These are the PC RPGs we think every gamer should have in their library. Whether you’re a seasoned adventurer or looking to dive in to the genre for the first time, here are CyberPower Gaming’s top picks for RPGs you should check out.
Table of Contents
Baldur’s Gate 3
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the gold standard for modern RPGs, and it’s not particularly close. Developed by Larian Studios, the game drops you into the Forgotten Realms with a mind flayer tadpole burrowed behind your eye and a world’s worth of choices ahead of you. Built on Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition rules, BG3 is a turn-based tactical RPG where almost everything you can imagine actually works — talk your way past encounters, shove enemies off ledges, mix spells for explosive combos, or set the whole building on fire. It’s your call.
The sheer depth of reactivity is what separates BG3 from everything else. The game responds to just about everything you do with branching dialogue, multiple solutions to every quest, and companions who feel like fully realized people with their own agendas and emotional arcs. With over 12 classes, hundreds of spells, and a story that runs deep into the politics of Baldur’s Gate itself, this is a game you will sink 100 hours into and feel like you’ve barely seen half of it. The full co-op multiplayer support for up to four players, so you can experience one of the very best games every made with your buddies.
It won just about every Game of the Year award on offer in 2023, and for good reason. If you only play one RPG on this list, make it this one.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the definitive open-world RPG. You play as Geralt of Rivia, a WItcher (monster hunter) as he tracks down his adoptive daughter Ciri across a war-ravaged continent. What unfolds is one of the best stories ever told in a video game, built on hundreds of hours of side quests that you will often forget are just side quests because they tie in so well to your main goals.
The world of the Northern Kingdoms is dense and lived-in. Peasant villages, large cities full of political intrigue and seedy underworlds, ancient elven, an entire viking inspired island, and much more await. Combat blends swordplay with a set of magical signs and alchemy. The game rewards preparation and knowledge as much as execution, you’ll want to read up in the games codices what monster’s weaknesses are. The Complete Edition includes the games major expansion: Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine, which easily add another 50+ hours of content just as good if not better than the base game. While the game’s visuals have stood the test of time, a Next-Gen Update for PS5 and Xbox Series brought visual overhauls, ray tracing, and a hefty pile of community mods baked right in over to the PC version
Over a decade on, The Witcher 3 still sets the bar for big open world RPGs.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 picks up right where the first game left off. But don’t let that scare you off, it does a great job of catching you up with the events of the first. You play as Henry, a blacksmith’s son from Skalitz, now a seasoned traveler navigating the political chaos of 15th-century Bohemia. Everything that made the original a cult classic is here: no magic, no fantasy, no shortcuts, just a brutally authentic medieval world where your stats, your skills, and your choices determine everything.
The sequel is bigger and more polished in every way. Two large open-world maps give you medieval Bohemia to explore, all rendered with an eye for period detail that no other RPG comes close to matching. The classless character system rewards the skills you actually use. Want to get better at something? Better practice it. Neglect your reading and you’ll miss context others take for granted. Conversations, stealth, alchemy, blacksmithing, combat — all of it blends RPG progression with simulation elements.
If you want an RPG that genuinely makes you feel like a person navigating a real, living historical world rather than a chosen hero on a map of waypoints, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is one of the best games made in years. It takes some time and willingness to play by the games rules, but if you can take it for what it is, this is an incredibly special game and my personal favorite on this list.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2
Set 4,000 years before the films, the Knights of the Old Republic games are probably the best story telling we’ve seen in the Star Wars universe. The first game puts you at the center of a galaxy-spanning conflict between the Republic and a Sith armada, with the usual Star Wars morality system, Light Side vs. Dark Side, that shapes your powers, your companions’ loyalty, and the fate of the story. It also features an amazing plot twist you will never see coming.
The sequel goes even darker and stranger. KOTOR 2 deconstructs the mythology of the Jedi and the Force in ways the films just never explore, built around a philosophically rich narrative. The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod on PC brings back hours of cut content that should have been in the original release and is considered essential by the community.
Both games use a modified D&D rules system (d20) where dice rolls decide the outcomes of actions. A can’t miss pair of games for any Star Wars fan.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
The Mass Effect Legendary Edition collects all three remastered entries in BioWare’s landmark sci-fi RPG trilogy into a single package, and it remains one of the most ambitious storytelling achievements in the history of games. You play as Commander Shepard, a custom character of your choice (male or female), across a 100+ hour journey to stop the Reapers, an ancient race of sentient machines that periodically harvests all advanced organic life in the galaxy, a horrifying cycle that has seemingly been happening since the beginning of time. The choices you make in the first game ripple forward into the sequels, with squamates living or dying, relationships forming and breaking, and galactic scale consequences from your actions.
Each game evolves the formula: Mass Effect 1 is more of a classic RPG with a bit of clunky combat system. Mass Effect 2 refines things with improved action and delivers some of the best character-driven missions ever made. Mass Effect 3 brings the galactic conflict to a head with the spectacle of big set pieces and emotional payoffs earned over dozens of hours of buildup throughout the trilogy. The Legendary Edition is the trilogy of games fully remastered with all three games seeing significant visual upgrades, rebalanced combat, and all DLC included, which is critical for getting the full picture with the store.
No other series has done it quite like Mass Effect.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous might be the most deep-cut choice on this list, it’s not for everyone. It’s a game that rewards players willing to go all the way in on one of the most mechanically complex RPGs ever made. Like seriously you probably want a spreadsheet with character builds because things get DENSE. Based on the Pathfinder tabletop ruleset, Wrath of the Righteous puts you in command of a crusade against a demonic army pouring through the massive Worldwound. It is long, dense, uncompromising, at times frustrating, and it is an amazing experience if you are willing to put in the work to understanding it’s complexities.
Character creation alone can take hours, with over a dozen base classes each branching into multiple sub classes and archetypes, combined with a Mythic Path system that lets you evolve your hero further by receiving mythic abilities. Your companions are deeply written, the writing is sharp, and the strategy layer of managing your crusade army adds a macro dimension to the day to day party management For fans of the classic CRPGs like Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, this is the modern heir to that lineage.
Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age: Origins was BioWare at their peak. Released in 2009 and still holding up remarkably well, Origins drops you into the dark fantasy world of Thedas as a Grey Warden, an ancient order of warriors who dedicate their lives to stopping demonic Blights that sweep across the land. True to the “Origins” in the title, the story begins differently depending on your race and class: a human noble, a city elf, a dwarven commoner, or a mage, each has a distinct prologue that feeds meaningfully into your character’s perspective throughout the game.
Combat runs on a paused tactical system that lets you manage your party with precision. Enemy encounters are designed around your party composition and positioning, and the game’s higher difficulties demand tactical discipline. More than the mechanics, though, it’s the companions that define Origins: Alistair, Morrigan, Zevran, Leliana, Wynne and the rest are memorably written, fully voiced, and reactive to your choices in ways that still feel ahead of their time. The Darkspawn conflict is a backdrop against which a cast of richly flawed people wrestle with loyalty, sacrifice, and what it means to do the right thing.
If you haven’t played Origins, the Ultimate Edition with all DLC included is the way to go.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
There’s a reason Skyrim has been re-released on seemingly every platform known to humanity. Bethesda’s 2011 open-world remains one of the most purely enjoyable sandbox experiences ever made — a vast, Nordic landscape packed with dragons and secrets. Approach the game in any way you see fit. The main quest is just one of dozens of directions you can go.
The real appeal of Skyrim is its sense of openness. There are no classes at character creation, you become what you play. But somehow you will end up as a sneak archer, just saying. On PC especially, the modding community has kept the game alive and growing for over a decade, with overhauls so big the game looks and feels like a completely different game altogether. But before you dive in to mods you should experience the vanilla game, through the most recent version: Anniversary Edition brings a mountain of official content updates alongside the base game.
Elden Ring
Elden Ring is FromSoftware’s masterwork, taking the best of their previous work and translating it into an open world game. Set in the Lands Between, a shattered realm drained of its governing grace, you play as a Tarnished returned to claim the Elden Ring and become Elden Lord.
Combat is precise and demanding. Each enemy and boss is a challenge to overcome through a combination of character building and game skill. The freedom to approach challenges in almost any order changes the classic Souls formula dramatically, if a boss is walling on you, go out and explore the world and strengthen your character.
Shadow of the Erdtree, the 2024 expansion, is Fromsoft’s largest DLC ever made. It matches the scale of many full games and considered by many to be one of the best game expansions, ever. But, it is very hard, which probably doesn’t scare you off if you already made your way through the base game of Elden Ring. On PC, the Seamless Co-op mod is an option for a more frictionless multiplayer experience.
Crimson Desert
After years of development and anticipation, Crimson Desert arrived in March 2026 as one of the most visually spectacular games we’ve seen. Originally conceived as a prequel to the MMO Black Desert Online, the game evolved into a fully standalone single player experience. You play as Kliff Macduff, mercenary leader of the Greymanes, navigating the war-torn continent of Pywel after his company is ambushed and scattered by their sworn enemies, the Black Bears.
Pywel is huge! Tons of forests, ruins, fortified cities, and the mysterious depths of the Abyss (think Tears of the Kingdom Sky islands) all at a level of visual fidelity that genuinely impresses. Combat is fast, combo driven with fighting game like inputs. The game puts your skills to the test with lots of memorable and challenging boss fights. Mainly there is exploration at every turn, with hidden dungeons, optional bosses, and faction-specific content tucked into every nook and cranny.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 arrived back in April 2025 and instantly rose to be one of the most acclaimed games in years. Not bad for the debut game of a 30 person French indie studio. Quite the underdog story. The game swept the major Game of the Year awards for 2025 including The Game Awards, the Golden Joystick Awards, the DICE Awards, and the GDC Awards, and holds one of the highest Metacritic user scores of all time.
The game follows the members of Expedition 33 on a desperate mission to destroy the Paintress, a mysterious godlike entity who each year paints a number on a monolith that erases humans of that age from existence. Think yearly Thanos snap, people turn to dust. The year counts down, so people are getting younger and younger. You play the game in year 33. Lead by Gustave (voiced by Charlie Cox of Daredevil), alongside Maelle, Lune, Sciel, and a cast voiced by actors including Andy Serkis and Ben Starr, the expedition sets out knowing they have, at most, a year left to live and do what they need to do.
The combat system is a fun take on the usual turn-based core seen in lots of JRPGs, but it adds a real time twist. You dodge, parry, and counter incoming attacks in real time with a well timed button pressed. You can land counters to deal massive damage, chain party abilities together for spectacular combos, and target enemy weak points with a free aim system. It sounds simple, but the game can get quite challenging, so it will keep you on your toes. The story is emotionally devastating in the best way. The soundtrack is stunning. The art direction is unlike anything else in the genre. There is a good reason it won Game of The Year in 2025 and so many people pine over how good it is.
Fallout 3 & Fallout: New Vegas — Best Played via the Tale of Two Wastelands Mod
Two of the greatest RPGs ever made, and you no longer have to choose between them. Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas each represent a certain flavor of the post apocalypse. Our strong recommendation is to experience both through the Tale of Two Wastelands mod, a free community-built conversion that merges both games into a single unified experience running on New Vegas’s slightly updated and more stable engine. It is truly the definitive way to play at this point, and it transforms what were already classic games in to a sprawling epic.
Fallout 3 dropped players into the ruins of Washington D.C. Explore the Capital Wasteland of crumbling monuments, irradiated rivers, and desperate survivor settlements. You emerge from a vault, searching for your missing papa, but you’ll quickly find yourself putting that search on hold as the open world quickly swallows you. Wander around the wastes and stumble in to dangerous scenarios. It’s lonely in a way few games have replicated. For many players, it was their first Fallout and the game that defined what post-apocalyptic RPGs could feel like.
Fallout: New Vegas was developed by different team, Obsidian Entertainment. It is widely considered as the deeper game, with a more politically nuanced story set in the Mojave Desert. It bases itself around the fate of New Vegas and the power that Hoover Dam provides as factions vie for control of it all. You play as the Courier, shot in the head and left for dead, and left to hunt down those who wronged you. Along the way you will become entangled with the four major factions: NCR, Legion, the enigmatic Mr. House, or the wild card option of shaping New Vegas as you see fit.
The writing is sharper and choices carry real weight. The companions you’ll meet and team up with are among the best-written party members in any RPG. Then you have four awesome DLC packs to get into, each with their own spin on gameplay. Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, and Lonesome Road, each tell distinct stories worth experiencing.
Tale of Two Wastelands is a free mod that requires legal copies of both games to install. Installation takes a little setup and patience, but their is plenty of community documentation. IGN actually has a great video guide on how to get TTW up and running. If you are really feeling confident in your modding abilities, their are tons of mod packs you can install over TTW, but we will leave that to your discretion. The result of taking a little time to get TTW set up is a combined playthrough that starts in Vault 101 and ends at Battle for Hoover Dam. This is the definitive Fallout experience on PC, and exactly the kind of experience you can only get on PC.
That does it for CPG’s recommended RPG games. There’s hundreds if not thousands of hours of fun to be had with these games. Check them out on your CyberPowerPC gaming PC today!