from battling a gang of ogres, to trading volleys of arrows with flocks of harpies, to desperately clinging onto the fur of a griffon as it takes flight and tries to shake you off. But there’s more to the game than fighting. 

The pawn system returns, letting you hire other players’ created characters and travel the world as a roaming posse (even better if your hired helpers are comically hideous). Along the way they’ll dig up gifts for you, heal you mid-battle, and show you the optimal route through difficult quests. 

Metaphor: ReFantazio

Metaphor: ReFantazio is another incredible Atlus and Sega collaberation / Atlus, Sega

One of the game of the year nominees at The Game Awards 2024, and for good reason. Atlus and Studio Zero’s impossibly fresh RPG casts you as a would-be successor fighting to lift the curse from a kingdom and fill the vacant throne. 

To do so, you’ll forge bonds with locals and increase their favour to influence the election and decide the next ruler. Much like in Persona, another Atlus series, you’ll bounce between time-sensitive activities structured after a day-to-day calendar as you explore Euchronia, a medieval fantasy realm inspired by the UK.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

The graphics are on point in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth / Square Enix

The much-anticipated sequel to 2020’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake sees Square Enix solidify its reputation as the masters of revitalisation. It just so happens that manages to chime with the game’s message about bringing life back to a dying world. 

You play blonde-locked mercenary Cloud Strife who, along with his eco-terrorist group Avalanche, embarks on a journey to prevent megacorporation Shinra from milking the planet dry. It’s the perfect mix of discovery and nostalgia.

Mario and Luigi: Brothership

The bros are back in action / Nintendo

Nintendo’s RPG offerings are often overlooked, but don’t ignore its latest. In Mario and Luigi: Brothership. Here you’ll attempt to reconnect the fractured world of Concordia and unify the once mighty Uni-Tree.

To do so, you’ll sail across a vast ocean with your living vessel, Shipshape Island, plotting a course to far-off lands in a grand seafaring adventure. Turn-based combat incorporating timing is the perfect blend of skill and strategy. 

Dragon Age: The Veilguard 

Playing as an ice mage comes highly recommended / BioWare

BioWare’s decade-in-the-making RPG nails the delicate balancing act of appealing to long-time series fans while opening the doors to new ones. As you roam the fantasy world of Thedas you’ll encounter familiar faces both friendly and otherwise while building relationships with a whole new cast of complex characters, such as non-binary Qunari Taash, and necromancer Emmrich with his skeleton pal. 

Combat is fresh and fast-paced whether warrior, rogue or mage, and choices you make along the way have far-reaching implications. If you don’t want to accidentally destroy an entire city, check out our Dragon Age: The Veilguard beginner tips and tricks (and save often).

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree was a stunning surprise / FromSoftware

OK, the base game launched in 2022, but it’s DLC is so extensive it almost feels like Elden Ring 2. Step out into the Land of Shadow for the first time and you’re greeted by a vast field of ghostly graves, the skyline dominated by a monumental dying tree. That’s just the start.

Push forward and you’ll discover the world descends into unseen depths that will truly test your resolve. Players decry the difficulty, especially the almost unfeasibly tough final boss, but you’re always given the means for victory. 

Black Myth: Wukong

Sun Wukong is The Monkey King / Game Science

The game of the year winner at the Golden Joystick Awards 2024 came out of seemingly nowhere to claim the top spot. Inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West, you play as an anthropomorphic monkey with incredible fighting skills.

In a game full of flash, transformations are arguably the flashiest. You’re able to shapeshift into a diverse menagerie of creatures and enemies and use their own movesets against them. With 20 million units sold in its first month, it’s no surprise an expansion is well on the way.