In Pictures: Tom's Top 50 RPGs

Fight evil, free the princess and collect lots of loot on the way. That’s the role player’s bread and butter. The RPG's hallmark feature is that the player slips into the hero's shoes, usually of the fantasy or science fiction variety, and experiences an interactive story.

Conversations and decisions often play as much a part as fighting enemies in these games. Successes usually yield experience points, which are important for developing the player’s character.

Deciding what is or isn’t an RPG can be difficult, especially since there are a lot of games that are somewhere in the gray zone between genres. This overlap is often what makes a title particularly interesting, though.

With two blockbuster games coming out these days, namely Dragon Age: Inquisition and Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, it’s the perfect time to take a look at history. In the following slides, we’ll take a journey through the storied history of 40 years of role-playing games. Here are the 50 biggest RPGs in alphabetical order, each one of which left its mark on the genre.

Anachronox came out in 2001 and took the player to the world of the same name. You stepped into the shoes of Sylvester "Sly Boots" Bucelli and had to solve a mystery threatening the whole galaxy. Up to seven other characters joined the hero for this task.

The game’s humor, storytelling and cyberpunk atmosphere similar to Shadowrun were a hit with fans.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura by Troika Games is set in a magical fantasy world going through an industrial revolution. It thus presents a mix of magic and steampunk. The player gets to decide which side to go with.

You have access to the classic repertoire of magic spells, as well as explosives and guns. Battles can often be avoided altogether with some clever diplomacy.

Arcanum gave the player a lot of choices and options. Combined with the scenario, which was still fresh at the time, this constituted the game’s main draw. However, outdated graphics (even by 2001’s standards) were a major flaw.

Arx Fatalis is set in the underground world of Arx, to which humankind withdrew after the sun went out. You wake up in an uncomfortable prison cell without knowing how you got there. As usual in RPGs, you later discover that you have a larger role to play in the fate of the world.

The player explores the dark world from a first-person perspective, fighting monsters and villains with weapons and magic along the way.

The magic system was particularly inventive. A spell was triggered by drawing a magical gesture in the air with the mouse. This contributed further to the already high level of interactivity in Arx Fatalis. Potions could be brewed, people could be talked to and even meals could be cooked.

This is our first BioWare title! The two Baldur’s Gate games offered fantastic RPG entertainment. A gigantic game world, a riveting story set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe and countless possibilities were the titles' strengths.

They also featured fascinating companions who had their own personalities and could even leave the group if they disagreed with the player’s choices.

The Baldur’s Gate games are real RPG classics. Both came out recently as enhanced editions, making them accessible to current gamers.

Time travel is the theme of this RPG classic. The game Chrono Trigger came out in 1995 for the SNES and has had a massive fan base ever since.

You accompany the protagonist Chrono and several of his companions to seven different eras – from primeval times to the Middle Ages all the way to the future – in order to save the world from the alien Lavos.

Nintendo DS owners were able to enjoy a new edition of this classic in 2009, and an iOS version came out in 2011. Our picture shows the latter.

Dark Age of Camelot had already done everything that made World of Warcraft what it was. The 2002 MMORPG offered specialized classes (tank, healer, DPS), many playable races and factions, as well as significant PvP options.

A lot of emphasis was placed on the fight between realms (Realm versus Realm or, for short, RvR). The player could fight in the border areas for Albion, Midgard or Hibernia to conquer fortresses and towers to expand their realm.

“YOU DIED” – this brief sentence is all too familiar to players of Dark Souls, which is completely unforgiving when it comes to mistakes. Then again, that made taking down bosses so much sweeter.

Hardcore RPG players are in for a challenging adventure with a precise combat system. The demons can be battled with either a melee fighter or a wizard.

Darkstone is a hack-and-slash game in which the land of Uma needs to be freed from the villain Draak. You can take the role of eight different heroes, such as the Amazon, the monk and the wizard.

As opposed to Diablo, developer Delphine used 3D graphics for the game engine, which was nice at the time. This action RPG was recently re-released as an iOS version, and can be bought in Apple’s App Store for a good price.

In this MMORPG, you're given the opportunity to experience epic adventures in Middle-earth. Different races and classes are available for this purpose. If you’ve always wanted to play a hobbit, then this is your chance! And you won’t even need to pay for the privilege, since the game has been free-to-play (F2P) since 2010.

A total of five expansions have extended the game’s world by adding areas like Lórien, Mirkwood and Dunland. In the last expansion, the player can even participate in the Battle at Helm's Deep.

Even though this MMORPG can’t hold a candle to World of Warcraft, fans of the Lord of the Rings universe will certainly have fun with it.

Those who like dystopian societies, corporate conspiracies and a lot of freedom for tackling challenges will love the Deus Ex games, or at least the original and Human Revolution.

The high points are engaging stories and dark atmosphere. How the games’ various missions are completed is largely up to you. Go in guns blazing, use stealth or make things easier by hacking security systems - they're all viable gaming styles.

The player also has to make a lot of decisions that actually have a strong influence on the game’s ending. These decisions are what create the feeling that you play an important role in the game.

Nobody has perfected the combination of hack-and-slash and looting quite as well as the makers of Diablo. Countless hours can, and often will, be spent in front of the computer killing monsters and leveling the character.

You can chose from a variety of different classes, such as melee fighter, wizard, archer or summoner. Each class has a unique ability, which is particularly important for multi-player mode.

For many, Diablo’s second installment, Lord of Destruction, is the pinnacle of action role-playing games.

The Divinity games by Larian Studios are a special case. The first two titles in the series feature hack-and-slash gameplay like Diablo, but Divinity II: Ego Draconis switched to third-person view and even allowed the player to become a flying dragon.

The series’ current installment, Divinity: Original Sin, is predominantly turn-based and generally old-school. It’s a hidden gem!

You really can’t say that the developer doesn’t take risks with experimentation, seeing all the different styles of gameplay that the Divinity series has to offer.

dnd is considered to be the oldest PC role-playing game. Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood developed the title in 1974 at the University of Illinois. It let you create your own character, explore a dungeon, fight monsters and improve the hero.

Sound familiar? In fact, all common RPG elements were already included in the granddaddy of RPGs. The game even featured magic and a simple trading system.

By the way, the name dnd is a reference to the pen-and-paper game Dungeons & Dragons, which came out in the same year.

What made Dragon Age: Origins special is stated right in the title: the player could choose the character’s origins. For instance, as a dwarf, you could decide if you wanted to start the game as a noble or a commoner.

As an RPG, the first installment in the series was the most impressive. It featured a gripping, mature story with characters just as memorable as those of Baldur’s Gate and many different possible conclusions.

The second part didn't quite live up to the expectations set by its predecessor, though it still made for a popular title. The third installment added more of an open-world style and greater scope to the game, but it was plagued by technical difficulties when it launched in late 2014.

Drakensang is a great series for fans of the RPG game system The Dark Eye. It represents TDE’s atmosphere well.

The free-to-play title Drakensang Online is a departure from the first two installments’ genre. It features less role-playing and more hack-and-slash action.

Dungeon Master is another RPG classic from the early days of the genre. Its big innovation was real-time gameplay. It combined the usual turn-based RPGs of the time with the more dynamic nature of action adventures using graphics that were advanced back then.

Dungeon Master effectively founded an entire new subgenre, which lives on today in the form of games like Legend of Grimrock. The game’s difficulty level was just as legendary (which is to say incredibly high) as the game itself.

Dungeon Siege received a lot of hype as the “Diablo killer” before it was even out. It ended up being a good, but not stellar, action RPG. Its highlights were nice graphics and a large game world. The second and third iterations were solid games as well, even though the latter was developed by Obsidian, as opposed to Gas Powered Games.

Interestingly, there’s a movie based on the game directed by Uwe Boll and starring Jason Statham: In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale.

EverQuest was published in 1999 as a classic MMORPG with a monthly subscription fee. You get to choose from several races and classes, and then set out on epic adventures in the world of Norrath. EverQuest is one of the old MMORPG classics that helped to establish the genre.

The second installment came out in 2004 and directly competed with World of Warcraft. It went free-to-play in 2011.

The Fable games put character development front and center. The hero is played from childhood to old age and can even marry and have children.

Eating a lot makes the hero fat, and carrying around heavy weapons a lot makes your character muscular. The avatar's looks also impact the environment – close attention needs to be paid to both the haircut and wardrobe.

The third part changes the setting from a fantasy world to a steampunk scenario. The Fable series by Lionhead Studios is definitely one of the most ambitious RPG series out there.

If you enjoy post-apocalyptic scenarios, you'll definitely find what you're looking for with the Fallout series. Few games have managed to depict a world after the nuclear Armageddon as oppressively and realistically as this one.

The third part, in particular, is one of the best RPGs in recent memory. It’s great fun to make your way through a godforsaken radioactive wasteland all alone and never feel quite safe.

Fallout 3 also managed to incorporate some humor in its otherwise bleak locations. In the city of Megaton, for instance, inhabitants pray to a (still operational) atom bomb. The Fallout series is also known for its bizarre and memorable characters, which you meet along the way.

No list like this is complete without the Final Fantasy series. There are 14 titles in its main line, as well as a large number of spinoffs across a many different platforms.

The series is known for its unique visual style that incorporates steam and cyberpunk elements, ambivalent and interestingly-written characters, and monumental orchestral soundtracks.

The most notable titles are Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX. The former was the first game in the series to feature 3D graphics and sold approximately 10 million copies worldwide. The latter was the first MMORPG in the series, which is now being continued with Final Fantasy XIV.

If you want a game that’s a bit less polite in its interactions (loaded with profanity, that is), then Gothic is for you. The developer Piranha Bytes is located in Essen, Germany, an old blue-collar worker's city, and it shows.

Gothic and Gothic II are the two most popular parts of the series, since they best embody the family's strengths (faction choice, island exploration and a heavy atmosphere with coarse characters).

Unfortunately, Gothic 3 was a disappointment when it was released in 2006 due to massive bugs. Even a wild boar could kill you if it hit first. The game was markedly improved by a patch made by its community. The initial bad quality was due to difficulties between Piranha Bytes and the game’s publisher JoWooD.

Because of this, JoWooD contracted Spellbound to create the next installment. Arcania – Gothic 4 wasn’t received well at all by the game series’ early fans.

Piranha Bytes focused its efforts on the Risen series instead.

The MMORPG Guild Wars scored a lot of points simply by forgoing the monthly subscription fee its competitors charged. And the game still provided many hours of online role-playing fun. It’s great to be able to combine classes and play as a fighter and healer, for instance.

The first game in the series had three expansions with new areas. The second part was even larger and offered a personal origin story and more playable races and classes.

Hellgate: London was a better game than its reputation would imply. The game combined action RPG elements in the style of Diablo with first-person shooter sections. You could choose from different classes, such as melee fighters, magicians and gun-toting soldiers.

The story took place in 2038 London after earth was overrun by demons from hell. After starting in this abysmal place, the game mostly consisted of fighting your way through an endless number of subway tunnels and improving your hero with experience and gear.

There was an online element in addition to the single-player mode, which was shut down in 2009.

Icewind Dale was very similar to the Baldur’s Gate series, but it put a lot more emphasis on battles and a higher difficulty level. It was set in the icy north of the Forgotten Realms. You created a party of six heroes and then proceeded to fight your way through long dungeons and a linear plot for many hours.

The second installment didn’t really break new ground, except for being based on the 3^rd edition of the Dungeons & Dragons rules.

Jade Empire is another BioWare game, but it’s set in medieval China with steampunk elements. As usual for BioWare’s projects, the characters, the intelligent story and the atmosphere are big highlights.

The combat system is more direct than the Canadian game developer’s other titles; it feels more like an action game.

Unfortunately, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is one of the lesser-known examples of the genre. This is too bad, since the game offered some traditional fun RPG-oriented entertainment.

The story is set in the Faelands, in the world of Amalur. Its universe was conceived by the famous fantasy author R.A. Salvatore. As usual for RPGs, you fight and complete quests in a colorful realm. The highlight is the game’s fast combat system that’s just simply enjoyable.

The original Lands of Lore RPG came out in 1993 and was made by Westwood Studios, better known for its Command & Conquer series of real-time strategy games. Back then, the game followed in Dungeon Master’s footsteps.

The second installment in the series, Guardians of Destiny, added 3D graphics and a real-time combat system. Fans certainly like to think back to the video sequences, which featured real actors. These might look trashy today, but they were awesome to behold back then.

The Mass Effect trilogy is a first-rate space opera. BioWare created a complex universe filled with strange inhabitants and planets.

You take the role of Commander Shepard, needing to save the galaxy from destruction at the hands of the Reapers. On the way, you meet interesting characters and have to make far-reaching decisions that can decide the fate of entire species.

A lot of fans were unsatisfied with the end of the trilogy, which prompted BioWare to publish an “extended cut” of the third installment’s end.

Might & Magic is one of the most beloved franchises in the world of RPGs. There are 10 installments, as well as a number of popular spinoffs like Heroes of Might and Magic and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.

The original Might & Magic series stands for round-based dungeon crawlers placing an emphasis on slower, tactical and challenging action. The player travels the world with a group of heroes, block by block, fighting monsters.

In 2014, Might & Magic X resurrected the genre that many had written off, and did surprisingly well during a time when action spectacles like Call of Duty dominated the market.

The action-RPG Nox was published in 2000 and had a hard time, because Diablo II came out only six months later. Many players didn’t even try it out.

Developer Westwood actually managed to create a pretty solid action RPG. You fought through dungeons, caves and massive amounts of enemies as a warrior, a conjurer or a wizard in a similar way to Diablo. The game also included small puzzle sequences that involved avoiding or disarming traps.

However, the very limited field of view was annoying, especially when it swayed back and forth in caves.

Planescape: Torment is one of the best RPGs ever made, and should be looked at as a cohesive work of art.

Your character wakes up as a nameless creature in the morgue of the city Sigil with complete amnesia. While searching for answers, you find out more and more about the bizarre and alien world of Planescape: Torment and meet weird characters, such as a flying skull. As the story unfolds, the player needs to grapple with philosophical quandaries as well.

Combat plays a rather small role in Planescape: Torment, but the complex story and game world more than compensate. This title is a must for every RPG player.

Every gamer should know the names Bisasam, Glumanda, Schiggy and, of course, Pikachu. The first two editions of the Pokémon series, Green and Red, came out in 1996 on the Game Boy. The first titles to land in the U.S. were the Red and Blue editions.

From that point onward, numerous schoolchildren took every opportunity they had, be it during lunch breaks or on the way home, to collect and train Pokémon. The simple game design captured its audience from the start: you wander through the giant region Kanto, capture an ever-increasing number of Pokémon, fight other ones in round-based battles, achieve higher ranks by winning against Masters and fight the villainous Team Rocket. The game occupied its players for numerous hours.

Pokémon didn’t stop with video games, though. Spinoffs include a TV series, movies, comics and card games. Expo 2005 in Japan even featured a whole amusement park.

Risen is essentially Gothic with a new name. The first part of the series in particular is reminiscent of the developer’s former franchise in both graphics and gameplay mechanics. You assume the role of a nameless hero on an island, join one of three factions and set out to explore the picturesque, as well as dangerous, island world.

Risen 2 added pirates and guns like muskets to the mix, and made it possible to travel to more than one island. The faction choice was not as meaningful anymore, though. This changed again in the most recent installment, Risen 3: Titan Lords, which felt more like the original Gothic.

Sacred was supposed to be the German answer to Diablo. The action RPG might not have lived up to this lofty goal, but it still managed to offer good, solid entertainment. A highlight was the beautiful and varied game world.

Unfortunately, the third and most modern installment largely got rid of the Diablo-like game design, and features a bunch of fairly simple and linear co-op battles instead. It doesn’t really have much in common with the first two games in the series.

Star Wars Galaxies was the first MMORPG set in the Star Wars universe when it came out in 2003, fulfilling many gamers’ dreams to finally live a second life in “a galaxy far, far away.”

The online RPG was set between Episode IV and Episode V. It offered many diversions, including crafting, PvP matches and a huge number of quests that even made it possible to meet Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.

Star Wars Galaxies was shut down right before Star Wars: The Old Republic opened on December 15, 2011.

KotOR is one of the most beloved BioWare RPGs. It managed to capture the Star Wars movies’ essence very well. Highlights of the AAA RPG include a fantastic story, lively companions and significant consequences for the player’s actions.

Unfortunately, the second part, which was developed by Obsidian, wasn’t able to live up to the standard set by its predecessor. Even so, it was a solid sequel, in spite of seeming unfinished in places.

Many fans would like to see another installment.

World of Warcraft set in the Star Wars universe would be a good tag line for SWTOR by BioWare. Its game mechanics are practically identical to those of Blizzard’s behemoth.

It’s still a great MMORPG due to the special Star Wars atmosphere and the many opportunities it provides for its players: space fights, PvP battles and building your own fortress. It’s now also free-to-play.

Another highlight consists of the well-done dialogs that feature voice acting and compel you to make a lot of decisions.

The Bard’s Tale games are RPG classics. The action takes place in the settlement of Skara Brae, which actually exists and hails from the Neolithic period. The story is set in a world inspired by medieval times, though. The games offer dungeon crawls with round-based combat. You create and control a party with members of different classes.

There was a new installment in 2005, but it really didn’t have much in common with the series' previous games. Instead, it focused on action and combat, as well as bawdy humor. Fans didn’t really warm to the fourth installment, though it did provide a reasonably entertaining way to pass a few hours.

The Elder Scrolls games are heavyweights in the RPG arena. The first two installments offered huge gaming worlds, but unfortunately also suffered from an equally huge number of bugs. Bethesda created three absolutely fantastic modern RPGs with Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, though.

Time and again the developer managed to deliver a compelling game world with a great atmosphere that just sucked you in. Following the main quest line is just as good of an option as exploring the world freely and completing side quests along the way. And there are still new things to be found even after (literally) hundreds of hours of playing the game.

The Elder Scrolls Online is the first MMORPG set in The Elder Scrolls’ world of Tamriel.

The Witcher games are based on the novels about the witcher Geralt of Rivia by the Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. They feature an atmosphere similar to the books they are based on, which is to say that they are set in a mature setting filled with racism, violence and death. It includes cursing, drinking and visiting prostitutes.

The witcher Geralt specializes in killing monsters, and is drawn into politics and the machinations of dark powers by unforeseen circumstances. The games’ highlights include an intelligent story, memorable characters and a rough game world.

The second installment put even more of an emphasis on politics than the first. The third part, due out on May 19, 2015, is supposed to focus more on Geralt himself.

Titan Quest is essentially what you get when combining Diablo with ancient mythology. The game’s strength was the typical Diablo-style flow based on the usual “hunting and gathering.”

The different areas, from Greece, to Egypt and all the way to China, were well-done too. Unfortunately, the main story was fairly bland. This is too bad, and certainly a missed opportunity, especially since there’s not exactly a scarcity of great source material written by Homer and others.

In the end, the game was good for some entertaining hack-and-slash action, but that was about it.

In 2009, the former makers of Diablo banded together, founded the game studio Runic Games and developed Torchlight, an old-school hack-and-slash RPG. They did a great job, too.

Just like Diablo, Torchlight could keep players engaged for many hours with its basic “hunting and gathering” premise. The second part, which was published in 2012, developed and emphasized its predecessor’s strengths even more and managed to essentially be the “better Diablo III” for many players.

The polish developer Reality Pump tried to follow the competition with its large and open fantasy game world. The environment was certainly huge, but, unfortunately, also pretty generic.

The second part did a lot better when it came to the main storyline and design, resulting in a solid RPG. One particularly fun aspect of it was the crafting system, which allowed any object to be taken apart to create new things or improve old ones.

In the German release, the voice acting was another high point. For instance, the game’s hero was voiced by the same guy who gives Adam Sandler his voice when his movies come to German screens.

Any RPG best-of list has to include the Ultima series. The first games in the line-up are some of the first RPGs ever. The seventh installment was one of the series’ highlights. It was so large that it was published in two parts.

Ultima’s exceptional element was its detailed and well-thought-out fantasy world. Moreover, you needed to take heed of the journey's moral aspects and decisions. All eight virtues had to be observed to become the shining hero.

In addition to the nine main games, there were plenty of spinoffs. The two most notable are Ultima Online and Ultima Underworld.

The Vampire: The Masquerade games are based on the paper-and-pencil RPG system of the same name. Many gamers feel that the second installment is one of the best RPGs ever created.

In the first game, Redemption, the player assumes the role of Christof Romuald. The story takes place in both the 12^th century and modern times. The second part of the series, Bloodlines, is set in modern Los Angeles, where the player is a follower of a vampire clan. The dark atmosphere and thrilling story were unmatched at the time.

Unfortunately, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines’ success was hampered by the many bugs present upon its release. Only a large number of fan efforts made the game into the masterpiece that it should have been from the start.

Unfortunately, Venetica is not very well known. This is too bad, as it offers the opportunity to visit a breathtaking fantasy version of Venice.

Scarlett, the game’s heroine, is a cute and relatable protagonist who also happens to be the daughter of death itself. Due to this, she can travel between the worlds of the living and the dead, resulting in noticeable consequences for the game. This ability is sometimes necessary to solve puzzles or win fights. This game is a real hidden gem!

The Wizardry series is also part of the RPG genre's bedrock. The first part came out in 1981 for the Apple II and included the exploration of 3D dungeons and round-based combat against enemies.

The fourth installment, published in 1987, is considered by many to be one of the hardest games ever made. 2001 saw the eighth, and, at least for now, last part of the series.

World of Warcraft is the game that will forever divide MMORPGs into those that came before and those that came after.

Love it or hate it, World of Warcraft is the masterpiece that took the MMORPG phenomenon mainstream. Featuring an exemplary and intuitive UI, a gigantic and well-designed game world and a massive number of available diversions, World of Warcraft makes for an almost perfect game that started the MMORPG gold rush.

The story of WoW is far from over. Its fifth expansion, Warlords of Draenor, came out last November.

The Zelda series is one of the most successful in history: altogether, more than 60 million copies have been sold.

Most of the games feature the very same plot. You assume the role of Link, who proceeds to fight evil in the world of Hyrule and save princess Zelda from the claws of the villain Ganondorf.

By now, the series spans 17 official main titles and numerous spinoffs. Its cult status is so strong that many other games include Easter eggs with references to the Zelda series.

So here we are. These were our 50 role-playing games that truly wrote history. Don’t get us wrong, though – this list is not meant to be complete by any stretch of the imagination. We’re actually pretty sure that there’s a few RPG gems out there that we’ve missed. What do you think should be included? We’re looking forward to more nominations!