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What are the best RPGs for Xbox One?

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Nov 16, 2022

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45 Games Considered

Best RPGs for Xbox One	Price	Genre	Platforms
-- Dragon Age: Origins	$29.99	Tactical Role-Playing	Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, macOS
-- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	$39.99	Action RPG	Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
-- Divinity: Original Sin II - Enhanced Edition	$59.99	Turn-based RPG	Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
-- Mass Effect 2	$19.99	Action Role-Playing, Third-Person Shooter	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows
-- Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition	$39.99	Dungeon Crawler RPG	Windows, macOS, Linux, PS4, Xbox One

Dragon Age: Origins

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Top Pro

Great ways to interact with companions

There are interesting ways to get to know your team members in Dragon Age: Origins. Giving them gifts, talking to them at camp, and listening to party banter are all realistic and fun. You can increase approval with your favorite characters by figuring out what types of gifts to give them, like general trinkets in the shape of a dragon, or more sentimental items with personal meaning to them like a parent's cherished locket. While resting at a camp, you can chat with anyone about what's on their mind, opening up side quests, and possibly triggering romance options. Party banter is always insightful and entertaining, with characters giving different lines depending on who you bring along. For instance, if two of your party members don't like each other, you can expect them to snipe insults or make more passive-aggressive backtalk depending on their personalities. Your companions feel like actual people you can interact with and listen to, each with their own preferences and perspectives. See More

Top Con

Silent protagonist even though everyone else has voice acting

It's jarring that your protagonist is the only character in the game who doesn't speak. While everyone else has a voice with their dialogue, it's awkward when you pick your own dialogue options and your character says nothing. When you choose your response, there's a pause between the other person's lines that doesn't quite feel right. It would have been nice if the voice acting were consistent, with voices for everyone or no one, to keep things on the same page. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Genre:Tactical Role-Playing

Top Pro

Epic dark fantasy story

The story in Dragon Age: Origins is long and expansive with many different parts that are all fit together by the finale. As a Grey Warden, you specialize in killing demon-like darkspawn enemies in order to prevent them from taking over the world in a cataclysmic event known as the Blight. Even with the darkspawn threat, there are many other issues across the country of Ferelden, such as the oppression of mages and elves at the hands of humans, and several displaced dwarves who were nearly wiped out during the Blights in the past. There's plenty of political drama as well, with you and your fellow Grey Wardens caught in the middle of a betrayal at the highest level of Ferelden's monarchy. You play a big part in the culmination of the drama with the choices you make, many of which aren't just black and white. All of these threads come together nicely by the end as you fight against the darkspawn to save the country and all the people that you get to know on your journey. See More

Top Con

Too easy to fix relationships with companions who dislike you

It's way too easy to smooth things over with disagreeable party members. Your companions can grow to actively dislike you if you pick certain dialogue options with them, or they can judge you harshly for certain story decisions you make. By giving them gifts, you can greatly improve their approval of you as if nothing had ever happened in the first place. None of your relationships with your companions really have any consequences when it's this simple to make them like you again after disagreements. See More

Top Pro

Your choices can give you vastly different playthroughs

The choices you make affect the gameplay and plot, opening things up for very different playthroughs. Right from the start, you pick which race and combat class you want for your protagonist -- human, elf, or dwarf -- each with their own playable origin prologue, such as a human mage with noble blood or a dwarf warrior part of the working class. Which origin you pick also has a big impact on how your companions and NPCs react to you, such as people respecting you more if you're a noble or looking down on you if you're an elf. Once you become a Grey Warden, the choices you make during the story segments determine who will join you for the final battle. You can side with the people whom you know will provide the most support in the finale against the darkspawn, but these characters might be irredeemable and reprehensible, so you might not want to help them after all. Or there may be other groups or people that you absolutely want to help, yet this comes at a great cost that negatively affects others in the world. It's a balancing act where you have to carefully take everything into consideration. All in all, your choices give you the chance to experience unique playthroughs, with potentially hundreds of hours of gameplay if you want to see how each outcome plays out. See More

Top Con

Characters are partially clothed during romance scenes

The romance scenes include characters wearing their undergarments, which ends up looking weird and distracting. Full nudity isn't absolutely necessary, but it just seems off here. Having more creative camera angles to cover things up would have had a better effect without coming off as unrealistic. See More

Top Pro

Plenty of mods available

Nexus Mods contains many mods to change just about any aspect of the game such as adding new dungeons, new companion interactions, and ways to save time like with the auto loot mod. See More

Top Pro

Well-implemented tactical combat with unique playstyles

The combat gameplay is great, featuring various playstyles and a key way for you to control the flow of battle. The different battle classes -- warrior, mage, and rogue -- have branching specializations with unique abilities. Going with a templar that branches off from the warrior class gives you an edge over enemies who use magic, while duelist rogues have more speed to strike quickly and dodge the most hits. You can also pause the game to bring up a radial menu to pick which abilities to use and specific enemies to target, meaning you can take your time in battle and not get overwhelmed by everything. Mastering your class specialization and using the radial menu to your advantage gives the combat a lot of strategic depth. See More

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

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Gigantic openworld

The total size of Witcher 3's world is about 52 square miles, which is 3.5 times larger than Skyrim and 1.5 times larger than Grand Theft Auto V. Thanks to the sheer size you feel like you're in a real world and not a constrained box. See More

Top Con

Performance hiccups

Even though the frame rate is capped at 30 frames per second it often drops below that. You also might experience long load times or textures not loading fully in some areas. See More

Yanis's Experience

Can I vote for this one again ? ^ ^ See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Genre:Action RPG

Top Pro

Immersive story

Developers have taken great care to make an interesting story, but what really pulls you in is the dialogue and character interactions. They're made great through excellent writing, stellar voice-overs, and great body language. The characters on-screen may feel like real people, so it's very easy to forget you're playing a game and not watching a TV series. See More

Top Con

The combat isn't interesting

Top Pro

Choices matter

The Witcher 3 has three completely different endings. The decisions during main quests and side-quests affect how the endings play out, adding up 36 possible outcomes. It feels refreshing to actually impact your character's fate and not just trot along a path to an inevitable conclusion. See More

Top Con

Some main story segments drag on for way too long

The story is generally excellent except for certain parts that seem to go on and on for hours with no end in sight. You start off looking into someone who has information on Ciri, only to get the run-around in the worst of ways, chasing down several leads for many different characters all at one time. Just when you think you're done with a series of main quests, you have to go talk to someone else, or kill some other monster, or go to some other place instead. It's really annoying and kills the pacing of the otherwise well-written narrative. See More

Top Pro

Lots of random side quests

You can just walk around for hours, find abandoned structures, caves, etc and find interesting side quests to do. See More

Top Con

Story quests may feel like a chore

If you happen to enjoy doing side quests, you might end up overleveled for the story quests, allowing you to easily power through them. This may remove the challenge and enjoyment, causing it to feel like a chore, especially because the loot also remains low-level. See More

Top Pro

Attention to detail in almost every facet of the game

The Witcher 3 is how an AAA title should play, sound, and feel like. Its deep combat, beautiful graphics, amazing sound, interesting quests, immersive story, and almost every other aspect of the game has a surprising amount of polish. See More

Top Pro

The soundtrack is well constructed and complementary in almost all situations

While exploring, doing a quest whether it is main or side one, the music in the back always enhances your game play. When a fight starts it pumps you up by playing Slavic or Celtic beats, and on a heartbreaking scene, it slows down its pace and plays an instrumental that rings even after you close it. You won't even notice, but you start to hum Skelliege sound or Priscilla song in your daily chores. Watching the sun set over the horizon while the Kaer Morhen tune plays was one of the best moments in the game. Without the songs to complement it, the side quests or the battles would have started to feel like a chore after a while on doing side content. See More

Top Pro

Convenient ways to get around the massive world

The world is intimidatingly massive but thankfully there are ways to cut down on travel time. You can ride a horse, use a boat, or just simply fast travel to explored locations. This makes the experience more accessible and enjoyable as a whole. See More

Top Pro

Side quests are as good as the main quests

There are almost no lazy "go get me 12 turtle shells" quests in the Witcher 3 and you get to experience some amazing writing even in the most obscure side quests. See More

Divinity: Original Sin II - Enhanced Edition

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Huge amounts of content and choices

The main campaign has a staggering amount of content. The maps you'll explore are massive with various routes, containing numerous quests, battles, secrets, and even ambushes along the way. Even if you rush through the story, a single playthrough will last you about 50 hours. D:OS2's greatest strength, however, is the ability to choose. This includes choosing your character, your companions, what builds to use for them, what route to take when exploring the map, how to solve various encounters and quests, and many more. Every single choice affects how the story progresses, and a bad decision early on can come back to haunt you later. As a result, there's enough variety to keep multiple playthroughs new and exciting from start to finish. See More

Top Con

Slight learning curve

Very few game worlds have the same interactivity as D:OS2. Because of this, it can be easy to forget that using fire near an oil barrel will cause it to blow up in your character's face, or if a fire is blocking your way, you can just douse it with water. As a result, it might take a while until you get fully used to the interactivity. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Turn-based RPG

Co-Op:2-4 Players

Controller Support:Yes

Top Pro

Outstanding multiplayer mode that allows for endless content

D:OS2 features a Game Master mode, which lets you create custom multiplayer campaigns for up to 4 players, with the 5th player assuming the role of a Game Master. When creating a campaign, you can use any asset within the game, such as characters, items, etc, and import new, user-made assets as well. You can even create new quests, levels, and alter any of the existing assets, allowing you to go as far as creating a sci-fi campaign if you have the patience. Additionally, because there is a game master, you can create various role-playing events not possible in a normal campaign. For example, you can designate one of the playable characters as a kleptomaniac, so whenever they're near an object that can be stolen, you'll have to roll a dice to determine if that character resists the urge to steal or not. On top of that, the game master can control NPCs, add quests, and make rule adjustments on the fly. There's enough creative freedom to create any campaign/story you want, keeping you interested in D:OS2 long after you've finished the main campaign. Even if you don't want to create a campaign on your own, you can just download a campaign made by another user. See More

Top Pro

Great soundtrack

D:OS2 has an expertly composed soundtrack, giving the world a great amount of color and atmosphere. From the mellow flute permeated with ambience and a divine chorus when you travel down a road, to the upbeat strumming of string instruments as you ransack a tavern, to even a ominous orchestra during a confrontation with a dragon. Wherever you are in the game, the soundtrack is a joy to listen to. See More

Top Pro

Complete freedom when building your character(s)

Even though you choose a class when creating your character, it only affects your starting equipment. You can create a character build with any skills you like without class or archetype constraints. This includes a fire mage that wears heavy armor while wielding a shield and a hammer, an archer that can use teleportation magic to always keep the distance, and countless more. You even get to build your companion characters from the ground up, allowing for hundreds of party combinations. As an added bonus, once you complete Act 1 of the game, you can respec your build whenever you want, free of charge. Because of this, you don't have to worry about messing up your build, allowing you to freely try out any skill combination/setup. See More

Top Pro

Excellent and thorough voice acting

Every single dialogue line in D:OS2 has a voice-over. From the prattling of an overzealous city guard, to the lines a sketchy shopkeeper feeds you, to even the conversations you have with forest animals. You even get a narrator to read out long walls of text for you. On top of that, each and every voice actor's performance is superb, providing depth and nuances even to obscure side-characters, which is hardly ever experienced in games. See More

Top Pro

Very deep turn-based combat

Winning battles in D:OS2 is equal amounts of preparation and tactics. When preparing for battle, you need to consider your group setup, your formation as you enter the battle, and even what equipment you bring with you. For example, during one battle you fight against an ice dragon that constantly freezes the ground. Any character that steps on the frozen ground will slip. To avoid this, you can equip spiked shoes on your characters before the battle, allowing them to retain footing. During combat, you always need to keep in mind things like turn order, positioning, height, and how various magical effects interact with the environment and characters. For example, standing on a cliff increases your range and visibility, using a lightning spell on a puddle electrocutes all characters standing in it. Fast characters will get a turn first, so a group of fast characters could end a battle without letting enemies retaliate. As a result, the combat has enough depth and variety to satisfy any RPG fan and even entice newcomers of the genre. See More

Mass Effect 2

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Good romance subplots

The romance subplots in Mass Effect 2 are great. Playing as male Shepard, you can romance most of your female squadmates, while female Shepard can romance most of the male squadmates. If you romanced someone in the first Mass Effect, then that story continues here in Mass Effect 2. There are certain consequences for being unfaithful where your partner will confront you or the person you're cheating with in a heated showdown. Sticking with one person for the whole game rewards you with a romantic scene near the end of the story. A lot of care and attention went into these subplots, giving you the chance to see each of the characters in a new light. See More

Top Con

The main enemies, the Collectors, feel misplaced in the trilogy

The Mass Effect trilogy's story is about stopping the Reapers -- ancient, unknowable beings who destroy all life -- but this gets interrupted in Mass Effect 2 by the Collectors who are more like minions of the Reapers. The Collectors are dangerous because they harvest humans, though this is not as important as the Reapers who seek to end all life in the galaxy in Mass Effect 3. It would have made sense for Mass Effect 2 to focus on the Reapers instead of the Collectors, since they're more of a secondary problem. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Third-Person Shooter

Top Pro

You can customize your protagonist Commander Shepard

There are lots of ways to make Commander Shepard feel like your own character. The character creator at the start of a new game lets you change all sorts of options, from your hair, to your skin color, the shape of your nose, mouth, and ears, and so much more. Or, if you prefer, you can simply stick with the default male or female Shepard. You also get to pick which class you want to be for combat: soldier, infiltrator, vanguard, adept, or sentinel, each with their own unique abilities, like the adept's helpful "magic spells" and the infiltrator's specialty with sniper rifles. You can role-play as Shepard however you want, with plenty of options to customize your looks and your combat specialties for whichever role suits you the most. See More

Top Con

Levels are very linear

Mass Effect 2's levels are more like winding corridors with the occasional wide open space here and there. You always have a clear sense of where to go next, but there isn't much room for exploration. It's also obvious when enemies are about to show up, since you'll come to a place with a bunch of chest-high walls conveniently spread around the area for you to take cover behind. It's unimaginative, making missions feel like you're only going from point A to B. See More

Top Pro

Improved third-person shooting combat from the first game

The combat in Mass Effect 2 is much better than its predecessor in every way possible. You can enter cover and vault over it whenever you want this time around instead of your body magnetically sticking to whichever surface you stand next to. Guns use expendable thermal clips, which are like bullet clips, meaning you're no longer held back by your weapons overheating if you fire them too much. They also feel more satisfying to shoot with a real kick to them, especially the meatier shotguns and sniper rifles. Your squadmates are smarter this time around, like how you can order them to use their own abilities to chain them with yours for cool bonuses like melting armor with fire powers. The combat is actually fun in Mass Effect 2 and stands on its own next to the great story and characters. See More

Top Pro

Your choices have true consequences on the story

Your choices have direct consequences on how the story plays out, not only in this game but also across the rest of the Mass Effect trilogy. In Mass Effect 2, you get to choose between options like keeping or destroying inhumane scientific research that could help an entire galactic race, or exposing the dark truth about a squadmates' family for the greater good or keeping it hidden. Who you bring along for the final mission and how you lead your team has a huge impact on the ending. Each of your decisions, big and small, carry over into Mass Effect 3, opening things up for many different playthroughs to see how things turn out with other choices. See More

Top Pro

Memorable cast of authentic characters

Mass Effect 2 has an amazing cast of both human and alien characters who feel like real people. While just about any NPC you meet is fantastic, your squad members are the ones that stand out the most. You have about ten squadmates to choose from, not including DLC characters. They all have backstories and traits that are believable and natural. Their personalities shine through the most during their optional loyalty missions where you help them complete certain personal tasks separate from the main story. One of your human squadmates, Miranda, is cold and intimidating at first, since she distrusts you for her own reasons. Her loyalty mission is unexpectedly emotional, showing Miranda as more flawed and caring than she lets on. There's also Garrus, one of your returning squadmates from the first Mass Effect. He's a turian that looks somewhat bird-like in design, but his easygoing personality is very cool, making him feel relatable and reliable. His loyalty mission shows his darker side as you help him tie up loose ends from his past. Getting to know everyone through dialogue and squad banter is a lot of fun, making it easy to grow attached to your favorite characters. See More

Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition

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Morality based gameplay that actually impacts the game

You'll be confronted with moral choices during your quests. These choices change how other characters perceive you, affecting the overall story and ending. This makes the story feel more realistic and immersive since actions have consequences. See More

Top Con

Building a working party may take several tries

Some party setups work better than others and some don't work at all depending on the difficulty. A bad party can make the game feel like an impossible struggle at times. This may cause you to restart several times until you get the right setup, allowing you to enjoy a much smoother playthrough. See More

Specs

Genre:Dungeon Crawler RPG

Co-Op:2 Player Local / Online

Top Pro

Highly interactive world

Divinity: Original Sin has a highly interactive world. This ranges from NPC interactions, elemental spells that can affect the environment, to a cornucopia of in-world items and objects that can taken or moved. There are so many things you can do, it's very easy to immerse yourself and have a great time. See More

Top Con

Mechanics take some trial and error

There is a basic tutorial, but it doesn't explain some of the finer aspects of the game such as using spells. Most spells can be used in and out of combat, giving you access to locked or hidden areas. For example, if you want to get into a locked door, you can burn it down. If you want to save a burning ship, cast a rain spell over it. While this is an intuitive mechanic, it may take a while to get used to. Until then you might spend some time scratching your head, trying to figure out how to proceed. See More

Top Pro

Self-deprecating humor allows the game to stay lighthearted despite many serious overtones

The writing in the game is often entertaining and humorous as the game does not take itself too seriously. There are quite a few inside jokes to be found for this type of genre game as well as many situations that lighten the mood, such as talking pets that hand out light-hearted quests. See More

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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Unrestrictive skill-based RPG system

Skyrim has no set character classes or equipment/spell limitations. Instead, it allows you to form your own class based on how you decide to play. For example, sneaking increases your sneaking skill, hitting an enemy with a shortsword increases your one-handed skill, taking damage while wearing leather armor increases your light armor skill, and so forth. You can you play however you want and the resulting character will be a perfect match for your playstyle, giving Skyrim a different feel from other RPGs. See More

Top Con

Buggy and crash prone

While this game is not as buggy as it was upon release, there are still many people that encounter various bugs and crashes. These can happen in both modded and unmodded games and it's a common occurrence in Bethesda released titles. Fortunately, there are some community mods that try to fix most memory issues, stability issues, and general bugs. See More

Captain Tightpants's Experience

More than 200 hours of gameplay and I'm still intrigued. See More

Specs

Genre:Fantasy Role-Playing

Top Pro

Huge variety of mods

Bethesda Softworks has upheld a tradition of releasing their internal content-creation tools to the public since Morrowind (2002). Many modders transition to new Bethesda games as they are released, bringing their experience with them and helping newcomers through forums and wikis. As a result, Skyrim's mod selection is outstanding in both variety and quality. See More

Top Con

Forgetful NPCs can break immersion

After completing certain story quests NPCs get new lines added to their dialogue based on your decisions. Sometimes the NPCs might become forgetful and return to their default dialogue, which can break immersion, especially if they talk about an event that's been long resolved. See More

Top Pro

Deep lore rivaling classic fantasy literature

Skyrim inherits the stories and world-building of The Elder Scrolls series, which stretches back 20 years. It has numerous stories surrounding the various races (orcs, elves, lizardmen, demons, etc.), mythical beasts, gods, cataclysmic events, parallel worlds, and just about any fantasy trope you could think off. What's even better you can read the lore in books found in-game, allowing you to immerse yourself for countless hours. See More

Top Con

Combat is too simple

Most of the time you can just whack an enemy until it dies and it involves very little strategy or planning to succeed. For example, targeting specific body parts doesn't deal extra damage, nor can you cripple an enemy. There are no vulnerabilities, so you can't set furry forest animals ablaze easier than humans. The enemies also lack any real variation in how they attempt to fight you – they just run at you swinging wildly or attack you from afar. Because of this the combat is very one-dimensional and can start feeling like a chore after a while. Luckily most of the combat issues can be fixed with mods, allowing you to enjoy a more varied and deeper combat experience. See More

Top Pro

Total freedom in how you choose to play through the world's different factions

You can set off to any of Skyrim's different towns and discover new storylines from interesting factions that flesh out the world and the lore, with great characters and their own absorbing narratives to get lost in. There are a good number of these factions, like the scholars at the snowy College of Winterhold, the secretive assassins of the Dark Brotherhood, or the cohort of rogues and bandits of the Thieves Guild. After picking whichever faction you want to learn more about, you can eventually become a Master of the guild and learn new skills for your character. Playing through each of their individual stories lets you really feel like a member of the faction you choose, like with how the Thieves Guild sends you on missions to pick locks and steal valuables without getting caught by the guards. And if you only get through some of the faction's story and decide you don't enjoy it, you can easily go find another one and play through that one instead. There are no limits on how you play through the plot, with Skyrim giving you the flexibility to pick up stories, set them down, and come back to them whenever you feel like it. See More

Top Pro

Massive sandbox to explore at your own pace

The in-game map is absolutely gigantic. There are so many places to go and so much to do in the world, easily giving you hundreds of hours of content. Exploring the wide range of environments, from the snowy mountains to the richly-detailed towns and cities is such a joy because of how lush and beautiful everything is. Wandering around often surprises you with new side quests to find off the beaten path, with new characters to meet and history to learn about in whichever area you find yourself in. You can get into all sorts of battles with powerful enemies or stumble into hidden dungeons with awesome loot at the end. Or you can sneak around towns at night stealing peoples' stuff while they're asleep to sell everything off for money. And there's just a ton of other intriguing secrets and fun diversions to discover as you adventure throughout the world. See More

Diablo III

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Top Pro

Decent selection of character builds to try out

There are more than 50 distinct class/skill combinations, including ranged builds, melee builds, support builds, defensive builds, pure-offense builds, and many more. You're sure to find a build that you'll enjoy playing, whether you prefer to play alone or with friends. See More

Top Con

Endgame grinding can get really repetitive

The endgame in Diablo III consists of only two things – completing bounties and clearing greater rifts. Both of these have very little variation in them, so quite often you'll run through the same map layouts, clear the same enemies, and complete the same objectives. This gets extremely stale after long play sessions and can cause you not to pick up the game again. See More

Specs

Genre:Dungeon Crawler RPG

Top Pro

Fun to collect loot

One of the better parts of Diablo III is collecting the piles of gold, the colorful gems, and various pieces of equipment. It's especially exciting when a legendary quality item drops from a monster since it makes a distinct sound effect and shoots a beam of orange/green light into the sky. So whenever a lot of legendary items drop all at once it just feels incredibly satisfying. See More

Top Pro

Easier to learn and enjoy than most other similar titles

Diablo III is very simple, requiring very little to no planning to succeed. You create a character, pick a skill and just progress through the game while occasionally upgrading your equipment. You can change skills and any stat points you've earned without penalties. You can also choose from one of the 17 difficulty levels, so you can always play at a level that's challenging but not too stressful. All of this creates a game that you can enjoy without worrying about messing up in the long run. See More

Mass Effect

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Calm and thoughtful atmosphere

There's something calming about Mass Effect's atmosphere that really gives you the space to think and reflect. Exploring places like the indoor trade port Noveria feels special because of the cool blue color scheme, the blizzard blowing outside the full pane windows, and the ambient, yet quietly emotional synth music looping in the background. Even the title screen has a thoughtful song playing over the beautiful sight of Earth from orbit. The atmosphere is wonderful in a way that's almost nostalgic, making you feel right at home each time you start up the game. See More

Top Con

Tedious inventory management

The game overloads your inventory with weapon upgrades, modifiers, equipment, and all sorts of duplicates of those items. Clearing out your inventory can take several minutes at a time since there's no quick way to select the things you don't want and get rid of them. If you're diligent enough to trek to a store to sell things off every single time you're low on inventory space, you can make quite a bit of money, but it's not always convenient to do this, like when you're out in the middle of a remote planet. It takes a lot of patience to not get annoyed with managing all of your items and components. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Third-Person Shooter

Top Pro

Good romance subplots

The romance subplots in Mass Effect are great. Playing as male Shepard, you can romance either Liara or Ashley, while female Shepard can romance Liara or Kaidan, your human male squadmate. There are certain consequences for being unfaithful where your partner will confront you or the person you're cheating with in a heated showdown. Sticking with one person for the whole game rewards you with a romantic scene near the end of the story. A lot of care and attention went into these subplots, giving you the chance to see each of the characters in a new light. See More

Top Con

Clunky third-person shooting combat

The third-person shooting part of Mass Effect isn't that fun because of how janky it is. Your character gets glued to cover whenever you're close to a wall instead of letting you press a button to enter cover whenever you want. The actual shooting mechanics are slow and heavy, and with guns that overheat if you keep firing them for too long. Suicidal squadmates run around getting killed unless you remember to keep directing them to hide behind cover everywhere you go. The combat is just unsatisfying, clearly taking a backseat to the game's story and characters. See More

Top Pro

You can customize your protagonist Commander Shepard

There are lots of ways to make Commander Shepard feel like your own character. The character creator at the start of a new game lets you change all sorts of options, from your hair, to your skin color, the shape of your nose, mouth, and ears, and so much more. Or, if you prefer, you can simply stick with the default male or female Shepard. You also get to pick which class you want to be for combat: soldier, infiltrator, vanguard, adept, or sentinel, each with their own unique abilities, like the adept's helpful "magic spells" and the infiltrator's specialty with sniper rifles. You can role-play as Shepard however you want, with plenty of options to customize your looks and your combat specialties for whichever role suits you the most. See More

Top Con

Vehicle controls with the Mako are absolutely terrible

Driving around on planets to get from place to place in the Mako is awful. Controls aren't as responsive as they should be and the vehicle's physics are all over the place. Just trying to make basic turns is bad enough; roving up a rocky mountain, for example, makes the Mako bounce and spin around like it's in zero gravity. These driving parts are mandatory and unskippable, so there's no way around them. It's so bad that the developers got rid of the Mako in Mass Effect 2 and 3, but you unfortunately still have to deal with it here. See More

Top Pro

Your choices have true consequences on the story

Your choices have direct consequences on how the story plays out, not only in this game but also across the rest of the Mass Effect trilogy. You get to choose between options like sparing or killing off an entire race of potentially dangerous enemies, saving or sacrificing one of your own squad members to finish an operation, and dealing with an enraged teammate who feels betrayed by your actions. How you handle certain side objectives during story missions can also have an impact on how the galaxy at large reacts to you. Each of your decisions, big and small, carry over through your save files to Mass Effect 2 and 3, opening things up for many different playthroughs to see how things turn out with other choices. See More

Top Pro

Memorable cast of authentic characters

Mass Effect has an amazing cast of both human and alien characters who feel like real people. While just about any NPC you meet is fantastic, your squad members are the ones that stand out the most. They all have backstories and traits that are believable and natural. Ashley is a human soldier who joins your team early on. As you chat with her in between missions, you get to learn about her history with her family and religious faith back on Earth. But then as you explore the Citadel, the game's main hub area, she makes snide comments about all the aliens around, keying you in on her true feelings about non-humans. By contrast, your scientist team member Liara is an asari: Mass Effect's species of blue female-only aliens. Despite being reserved and shy, Liara often jumps at the chance to gush about her research. Talking to her gives you the chance to learn more about the asari and why exactly she's so devoted to her academic studies. Getting to know everyone through dialogue and squad banter is a lot of fun, making it easy to grow attached to your favorite characters. See More

Moon Hunters

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Soundtrack is excellent

The music ranges from mysterious during exploration to a panicked beat during combat. Beautiful, soothing melodies with haunting vocals play during more emotional moments. All of the tracks in the game fit the area or experience they are made for, and do a great job of conveying the mood. Sometimes when you encounter a specific character or make a specific dialogue choice, the music will change based on the mood you just invoked. The soundtrack was so heavily beloved and requested, that it's sold as a standalone. See More

Top Con

Camera can skip around in local co-op

Sometimes during local co-op, the camera seems to jump around at times as it isn't quite sure where it's supposed to be when there are multiple players on the screen. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Roguelike

Co-Op:4 Player Online / 4 Player Local

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Gorgeous art style will draw you in

Visually, the game just looks fantastic. The graphics are crisp, clean, and have a hand drawn feel - oftentimes resembling a colorful painting. Everything has a very polished smooth feel to it, without jagged edges. There's a great use of color in the tilesets. The color ramping is handled incredibly well, especially in the shades of green in the grass. From forests with spanning mountain vista backgrounds to a fiery wasteland with crags and volcanoes, each map has a stunning level of detail to help bring you into the game world. See More

Top Con

Ranged classes are overpowered

Some classes like Druids and Mages are way too powerful because of their ranged attacks and AoE crowd control that can lock down an entire group of enemies from across the map. It can often feel like ranged has a distinct advantage due to having more control over enemy placement, whereas melee is a bit more difficult to play. See More

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Choices are actually meaningful

This game constantly gives you interesting choices that influence gameplay. Based on the unique choices you make, your character gains certain personality traits such as proud, greedy, vengeful, and many more. Depending on which traits you earn in your playthrough, different quests and character interactions become available. For example, if you're really brave, certain other NPCs might give you an extra quest. If you're greedy, they may not want anything to do with you. When vengeful, they may request you to carry out a kill for them. Sometimes bosses can even be seduced instead of killed if your choices in the game led you to earn the seduction trait. See More

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Upgrades are super rewarding and provide instant gratification

Since runs aren't very long, gear is immediately rewarding to cram as much power as possible into a short play session. Instead of loot just being a simple increase in stats, your power will sometimes double instantly. When you equip something new, you can immediately feel the difference in your character's power level, always making it a rewarding experience to get an upgrade. See More

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A new experience each time you play

The overworld, levels, and vendors are randomly generated each playthrough which means you'll always be able to explore new maps or find new quests. As you play, you can also unlock different classes, personality traits, recipes, and skills which all contribute to trying something different in your next run. For example, you might learn the ability to talk to animals, so in all your future runs you can now converse with animals which could open potential new quests and interactions. You may even an unlock a new class which provides a whole fresh set of spells and abilities. See More

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Great for bite sized gaming sessions

Each playthrough from start to finish is designed to be completed in an hour or two. See More

Titan Quest

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Holds up incredibly well

Titan Quest is over 10 years old now, and it is still widely played. It even saw a remastered "Anniversary Edition" in August of 2016, drawing in more players, old and new. See More

Top Con

Disappointing loot at later levels

Even when the player has reached a high level, they will often find loot meant for low level characters. This can be frustrating when trying to find better gear and just adds a lot of clutter to ones inventory as the majority of items found won't be that useful. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Hack-and-Slash

Co-Op:2-6 Player Online

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Tons of customization

There are 30 different classes of characters to choose from within the game with 150 character skills that they can learn. This way users can customize their character to their liking and playstyle. See More

Top Con

Save anywhere does not save character placement

This means that there will be some retreading of areas once a save is loaded as the character will not be in the same place as where they were left off. This will waste time and can be frustrating having to do this every time you load the game. See More

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Lots of loot to find

There is quite a lot of loot in the game to be found, which drives the player to continue playing, just to find that better weapon or piece of armor. The loot is also color coded when dropped, making it easy to discern what is worth picking up or leaving behind. See More

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Replayability through different classes

There are a plethora of classes that open up upon leveling to the second level, once one is chosen the others will be gone for that game session. This means that a different playthrough will be needed to explore what all the different classes offer, making for quite a lot of playtime. See More

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You can choose the speed you want to play at

Titan Quest is unique among ARPGs in that you get to choose the game speed. You can be a leisurely player and take things slowly, or you can go hard and play the game on very fast settings. The fact that you get to choose adds another level of enjoyment to the game. See More

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

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Limited fast travel options can be tedious

Dragon's Dogma has a very large but sparsely populated world, which means that a lot of time is spent traveling between quest objectives. There are no horses, forcing you to simply walk everywhere and the only method of getting somewhere quickly is through very costly teleports available only much later in the game. If you dislike having insane amounts of downtime, Dragon's Dogma might not be for you. See More

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Interesting companion system

Throughout the game, you'll be accompanied by up to 3 NPCs called "Pawns." One of them will be a Pawn you created, and the other two will usually be summoned from other player's worlds. What's interesting about this is that Pawns will grow alongside players, but not just in terms of stats and levels. For example, if you fight monsters with the Pawns, they'll gradually gain knowledge about the monsters. Once they have enough knowledge, they'll be able to give you various hints through in-game dialogue about a monster's weaknesses, patterns, habitats, and so forth. You can also hire other player's Pawns that already have acquired all the knowledge, making the learning process much easier for you. Pawns also mimic their creator's behavior, so if you prefer to smash everything in sight, your Pawn might just do the same when visiting another player's world. It's a really cool companion system that gives the game a multiplayer feel without any actual multiplayer. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Con

Forgettable story

The story starts out interesting but loses its steam shortly after. Hardly anything happens during the middle part of the story, the side characters feel bland, there are lots of plot holes, and the narrative starts feeling like a mess. Even the conclusion is somewhat confusing, trying too hard to be profound. If you're looking for a very good story-driven experience, you won't find that here. See More

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Character size/weight affects gameplay

A lot of video games focus just on the stats, classes, and weapons as the key difference, but Dragon's Dogma throws in height and weight into the mix. For example, a tall and bulky character jumps higher, carries more equipment, and has a longer reach with their weapon. The downside is that the character is slow and is easier to hit because of the size. On the other hand, a short and light character is quicker, can pass through a large monster's legs, and enter narrow passages such as Goblin holes. Unfortunately, they usually have a poor reach and can be knocked down pretty easily while not being able to carry that much equipment either. Practically no other video game in the market uses a similar mechanic, making Dragon's Dogma feel really unique and fun. See More

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Awesome combat/hunting gameplay

The combat in Dragon's Dogma is very fast and intense. You can string together combos with swords, axes, and daggers, launch/throw enemies, shoot arrows with a bow in quick succession, and even dodge/block enemy attacks. Even the spells look absolutely amazing and feel really powerful. For example, when you cast an ice spell called Gicel, massive spears of ice will weave forth to skewer enemies. It looks like something you'd only see bosses use in other video games, making it feel that much more empowering. The enemies also play a large part in making the gameplay feel great. It will start out simple with you fighting bandits and packs of wolves on your travels, which will gradually turn into you taking on massive mythical beasts such as manticores, gryphons, cyclops, and even dragons. While in other games you'd probably just beat on their ankles until they fold onto themselves, Dragon's Dogma has a really cool grappling system that allows you to grab onto enemies and even throw them (if they're light enough). For example, if a dragon makes the mistake of lowering its tail into your reach as it rains down fire and death from up above, you can just grab onto it and climb on the dragon's back. This turns into a very intense sequence of you trying to not fall off before you drive your sword into the dragon's neck. It's the type of mechanic that makes you feel like the heroes written about in storybooks, which immensely adds to the fun and immersion. See More

Bastion

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Incredible soundtrack

Bastion's soundtrack expertly sets the atmosphere with its soundtrack. From somber blues songs during touching story moments to exciting trip-pop mixes during combat. It's just so nice to listen to, making the experience of playing Bastion better as a whole. See More

Top Con

Combat can feel repetitive

Like most hack and slash titles, Bastion's combat is very simple, having you mash buttons in every monster encounter. This probably won't bother you as much during short play sessions, but the longer you play in one sitting, the more tiresome it becomes, especially if you already have all the upgrades and don't have anything else to do between levels. See More

Specs

Genre:Action RPG

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Beautiful art style

Bastion uses a hand-painted art style for its characters, monsters, environments, and even backgrounds. There's so much color, detail, and variation in everything, it feels like you're skimming through a picture book. It's always exciting to see what this game will show you next. See More

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A unique way of storytelling

While the central plot is pretty simple, Bastion has a narrator that comments on everything that you do. This includes things like falling of a ledge, obtaining a weapon, or even destroying a massive monster. Because of this, it feels as if you're playing through a story book, where your journey and actions is the central story. See More

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Fun varied gameplay

Bastion is a game about exploring floating islands while destroying monsters along the way. The combat is simple, fast, and it's a lot of fun to destroy monsters with a variety of weapons. This includes a machete, pistols, a pike, a carabine, and even grenades. You can also equip two weapons at the same time, allowing you to use cool combinations like hammer and a machete or a cannon and a mortar. Each weapon also has upgrades and unlockable skills, giving you new methods for destroying monsters. All of this makes Bastion stay exciting for a long time. See More

Monster Hunter: World

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Frustratingly difficult at times

Even though MH:W has been made slightly more accessible to new players of the series, it still has some of the most difficult combat seen in games with a very steep learning curve. You need to memorize the various map layouts, as well as each monster's habits, attack patterns, and weaknesses, to make beating them even remotely possible. It might also take while before you fully master your weapon of choice because the tutorials are too basic, instructing you just on basic controls and combos. Even when you finally manage to beat a difficult monster, your short-lived triumph will soon turn into dread, causing you to wonder about how difficult the next monster is gonna be. See More

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Exhilarating hunting gameplay

MH:W is a game about hunting wyverns, dragons, and many other monsters. You track them down in their natural habitat, be it a giant forest, a valley littered with dead bodies, or an active volcano, engaging them in combat that quickly turns in a struggle for survival. You use any weapon or tool at your disposal to kill or subdue the monster, while it relentlessly chases you, slashing with its claws, biting you, swiping with its tail, and using any breath attack it may have. Sometimes the monster might even try to escape, forcing you to chase it. Or it might become enraged, causing it to attack you more ferociously. As a result, you always have to be on your toes and react accordingly, which makes it a really thrilling experience. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Multiplayer

Top Con

Too much of reused monster animation

In mid-late game you will notice most of the High Rank monsters are just another spin-off of a previous monster, where the behaviour is mostly the same, just with higher damage modifier. Where at this point you will easily figure out how to beat it. They could alter some HR mobs behaviour to make hunting trickier instead of just adjusting the damage/hp/defence modifier. See More

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Engaging crafting-based progression system

Monster Hunter: World is considered an action-RPG, but you don't level up or learn any new skills like in most RPGs. Instead, progression is heavily reliant on your skills as a player and the crafting system, requiring you to craft gear to improve your character. This creates an unusual gameplay loop where you hunt monsters, collect their body parts, and use them as materials to craft better gear, allowing you to hunt even stronger monsters. If you can't beat a monster, you either need to get better at fighting the monster or improve your gear. When you finally beat the monster, it's thanks to your skill and effort as a player, which feels both rewarding and gratifying. See More

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Dynamic and immersive world

You're not just stepping into an arena to fight monsters, you're entering a living and breathing world where monsters go about their daily lives - eating, fighting, hunting, and resting. It's very interesting seeing carnivores assault a flock of herbivores or two winged creatures having a territorial dispute mid-air. These type of events considerably add to the immersion, making you truly feel like a hunter that's intruding upon an ecosystem. See More

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Awesome graphics

The graphics look simply stunning, featuring very detailed environments with a great amount of flora, accompanied by great lighting and shadow mapping. The monster designs are especially noteworthy, allowing you to make out even the tiniest details on scales, feathers, and claws. All of this is brought to life by a very vibrant color palette, making the game a treat for the eyes. See More

Darkest Dungeon

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Great monster visual design

There's a wide variety of extremely well-designed monsters and characters in the game. You confront bandits, skeletons, undersea terrors, pig monsters, and all sorts of otherworldly horrors. There's a lot of gruesome detail on each and every enemy, so the longer you'll keep looking the more you'll notice. This can be bloodstains, an extra set of eyes, an appendage that looks like a tentacle, and many more. It sometimes really feels like you're losing your mind alongside the adventurers, seeing whatever fits into your schema. See More

Top Con

Gets really repetitive

You'll spend dozens of hours repeatedly running the same dungeon, killing the same enemies, and collecting the same loot just to progress further into the game. On top of that, if you lose a character at any point, you'll be set back by another 3 hours. If you don't enjoy grinding, Darkest Dungeon might not be the game for you. See More

Specs

Genre:Role-Playing

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Outstanding narration

Even though the only character that talks in this game is the narrator, his delivery of the lines is excellent. He talks in a deep and raspy voice that is also very pleasing to listen to. The narrator usually describes the events happening on-screen such as upgrading your settlement buildings, recruiting adventurers, various dungeon interactions, and many more. Additionally, he’ll start dropping story bits every time you near a boss, creating a very minimalist approach to storytelling that is also very enjoyable. See More

Top Con

It can be frustrating at times

Darkest Dungeon heavily relies on random events that can happen at any point in a dungeon. Some of them don't make any sense and most of them don't feel fair. For example, right after stepping inside a dungeon your characters might suddenly go hungry. If you don't feed them they'll get a penalty, setting you back for the rest of the dungeon. If you feed them you'll have used up your food but your characters might still go hungry again. You can't reliably plan around stuff like this, which can be annoying. See More

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Interesting adventurer management

While the fabled heroes are off slaying dragons, battling demon kings, and saving princesses, the small-time adventurers have to clean up the dregs. You as the lord of a small settlement will employ these adventurers to clear out the mysterious dungeons surrounding your property. To clear a dungeon you’ll need to prepare adequately. This involves having decent party setup, which usually consists of at least 1 tank, 1 healer, and 2 damage dealers. This also includes having enough provisions such as torches and food. Planning out what and/or who to take with you can sometimes take as long as running a dungeon but it really makes you feel like you’re organizing an adventure. Another interesting part is the stress mechanic, causing your adventurers to accrue stress as they keep adventuring. If stress passes the first threshold, your adventurer might incur various penalties or even refuse your orders. If stress passes the second threshold your adventurer will die from a heart attack, so it’s important to relieve it regularly. This can be done by sending them to the tavern to blow off some steam or to the abbey to request absolution. Either option will make them unavailable for a week, so it’s a good idea plan ahead and have multiple parties of adventurers ready. This mechanic makes it feel like you’re managing real people rather than the indomitable figures often seen in fairy tales. See More

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Immersive atmosphere

Darkest Dungeon has an almost intoxicating atmosphere created by three main aspects. Firstly, it’s the visuals: the somber color palette that accompanies a sunset, the creepy environments your party of four will anxiously proceed through, and the detailed, fearsome, and sometimes disgusting enemies that will tirelessly try to slaughter you. Secondly, the audio: an eerie soundtrack filled with murmurs of otherworldly creatures, teemed with bloodcurdling sound effects that render monster strikes more impactful. Even a charismatic narrator providing insightful interjections, as uttered by his mysterious, deep voice. Lastly, it’s the highly unpredictable and sometimes unfair gameplay. Whatever short triumph you may have, it will get drowned in a sea of despair. These elements combined make it very easy to immerse yourself into the world of Darkest Dungeon. See More

XCOM 2

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Excellent suspense

Throughout the campaign you'll always be running against the clock. You have a limited window of time to save humanity before the aliens take over completely. Successful missions only set them back slightly. Unsuccessful missions set you back significantly. It always feels like you're in an uphill struggle and failing means the end. It always feels like you're not gaining an advantage and the aliens have something else in store. This is reinforced in the missions. You never know what type of aliens there will be or what their reinforcements will bring. Encountering new species makes you fear for the well-being of your squad. It's rare for a game to keep you feeling like this. See More

Top Con

Steep learning curve

XCOM 2 is not just about managing a squad of soldiers, you also have to manage your base and operations on a global scale. This includes managing your resources, identifying which missions you should prioritize, and allocating research for new technologies. It might take a while to learn everything needed to fully enjoy this game, especially on higher difficulties. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Turn-based Tactical RPG

Top Pro

Makes you feel more for your characters than most character driven games

One of the more fun parts about this game is managing your squad. You can customize the looks, voices, and even names of your soldiers. As you take your soldiers on missions you'll get attached to them. This will create a lot of tense moments when your soldiers are about to die and you desperately try to save them. If you decide to input the names of your friends or family, multiply the tension by ten. See More

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It's fun to manage your squad

One of the main aspects of XCOM 2 is preparing your squad for each mission. You need to consider the terrain, objective, and enemy types. Based on these you'll select the appropriate soldiers, weapons, and gadgets. A lot of the missions have some leeway, so you'll be able to form a squad that fits your playstyle. It can either be a group of stealthy rangers, running in with machetes to surprise the enemy. Or it can be a group sharpshooters, allowing you to systematically clear the area from afar with sniper rifles. After each successful mission/kill your soldiers will earn experience. With enough experience you'll be able to promote them and earn learn new skills. You can also research new weapons and build them. A lot of it comes down to looting alien technology and reverse engineering it back at the base. All these things add up and it's really exciting watching your soldiers grow into unstoppable killing machines. See More

Tom Clancy's The Division

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Class can be changed at any time

The class system for this game allows for the player to change class and perks at any time, meaning anyone can take on the role of their choosing at the drop of a hat. While this may cut down or replayability due to not having to play through multiple times to experience each class it does make for a great way to test out each one and their perks to land on one of the player's liking. See More

Top Con

Repetitive cover-based shooting

Literally the only mechanic in the game. There are no other true ways to avoid and attack enemies. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Genre:Open world RPG

Top Pro

Rich crafting environment

Every piece of gear and every weapon can be customized with different Mods. But the game does not stop there, as a player can actually alter attributes of individual pieces, deconstruct old gear for parts, and find and build gear from blueprints. See More

Top Con

Constant server downtime

Servers are always dropping connection and causing users to lose around 15 to 20 minutes progress. See More

Top Pro

Great use of a cover system

The cover system in the game is quite intuitive. The player can easily crouch behind an object for cover (being that it is highlighted, so the player knows where they can cover) with one button press. Once in cover, any other area within a certain distance will highlight letting the player know they can run to the next spot for cover. This is done through a singular button press while being held down. This makes for an easy way to run from cover to cover with little effort. Which allows for flanking enemies and just an overly easy way to move around without taking too many bullets while in a fire fight. See More

Top Con

Awful AI system

AI will run all over the place and then stand in front of your turret for no reason. See More

Top Pro

Lots of fun to play with friends

The missions get hard fast, so the game forces you to co-ordinate with your team and ensure you have the right team composition to beat the more difficult missions. You'll have to keep track of the locations of all your team to make sure you're not getting flanked, be in position to rescue downed friends and let people know when you spot a sniper or a boss. See More

Top Con

Poor enemy NPC chatter

The in game chatter of the enemy NPC is laughably bad. As you are shooting them one by one they constantly say the same things that are not really relevant to the situation such as calling you names or just simply stating that you should "get lost". This can be immersion breaking and asks the question what the devs were thinking when putting this type of chatter in the game in these situations. See More

Top Pro

Great matchmaking

This game has made it very easy to group up with friends, nearby players, or random players looking for the same content. Grouping from the player menu is always available, and when you enter a mission you can choose to look for players to join you as well as set the difficulty. Also looking at the ISAC map lets you see friends' locations and invite them to group. See More

Top Con

Boring grinding system

After hitting level 14 - 15 most missions are either way to high or to low to go back to play. So you are stuck doing awfully boring side missions that become quite repetitive, most are Hostage Rescue or Zone Decontamination and require no effort. The next missions start around level 20, which seems to be a way to force players into the Dark Zone. See More

Top Pro

Fun team shooter gameplay with RPG elements

The core gameplay for the division is a cover based third person team shooter, however over the course of the game you can customize your solider in a lot of different ways to keep things interesting. You can unlock various active skills to use during combat, passive perks that buff up your solider and talents that activate when you perform a certain action like getting a headshot. Although it starts simple, as you progress through the game you can then modify and upgrade a lot of the abilities to keep things interesting. On top of all this the loot and gear systems make it really fun to continually upgrade your solider. You have over 10 slots for various bits of gear that have a primary attribute that will improve either your DPS, health or how powerful your active ability are. Weapons also have multiple mod slots, so you can add on different scopes, silencers, grips etc that make meaningful changes to gameplay. See More

Top Con

Boring repetitive side-quests

The side-quests in the game tend to consist of the same tasks over and over again, this is repetitive and can get boring due to not much changing up in side-quest gameplay. See More

Top Pro

Open world freedom

Once the introduction to the game is played through, all missions for the game can be unlocked by just walking around the map. The player is free to choose any mission they would like to try, though some may be too tough depending on the player and mission skill level. The game is set in a living breathing world, in addition to the primary missions you will randomly encounter a variety of side missions you can do for additional experience and rewards. See More

Top Pro

Pleasing graphics

While not up to par of the promotional material Ubisoft showed off a few years ago (not much of a surprise, this is Ubisoft after-all), the graphics are quite good and can easily be set on max setting with a smooth 60fps for those with good components in their computers. Even when using a mid range rig the graphics can easily be on high while getting above 30fps. In general what is present in the game is a winter city that is in a pre-opocolyptic crisis. The snow is randomized and can sweep in and out of the city at any time making for a beautiful representation of snow storms in a city. The city itself is pretty sparsely populated, which allows for less tax on the graphics, but of course the excuse is that it is basically an abandoned city other than the bad guys. There will be a few civilians in the streets but mainly you are alone out there until you run into trouble. See More

Path of Exile

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Top Con

Very high learning curve

There's quite a lot to learn when starting to play Path of Exile. There are the mechanics, the crafting system, and the skill gem system. However, the most intimidating factor is the massive skill tree with over 1000 skill nodes, 6 classes and 19 subclasses, allowing you to create hundreds of unique builds. Unfortunately, creating a functional build is really difficult, taking hours of theorycrafting, so it might be better to stick to guides as you're starting out, unless you're fine with possibly messing up. See More

Top Pro

Hundreds of possible character builds

There's a staggering amount of builds and skills you can try out in Path of Exile. There are 7 classes, 19 subclasses, 194 active skill gems, 107 support gems, and over 1000 skill nodes on the expansive skill tree. As a result, there are hundreds of possible combinations, allowing you to spend hours theory-crafting just to create the perfect build. Even if you don't feel like planning out a build from scratch, you can just look up one of the many guides online and get straight into the action. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Dungeon Crawler RPG

Top Con

Some aspects of the graphics look dated

While the graphics have received updates over time, a lot of the visuals still lack polish you'd see in most AAA games. Some textures are fairly low res, certain character models look weird when they have armor on, and the animations feel somewhat stiff and clunky. You probably won't notice this during active gameplay, but when you stop for a moment to look around it becomes painfully obvious. See More

Top Pro

Completely free without pay to win mechanics

You can just download and install the game without any purchases. On top of that, there are no pay-to-win mechanics and the only things locked behind paywalls are cosmetic effects, pets, and additional storage space. You can easily play the game for hundreds of hours without spending a dime. See More

Top Con

Endgame can get really repetitive

It takes an exceptionally long time to get any wealth, useful items, or access to endgame bosses in this game. You endlessly farm the same maps, hoping you'll get lucky with a few good items, but that usually won't be the case, which can be really discouraging to keep playing. This is made worse by the fact that your character progression comes to a grinding halt near the upper 80s of character levels, requiring you to buy insanely expensive items to feel any progression at all. If you don't like grinding, you'll get quickly bored of Path of Exile. See More

Top Pro

Feels exhilarating to play

While the gameplay might feel a little slow and clunky in the beginning, it gradually picks up speed as you progress, allowing you to swiftly destroy large groups of monsters with any skills you choose. Whether you're shooting ice arrows with your bow, freezing and shattering every enemy on-screen, or if you're cleaving enemies with a massive axe, causing them to bleed and explode on death, it just feels incredibly satisfying. See More

Top Pro

Regularly updated

Every 4 months or so, Path of Exile has major updates, adding new interesting mechanics, skills, items, and various other content. As a result, every time you come back to Path of Exile after taking a break, it feels like a new game. See More

Top Pro

Great setting

Path of Exile is set in a dark fantasy world where everything is gradually becoming worse. At the foreground, you have the massive continent of Wraeclast that once was the home to a flourishing empire, but now is a place filled with the undead, evil spirits, ruins, and echoes of the past. To make matters worse, malicious entities from another dimension seek to corrupt the world and its inhabitants, giving birth to disfigured monstrosities that seek to end you. The end result is an immersive setting with dark motifs, body horror, loads of gore, and a very tense atmosphere, which is refreshing in an era dominated by family friendly content. See More

Middle-earth: Shadow of War

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Satisfying combat

Shadow of War gives one of the better feeling combat systems in recent times, allowing you to be either stealthy or go for direct confrontations. If you choose to be stealthy, you can skewer unsuspecting orcs from behind with your dagger, drop onto them from a building while impaling them with your sword, or just pierce them from afar with your bow. If you choose a direct confrontation, it's a really quick-paced and brutal showdown against your enemies with your chosen melee weapon. You weave combos against enemies, dodging, parrying, and countering enemy attacks, which ends in a devastating finishing move, resulting in a mutilated or decapitated orc. Whichever method you choose, the combat flows really well and you always feel like a force to be reckoned with. See More

Top Con

Unskippable cutscenes disrupt the flow of the gameplay

Every time an orc leader enters the screen, there is an unskippable cutscene where he rambles a bit, focusing the camera on him and halting combat until the cutscene ends. This usually happens as you're fighting another enemy, potentially disrupting your rhythm, which can be really frustrating, especially if mess up your combo or take an unnecessary hit after the cutscene. See More

Top Pro

You can lead an orc army and expand your own dominion

As part of the Nemesis system, you can recruit orc leaders after you've bested them in combat. Each one has his own unique strengths and weaknesses, so making the best possible army for conquering enemy territories might take a while. For example, an orc leader can be completely immune to ranged attacks, but can take increased damage from explosions. You should take such an orc leader on assaults against fortresses filled with archers but be wary of the slightest hints of any bombs. Once you've finished building a sizeable force, you can assault a fortresses. If you succeed in the assault, you'll take over a territory, allowing you to install your own orc leader as the ruler. With enough effort you'll gradually take over Mordor and its surrounding lands. Shadow of War makes you feel like a recruiter, general, and a ruler, which is very empowering and a lot of fun. See More

Top Con

Can get repetitive

The overall gameplay formula doesn't change much over the course of the game. You fight orcs, take over strongholds, upgrade your character, and collect blips on the world map. After a while it can start feeling like a grind, especially during long play sessions. This is made worse in the final stretch of the game where you have to fight through 20 consecutive stronghold battles without any story segments or exposition. See More

Top Pro

Character connections make for a compelling experience

Shadow of War uses the Nemesis system to create a more immersive and alive-feeling world. Thanks to it, orc leaders have names, ranks, titles, tribes they belong to, and most importantly, connections to other orc leaders. For example, an orc leader might be at war with another orc leader. This conflict won't end until one of them dies. There are also orcs that are considered blood brothers, having unwavering loyalty to each other. Because of this, don't be too surprised if you ever get betrayed by one of your followers that's trying to do right by his blood brother. Additionally, the leaders you fight will also develop connections with you. Orcs that you've killed or spared, may come back with scars, recalling your previous encounter and vowing to exact vengeance. Orcs that you've escaped from will mock you for being a chicken, and so forth. The gradual creation of this web of connections is very enjoyable and sometimes even more compelling than the game's main story. See More

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Addictive gear collection fuels your thirst for orc blood

As you kill orc leaders, they'll drop random quality gear items, ranging from common rarity every-orc weapons/armor to legendary rarity artifacts with unique names. Each item serves to improve your character, providing various stat increases and damage bonuses. You can also upgrade gear with gems or via challenges that usually involve killing orcs, bolstering your strength even further. On top of that, there are set bonuses for legendary items, giving you special abilities such as your hits applying explosive poison on regular enemies. It's very exciting seeing what gear piece an orc leader will drop once you lob his head off, causing you to constantly seek out new victims. See More

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

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Rising up in society from a peasant is a unique experience

Kingdom Come: Deliverance puts you in the shoes of an unremarkable commoner named Henry with few skills or specialties, giving you the opportunity to enrich his life and abilities however you see fit. You don't start off as a powerful fighter like in so many other games, and you don't even have the most basic ability to read. Instead, you have to start from scratch to learn how to do anything and everything in the game, from fighting to reading and plenty more, with people looking down on you while you're still unskilled. As you become better at fighting, you can earn a full suit of plate armor, rising up from the ranks of peasantry to a skilled knight, with NPCs treating you with more respect in response to your accomplishments. It's a wonderfully realistic approach to role-playing that isn't afraid to make you claw your way up and improve your lot in life. See More

Top Con

Optimization issues on consoles and lower-end PCs

For those playing on a launch PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, as well as an older PC, you might have issues with the game's framerate. Framerate drops are common throughout the game, possibly ruining your experience from time to time. If you're on PlayStation 4 Pro or Xbox One X, or you have a more high-end PC, then you shouldn't have too many problems with performance. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Role-Playing

Top Pro

NPCs react differently to you under certain circumstances

With the many organic and grounded systems in Kingdom Come: Deliverance that mirror real life, how you present yourself to the world has an impact on how people react to you. If you haven't bathed in a few days and you smell badly, some female NPCs might find your manly odor attractive, while others will show their disgust with you instead. As another example, when you're a mere peasant at the start of the game, you won't have much stature or influence, so certain people will either ignore you or talk down to you. But as you grow strong enough to equip a knight's armor, NPCs will trust you more and reveal information to you that they otherwise wouldn't have. It's a great system that truly leans into the game's role-playing elements, making you feel like Henry represents you as a person. See More

Top Con

Brutal learning curve at the beginning of the game

Since you start the game at rock bottom as a peasant, you have to learn your skills the hard way, including with combat. You'll have to earn your skills by learning as you go along, but because you start with nothing, it's all too easy to fail at even the most basic encounters you come across. Sword fights and fist fights will really punish you while your skills are low, and you'll probably end up dying way too many times for your liking. If you stick with it, you'll be able to get by, but the difficulty curve might put some players off entirely. See More

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Vastly different ways to play the game

Depending on which skills you choose to master, your playthrough can be incredibly different from other players who chose to specialize in other abilities instead. There isn't much of a limit to how strong or proficient you can become in any one specialty, giving you the opportunity to be the best at whatever you set your mind to. You could spend most of your playtime perfecting your skills at hand-to-hand and sword combat, growing strong enough to storm enemy strongholds and kill anyone who crosses your path. Or you can become a master thief instead, improving your lockpicking and stealing skills enough to break into any store or building to amass tons of riches--on the condition that you also learn how to not get caught, of course. It's not likely that two people will have the exact same playthrough where they focus on the same specialties. See More

Top Con

The game feels unpolished overall with smaller bugs and story pacing issues

Despite Kingdom Come: Deliverance's immersive and innovative systems, there are a bunch of other, smaller bugs throughout the game, as well as some pacing issues that ruin the flow of the gameplay. You're likely to come across invisible walls in places such as stairs that you have to jump over, and other issues like NPCs missing their heads, or being stuck in a T-pose as they float across the map. Story-wise, the last sections of the game are a slog; they really could have benefited from more work and polish dedicated to them. As a whole, the game could have used some more time in the oven before releasing, since all the bugs and pacing issues really degrade the whole quality of the experience. See More

Top Pro

You learn and level up skills in organic, realistic ways

Instead of leveling up in traditional ways with the usual experience points, Kingdom Come: Deliverance has a much more organic approach to the ways you can grow your character. Playing as the protagonist Henry, you'll need to practice your skills in areas such as sword play, fist fighting, alchemy, and even reading. Just like in real life, as you fight more, craft more, and read more, you'll improve in ways that feel like you're actually learning as you go. You're illiterate when you begin the game, gradually retaining letters and words as you keep practicing. It's a refreshing system that helps you feel like you're really getting better at the skills you work on the most. See More

Top Con

Game-breaking bugs can corrupt your save file

The game is filled with bugs that could potentially cost you hours of playtime. Your save file could get corrupted, forcing you to start the game over from scratch. It's incredibly frustrating and has been an ongoing problem since release, keeping quite a few players from progressing. Thankfully, the developers are working on ironing out this issue through patches. See More

Destiny 2

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Solid controls that don't detract from gameplay

Your character's movement, aiming your gun, and even driving your hoverbike feels really fluid and responsive. As a result, you can make very precise movements, jumps, and shots in any situation, allowing you to land a headshot with your sniper rifle from far away while strafing with ease. See More

Top Con

Inconvenient customization

While most online games usually give you permanent color packs for customization, the shaders in Destiny 2 are divided into single colors that can only be used once. You can't preview your new color scheme either, so if you end up with something you dislike, you're stuck with it because you can't change it back. This also means you shouldn't use shaders on leveling gear since you're gonna replace it anyway. As a result most players don't bother with creating unique appearances and everyone looks nearly identical, which is bad for the social aspect of Destiny 2. The sad part is that even though the shaders can drop randomly in the game world, they can also be bought from the in-game store. This makes it feel like customization has been turned into a cash grab by inconveniencing players. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mixed

Genre:First-Person Shooter, Multiplayer

Top Pro

Improving your character is addicting

One of the main aspects online titles like Destiny 2 is character progression, which is done through leveling and collecting new equipment. Your character gets stronger and when you revisit missions/bosses that gave you trouble before, you can beat them with ease, which feels incredibly satisfying. This will push you to play just a bit more, collect a few more guns and armor pieces, defeat a couple more bosses, and before you know it, many hours will have passed. See More

Top Con

Guns and armor do not feel unique like in the prequel

In Destiny 1, the guns and armor felt more unique when compared to Destiny 2. In Destiny 1, a gun or armor could drop that had one set of perks or stats boosts, and then it could drop again with a different set of perks and boosts. Weapons and armor from the raids also gave unique looks as well as perks that helped for that raid. In Destiny 2 those raid perks are gone, making the gear feel no different than what could get from anywhere else. The lack of variation in the guns and armor just make it hard to care about what you get and kills the urge to try to find the best gun and armor for your character. See More

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Massive environments that feel alive

The open-world environments in games usually have a lot of empty space, so you spend most of the time traveling without doing much else. Destiny 2 has large areas filled with enemies, world events, and activity in general, eliminating most of the downtime. Because of this it feels like you're actually visiting a planet inhabited/occupied by aliens, which considerably adds to the immersion. See More

Top Con

Content that was available at the start of the game ended up locked behind DLC

When the expansion Curse of Osiris was released, Bungie ended up preventing players without the expansion from being able to access the prestige versions of the first raid and nightfall strikes, as well as the PvP Iron Banner and Trials of the Nine. For the people who like to hunt achievements/trophies, this move effectively blocked them from earning them. Bungie has since patched things so players are not locked out of the prestige mode of the first raid, as well as nightfall strikes and Trials of the Nine when not using Curse of Osiris maps, making the achievements earnable again. Still, it was an extremely poor decision to lock player out of content they paid for and leaves the question as to will Bungie make another mistake with the next expansion. See More

Top Pro

Excellent co-op multiplayer

Even though Destiny 2 doesn't have strict class archetypes like most MMOs, each class/subclass has its role in a group setup. So whether you're capturing control points in a PVP match or fighting a tough boss in a raid, you still need to cover for each other's weaknesses. This can be providing support to surrounded teammates, taking the attention of groups of aliens or just picking off troublesome enemies from afar. Because of this you learn to rely on each other and working together feels rewarding. See More

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Really fun gameplay

Destiny 2 is all about killing aliens and destroying massive robots. To do this you have a wide variety of weapons and abilities available to you. This includes hand cannons, shotguns, assault rifles, chain lightning grenades, and many more. Each weapon and ability feels great to use, making destruction and mayhem that much more enjoyable. It's a well-rounded and enjoyable experience, which will keep you interested for dozens of hours. See More

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