It remains a unique experience, not just because of its memorable HD-2D art-style, but because of characters like Temenos, snarky cleric extraordinaire. Octopath Traveler 2 flew under the radar among mainstream gamers, but RPG fans went wild for it, with many calling it their Game of the Year before Baldur’s Gate 3 came along (a few would probably still pick Octopath Traveler 2). In a nod to Akitoshi Kawazu’s (in)famous SaGa series, Octopath Traveler 2 features a host of adventurers on their own individual journeys, all of which intersect and eventually combine in some truly fascinating ways. Speaking of tributes to 16-bit RPGs, Octopath Traveler 2 picks up where the first game left off with an even bigger adventure filled with memorable characters, some truly excellent writing, and another banger of a soundtrack (seriously, if you want some great music, you can often do worse than to fire up an RPG developed in Japan). A breezy adventure that can be wrapped up in just about 30 hours, Sea of Stars is nonetheless a gorgeous RPG with an engaging battle system, some great boss battles, and a charming cast (and did I mention the soundtrack is great? Because it is). My favorite is definitely Garl, warrior cook and loyal friend to Valere and Zale – an everyman with a ladle and a delicious pot of soup. Sea of Stars’ somewhat plain protagonists – one boy and one girl – belie a delightful cast with their own stories and playstyles. Its soundtrack even features contributions from RPG legend Yasunori Mitsuda, and let me tell you, they rock. It’s pitched as an ode to Chrono Trigger, but really it’s a tribute to an entire family of RPGs developed for the Super Nintendo, PlayStation, and beyond. Runner-Up: Sea of Starsĭiablo IV’s diametric opposite is Sea of Stars – a hopeful, optimistic, and frequently very cozy turn-based RPG developed by Sabotage Studios. With more expansions on the way, Diablo IV is one of the handful of reasons to be optimistic about Blizzard’s future heading into 2024. Blizzard also deserves a great deal of credit for its candid communication as it has sought to quickly address fan feedback. It’s a tremendous co-op experience that you can play with friends on both PC and console, with the type of presentation that hearkens back to Blizzard’s golden age ( seriously, that opening cutscene with Lilith is an all-timer). Diablo IV is, by any measure, one of 2023’s best RPGs. These are all legitimate grievances, but they tend to lose what made the experience so memorable in the first place. Online RPGs like these are always a little tricky to judge, since they tend to get caught up in whatever the discourse du jour is among hardcore fans who are unhappy, say, about the DPS output of a particular build or the hardship of a particular grind. Unfortunately, its heavily-criticized Season 1 rollout soured the mood somewhat, leaving Blizzard scrambling to regain the goodwill of fans, which it arguably did with the much better received Season 2. We praised it in our review for its “finely-tuned combat, extensive build options, stellar graphics, and strong live-service foundation” when it first released. Released to great fanfare back in June, Diablo IV earned considerable praise for bringing the series back to the bloody horror of its early days. Runner-Up: Diablo IVĪnother RPG that perhaps deserves more credit than it gets from fans is Diablo IV, another IGN Awards runner-up. It’s a journey of discovery through the universe that marks it as unique among its peers, filled with questions like, “What if clones of Genghis Khan, Franklin Roosevelt, and Amanirenas were put in charge of their own societies?” If you’re the type of person who stayed up watching reruns of Star Trek: The Next Generation in the 90s, then Starfield is second to none. It is in so many ways the Star Trek RPG that we’ve always wanted but never really received, at least not in the triple-A space. Since its release, Starfield has cultivated a community dedicated to building unique ships, creating elaborate outposts, and unlocking its various secrets. One fan loved it so much that they beat its New Game Plus an incredible 33 times. An unabashed tribute to sci-fi film and literature, Starfield steadily develops in some striking ways, culminating in one of the most memorable reveals of 2023. It was a sprawling, messy, and at times confusing affair – we ultimately awarded it a 7 in our review – but there was no denying that it was a labor of love from director Todd Howard and company. That game, of course, was Starfield – Bethesda’s long-awaited journey into space.
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