(s) Archive
2025-02-08
Winner: Metaphor: ReFantazio Writeup by Aleks Franiczek With the Shin Megami Tensei games, Atlus continually shows how masterful they are at crafting traditional RPGs. With the Persona spinoffs, they effectively redefined the conventional RPG. What do you get when you combine both these traditions? Metaphor: ReFantazio: one of the most confidently executed RPG bangers we’ve… Read More »
Winner: Metaphor: ReFantazio Writeup by Des Miller Initially, it was easy to write off Metaphor: ReFantazio as just fantasy Persona. Yet within minutes of the game starting, Metaphor quickly proved itself as more than that. The narrative shows its teeth early on with the focus on classism and racism, the cast is incredibly strong with… Read More »
Winner: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Writeup by Tim Rattray I scoffed when Final Fantasy VII Remake was revealed not to be a purely turn-based game, and yet I walked away from playing it thinking it had the greatest action combat of all time. Now, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has put even that to shame. It’s… Read More »
Winner: Metaphor: ReFantazio Writeup by Sean Cabot There are a few JRPGs from the past few years whose handling of prejudice and slavery never sat well with me. Cliche and underdeveloped core themes overshadow any insightful points. Metaphor: ReFantazio touches upon common elements related to these topics, but only as much as it needs to. The… Read More »
Winner: Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Writeup by Audra Bowling If its massively successful Kickstarter is any indication, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a game that many were hyped about. A spiritual successor to the beloved Suikoden series, it shared the premise of recruiting an extensive roster of characters from different walks of life. Eiyuden Chronicle:… Read More »
Winner: Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII Rebirth) Writeup by Abe Kobylanski We all had an idea of how Final Fantasy VII Rebirth would end and that Sephiroth would have a role in that ending. In the prologue, Cloud recalls a moment where he was assailed by a terrifying act of cruelty, and from that point, Sephiroth’s… Read More »
Winner: Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Writeup by Zach Wilkerson It almost feels unfair to put Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree in this category; there’s so much meat here that it could easily be a full-blown release. It’s no surprise, though; FromSoft have always absolutely crushed it with their Soulsborne title DLC, and… Read More »
Winner: Unicorn Overlord Writeup by Tyler Trosper After Vanillaware’s phenomenal take on classic Japanese mecha anime in 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, the celebrated team returned to the world of fantasy this year with Unicorn Overlord. A passion project through and through, their latest game injected the strategy RPG genre with new life. While class systems… Read More »
Winner: Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy VII Rebirth) Writeup by Tim Rattray Well, the votes are in. Aerith is better than Tifa by a margin of Barret. The shipping wars are over. Okay, I jest (mostly). Aerith in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is one of the best video game characters ever written. Her show-stopping scenes are… Read More »
Winner: Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII Rebirth) Writeup by Des Miller Weird. Awkward. Dorky. None of these are words I’d use to describe Cloud from 1997’s Final Fantasy VII, perhaps due to the original game’s lackluster localization. Yet in Final Fantasy VII Remake and its sequel, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, we get a further look… Read More »
Winner: Koromaru (Persona 3 Reload) Writeup by Aleks Franiczek The votes are in: you simply can’t beat a good boy. And between Koromaru’s loving loyalty, bright personality, and fierce battle power, a boy doesn’t get much gooder. Atlus is arguably the king of mascot characters but, to be honest, I find most of them annoying.… Read More »
Winner: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Writeup by Tim Rattray This game’s localization aren’t sick. When localization is clearly undercooked, we endlessly mock it (see above). In the original Final Fantasy VII’s case, this occurred because it was handled primarily by one man in a short timeframe. These mishaps are far less common now, thanks to… Read More »
Winner: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Writeup by Zek Lu Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has one of the richest combat systems I’ve ever experienced in any action RPG, period. Designed by the legendary Teruki Endo, the combat director of Monster Hunter: World, there is an unprecedented level of freedom around developing and controlling your characters. The… Read More »
Winner: Metaphor: ReFantazio Writeup by Wes Iliff Metaphor is the opposite of a surprise hit. Everyone knew it was coming, everyone knew that it was gonna be amazing, and everyone knew to expect fantastic music and astounding visuals. So maybe it’s a bit of a shocker just how beautiful the game is. Whether it’s monsters… Read More »
Winner: Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island Writeup by Jerry Williams Great roguelikes have an accessibility issue that the modern era rectified with roguelites, which lean heavily on level-ups, skill progression, and unlocks. Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island capably retains the series identity, introduces several quality-of-life features, and… Read More »
Winner: 1000xRESIST Writeup by Aleks Franiczek One of 1000xRESIST’s most impressive achievements is how thoughtfully it is structured, leveraging shifts in its presentation to support its storytelling. It’s not really an adventure game. It’s not really a walking sim. And it’s certainly not an RPG. But it learns from narrative design techniques used in titles… Read More »
2025-02-07
Best 2024 Game (That I Played): Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth In a year full of extraordinary RPGs, I’m unashamed to say that I’m sticking with my comfort food: the Yakuza series. Why? Because Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is simply some of the tastiest video game comfort food you could find outside of the… Read More »
Bat Dad Is Best Dad Award! Metaphor: ReFantazio was easily the best RPG this year. No doubt in my mind. It had a fresh new setting, took the long and sometimes stale Persona gameplay loop and streamlined it, and combined a job system with the Press Turn system to make for amazing top-tier turn-based combat.… Read More »
For me, it’s easily Metaphor: ReFantazio… To be frank, I was not particularly excited for Metaphor: ReFantazio even when it emerged from the ether after many quiet years following its announcement. I didn’t follow the pre-release cycle closely and only maintained the faintest interest because my friend, a hardcore Atlus fan, kept the game’s release… Read More »
Three Favorite 2024 RPGs Unicorn Overlord This incredible SRPG would’ve flown under my radar if not for the praise fellow RPGFan staff members kept heaping on it. I’m glad I listened, as Unicorn Overlord is a graphically stunning, entertainingly meaty adventure that the strategy RPG lover in me readily enjoyed. Dragon Age: The Veilguard There’s… Read More »
Best Older RPG that I Played (For the First Time) in 2024: LindaÂł Again Playing LindaÂł for the first time today feels like NieR went back in time and had a child with EarthBound. This is the best way I’ve been able to convey what makes this PSX boundary-pusher such a special game. I’d heard… Read More »
Best Stylish Action RPG/Gambling Simulator: Wuthering Waves Punishing: Gray Raven is easily one of my favorite mobile games, so I was over the moon when an official PC client released. Once developer Kuro Games announced their follow-up to PGR and revealed it to be an open-world action RPG, I was initially underwhelmed. Everything looked like… Read More »
The 2024 RPG I Played in 2024 Award: Unicorn Overlord The Ogre Battle series, particularly Person of Lordly Caliber, is a series that has moved and inspired me more than most. The notion of a similar game, given Vanillaware’s signature treatment, is quite a nice prospect. Unicorn Overlord does not quite manage to achieve the… Read More »
I feel that 2024 was one of the strongest years for RPGs and puzzle adventure games in recent memory, and as a result I played way more new video games than I originally planned to, enough for a list of my ten favorite RPGs released in the calendar year. Missed Connections Black Myth: Wukong, Dragon’s… Read More »
It’s been a great year for RPGs, and I’m always trying to keep up with the great titles of this year, last year, the previous year, and so on. Last year, I hadn’t beaten Baldur’s Gate 3, and here I am, a year later, and I still haven’t beaten it! Anyway, that was last year.… Read More »
