Turn-based RPGs were all the rage in the 1990s, but the genre lost some of its luster during the more action-oriented Xbox 360 era. But time is a flat circle, and here in the 2020s, turn-based RPGs are cool again. Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the most popular games of the decade, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the best reviewed new game of 2025 so far with a 93 on Metacritic. Turn-based is back, baby!
As we continue to move through this new turn-based renaissance, it’s worth spending a moment to take inventory of some of the best turn-based RPGs that are available right now. Some are very new, and some are very much not new, but all of them are obtainable and playable in the present, and are pretty much guaranteed to hit the spot for any gamer with a hankering for a more cerebral style of battle. So let’s look at some of the best turn-based RPGs currently around, with a list that is presented in no particular order.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Developer: Sandfall Interactive
- Publisher: Kepler Interactive
- Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series S/X
On the strange island of Lumiere, a mysterious goddess known as the Paintress has been painting a countdown for 67 years. The number decreases by one each year, and when the number is painted, everyone who is that age or older is killed. Clair Obscur, which features Daredevil star Charlie Cox in the lead role, follows a team tasked with taking down the Paintress before she can paint the next number–33. It’s a compelling fantasy premise, but it’s Clair Obscur’s strangely rhythmic and deep battle system that will keep you engrossed.
Persona 3 Reload
- Developer: P-Studio
- Publisher: Sega
- Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Switch 2
Once upon a time, the Persona series was just a couple of dungeon crawlers. They were good dungeon crawlers with a really interesting turn-based hook, but they were missing the high school social simulation aspect that’s become the franchise’s defining feature. The life sim component was introduced in Persona 3 and refined heavily in Persona 4 and 5–and Persona 3 Reload, a built-from-the-ground-up remake of the third game that was released in 2024, brings us full circle by incorporating many of the quality-of-life changes that were added in those later games. The end result is the best version of a classic JRPG.
Metaphor: ReFantazio
- Developer: Studio Zero
- Publisher: Sega
- Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series S/X
The Persona series has been stuck on the fifth game for almost a decade now, and that may be because Katsura Hashino, who directed Persona 3, 4 and 5, decided to make Metaphor: ReFantazio instead of forging ahead on Persona 6. But that didn’t end up being much of a problem, since Metaphor–which keeps some Persona-inspired elements, like the battle system, and takes them in new directions that might not be possible if this were actually a Persona game–became one of the best reviewed games of the century with a 94 on Metacritic.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
- Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoko Studio
- Publisher: Sega
- Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X
The decision to swap out the brawler combat of past Yakuza titles for a turn-based RPG system in Yakuza: Like a Dragon still seems surprising today. But it worked so well that Sega did it again with Ichiban Kasuga’s second adventure, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which perfected the turn-based battle system and brought our new hero together with old man Kiryu. It’s no small accomplishment to earn the best reviews in a prolific franchise that’s been around for three decades, but that’s exactly what Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth did.
Baldur’s Gate 3
- Developer: Larian Studios
- Publisher: Larian Studios
- Platform(s): PC, Mac, Linux, PS5, Xbox Series S/X
This is a game that hardly needs any introduction.. The CRPG geniuses at Larian Studios paired some very compelling turn-based, tabletop-inspired combat with a bizarre and awesome fantasy story, and the resulting game ended up being GameSpot’s 2023 game of the year. Baldur’s Gate 3 is the very rare sort of game that always has more going on than most folks will ever notice thanks to near-endless dialogue options, and tens of possible endings.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
- Developer: Intelligent Systems
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Platform(s): GameCube, Switch
While the Mario franchise is certainly best known for its platforming games and kart racers–what with almost all of them being one of those two things–there are also a handful of turn-based RPGs, and they’re frequently cited as some of the best Mario games, period. And the best of them is the second Paper Mario game, which blends RPG battles with a unique and novel platforming system built around the idea that Mario is literally paper thin in this subseries. With Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door getting an excellent remake for the Switch in 2024, there’s never been a better time to give it a shot.
XCOM 2
- Developer: Firaxis Games
- Publisher: 2K
- Platform(s): PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, mobile
Humanity has lost its war against the invading aliens, and it’s up to the folks at XCOM to lead a rebellion against the new extraterrestrial overlords, through a long series of turn-based tactical missions during which any members of your squad can be maimed or permanently killed. While not usually thought of as an RPG, XCOM 2’s core tactical combat gameplay loop is very similar to that of games like Wasteland 3 and the old Fallout games, and you’ll have to level up your squaddies or else they won’t have a chance of surviving in the endgame. So, as with Wasteland, XCOM 2 is the sort of game that doesn’t forgive mistakes.
Darkest Dungeon
- Developer: Red Hook Studios
- Publisher: Red hook Studios
- Platform(s): PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, Vita, Xbox One, Switch, iOS
This indie roguelike RPG tasks players with taking a disposable four-character team into procedurally-generated dungeons in search of loot. Sure, that might sound pretty generic on its face, but Darkest Dungeon has two delightful wrinkles. First, the characters are disposable because you lose them permanently when they die–that’s the roguelike part, which is pretty unique for this sort of game. Second, and just as important, is the Affliction system which causes your squad members to become stressed as they explore each dungeon–and the more stressed they get, the more erratic they become, which makes it even harder to keep them alive. Darkest Dungeon is frustrating, but in a very fun way.
Wasteland 3
- Developer: inXile Entertainment
- Publisher: Deep Silver
- Platform(s): PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One
This isometric RPG from the OG Fallout veterans at InXile is old school through and through, sending players on an unforgiving journey to post-apocalyptic Colorado where the Arizona Rangers strike a deal with the local tyrant that will help the Rangers through the tough times they’ve faced since the catastrophic events of Wasteland 2. In true Wasteland fashion, the game forces you to make impossible story decisions all while you struggle to keep your squad of characters alive amidst incredibly unforgiving people in an incredibly unforgiving landscape.
Fire Emblem Engage
- Developer: Intelligent Systems
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Platform(s): Switch
Nintendo’s long-running tactical RPG series continued with this tale of a human dragon who’s been awakened after sleeping for millennia and must now battle against the forces of another dragon who’s not so benign. Engage introduced a really fun new wrinkle for the turn-based combat in its 17th game: Emblem Rings, which allow the player characters to channel heroes of Fire Emblem past, like Marth. While not as well regarded as the previous mainline game in the series, Three Houses, the gameplay of Fire Emblem Engage is enough of a paradigm shift to keep most folks occupied even if the story is a little subpar.
Caves of Qud
- Developer: Freehold Games
- Publisher: Kitfox Games
- Platform(s): PC, Mac, Linux
This retro-style RPG looks and feels a lot like if you were forced to navigate the low-poly world of Dwarf Fortress from the perspective of just one person. And, in fact, that’s sort of the promise of Caves of Qud to begin with–it’s a dungeon crawler, but the world in which you’ll be crawling is incredibly deep and complex and full of history, with dozens of factions of people and beasts to curry favor with, and unforgiving turn-based tactical gameplay that will make you start all over if you make the wrong mistake at the wrong moment, because it has permadeath. So try not to screw anything up, because this game has consequences.
Final Fantasy Tactics
- Developer: Square
- Publisher: Square Enix
- Platform(s): PS1 (original); PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series S/X, Switch, Switch 2 (Remaster)
The late 1990s was a golden age for tactical RPGs, though a lot of them don’t necessarily hold up today. One that does, however, is Final Fantasy Tactics, which traded the series’ more traditional turn-based combat for a larger and more open battlefield for its enemy encounters. Oddly enough, though, the thing Final Fantasy Tactics might be best known for is its sprawling world of Ivalice, which has been used in Final Fantasy XII and a couple other Final Fantasy games–not to mention Vagrant Story, which is not even a Final Fantasy game.
Octopath Traveler 2
- Developer: Square Enix
- Publisher: Square Enix
- Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Switch
The first Octopath Traveler was an excellent game in its own right, and the sequel is, technically, just more of the same. But, as is so often the case with an acclaimed first sequel, the developers at Square Enix simply did everything better the second time around, particularly when it comes to the incredibly compelling franchise hook: That each game tells eight separate but interconnected stories with eight different player characters, rather than sticking with a single narrative thread. It only took two tries for these folks to absolutely nail what they were going for.
Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader
- Developer: Owlcat Games
- Publisher: Owlcat Games
- Platform(s): PC, Mac, PS5, Xbox Series S/X
You’d think the CRPG genre and Warhammer 40K would be a perfect fit, but it’s actually a combination that almost never happens, despite a steady flow of yearly new franchise titles of all sorts of different genres. Fortunately, Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader arrived in 2023 to help fill in that gap, and while it may have had a pretty buggy launch, it turned out to be an otherwise excellent and beefy game that tells another incredibly depressing story in this incredibly depressing universe.
Sea of Stars
- Developer: Sabotage Studios
- Publisher: Sabotage Studios
- Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series S/X, Switch
This retro-style RPG from Sabotage Studio is like a love letter to its RPG predecessors in the 1990s like Chrono Trigger, adopting a pixel art style that has a delightful tendency to be pretty dang breathtaking. Usually, pixel art in modern games is just functional, coasting on your nostalgia for those older games that inspired the look. But the pixel art in Sea of Stars is beautiful entirely on its own merit, which is something that pairs very well with its epic multiverse tale in which the very fabric of reality is at stake.
