Top 100 RPGs of All Time – IGN.com

Role-playing games have a long and fascinating history. From its humble tabletop origins, the RPG has grown and evolved over the years into the most dominant and ambitious game genre, boasting a catalog as critically acclaimed as it is diverse. The best RPGs embrace a rich storytelling tradition as well as deep and engaging gameplay to create universes that are as exciting to explore as they are thrilling to quest and do battle in. And we’ve sunk hundreds — sometimes even thousands — of hours immersing ourselves in those incredible universes, whether that be stunning high fantasy kingdoms full of knights and dragons, exciting sci-fi realms brimming with possibilities, or even extraordinary versions of our own world.

But which RPGs are the best of the best? Which RPGs were influential enough to lead the rest, or bold enough to question the mold in new and exciting ways? Which RPGs gave us the richest characters, worlds, and stories — experiences we’ll never forget? IGN got its biggest RPG fans in a room to find out. Below are the Top 100 RPGs of All Time.

The main elements we examined:

• Story (Is it compelling, well-written, or uniquely told?)
• Presentation (Is its sound, music, and/or visual style particularly strong?)
• Character progression (Is there satisfying decision-making when it comes to building a character, choosing a combat style, or making other decisions in the game world?)
• Combat (Is it fun? Innovative? Does it ask the player to make interesting choices?)
• Systems (Is there an interesting dynamic between its various meta systems?)

Because the RPG is a particularly diverse and hard-to-define genre, it was important for us to nail down exactly what qualifies as an “RPG.”

For the purposes of this list, we defined an RPG as a game that includes:

• Persistent character progression (including player-exposed stats)
• Combat that is a significant part of the experience
• Choices and consequences
• Story
• Exploration
• Character building and customization