Key recommendations
- RPGs excel when they combine narrative and world-building through engaging text.
- Roadwarden, Wildermyth, Citizen Sleeper, Suzerain and Disco Elysium stand out for their immersive text-based experiences.
- These titles offer deep emotional connections, rich character creation, intense moral dilemmas, and gripping political narratives.
RPGs are rooted in the world of text and text-based titles. Who knows where the genre would be today if it weren't for the monolithic world of tabletop RPGs that came before it? If there's one thing the best RPGs have in common, it's a great combination of narrative and world-building to create a highly addictive and immersive title.
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However, some games in particular know how to use the written word to enhance their world. A significant area of overlap between books and video games is the power of prose to capture the imagination and connect the player much more to their game. For gamers who don't mind a little reading, here are some titles to watch out for.
5 Road driver
A sad journey through the untamed hinterland
Road driver is a title that, despite being full of life, leaves the player feeling lonely, in the best possible way. There's a solid focus here on the protagonist, who is built from the ground up based on players' early choices. This almost introspective tone is especially interesting given that the story itself lends itself to a high-adventure tale – the Roadwarden must brave the wilds of the Peninsula to help promote settlements and cities and protect the innocent from the monsters that roam the land .
It parallels a lot of great RPGs that have a fluid, dynamic, ever-changing world. In Road driverthe text is used alongside some fantastic graphics with a mesmerizing amber tone. The event descriptions, NPC dialogue, and combat interactions are all fantastic textual parts of this title, and the attention to player choices puts it up there with some of the great branching RPGs available today.
4 Wildermyth
An epic storybook of mythic proportions
Wildermyth is one of those games that will stay with players for a long, long time. Not only is it an incredibly addictive strategy-style RPG, but it has such a new character creation system that does the impossible and combines the kind of attachment and depth found with pre-written characters with the freedom of creativity and narrative choice that comes with with customization. characters. There are a lot of complicated ways in which the characters' personalities and events work, but the best way to play this is to simply dive in.
There's a strong yet understated sense of wonder in the writing of this game, with every event and hundreds of personality-based variations of characters so artfully written that it's not uncommon to forget the world outside of the game. Each campaign is framed as a mythic retelling, an epic that explains the band of adventurers fighting a long-forgotten threat.
3 Citizen Sleeper
A dystopian role-playing game with space travel
This unique text-based RPG is a masterpiece of cyberpunk aesthetics and themes, perfect for fans of… well, Cyberpunk. There's an enormous amount of passion at work here, put into everything from the tabletop-inspired stats to the unique blend of colors and artwork that make up the style of this game, with a heavy emphasis on shadows, deep blacks, and bright reds. The text itself is of a Roman quality, reading like a mix between the world building of an enthusiastic DM with the sci-fi classics of the 70s and 80s.
This is a game of hard choices, capitalist dystopias and compelling characters. A perfect title for anyone looking to immerse themselves in a space-focused setting with no corners cut.
2 Suzerain
A political RPG that pulls no punches
Suzerain uses text and narrative to get the player invested in the deep political machinations of a single nation and its fledgling democracy trying to find its place in the world. The fictional nation of Sordland is theoretically under player control, but those looking for a power fantasy will have to look elsewhere. An old, crypto-fascist former president continues to manipulate parliament, the political right and left are trying to steer the country in two different directions, and through it all, the president must try to get a coalition of allies large enough to make his politics. ambition – a refined constitution – to be passed in parliament.
There's no other way to say it – this game is brutal. Fantastic, absolutely compelling, a near-perfect articulation of what a good text-based RPG should be, yes. But also brutal. There are no promises that things will work out, there are no promises that what a person tells you is the truth, but if the player does nothing but compromise and gamble, they will find a country with little to show for it by the end of the year. this amazing 900,000 word title.
1 Disco Elysium
One of the greatest RPGs of all time
BAFTA winner Disco Elysium it has a level of quality that practically speaks for itself. It's one of the greatest CRPGs of the 21st century, and with that comes a lot of stunningly written prose. Deciding how your protagonist navigates the world, what his political and philosophical leanings are, and how that shapes the city around him is one of the most immersive experiences to be found in a video game today.
Gamers would be doing themselves a disservice if they didn't get into this surreal, highly compelling RPG with dreamlike text and world building that will leave people in awe. Like other titles on this list, the text isn't the only barrier to entry, as it's quite a difficult title at times and requires solid attention to detail, but gamers who enjoy deep RPGs won't want to miss it. on this one.
