The 10 best first-person RPGs for truly immersive adventuring

The best first-person RPGs make great use of the immersive perspective to make the most of fantastic worldbuilding and to throw you into adventures that really feel like your own.

Sometimes it's easy to forget about camera perspectives as great presentation can fade into the background. But, especially with adventures as all-encompassing as the best RPGs, it's worth celebrating which ones make the most of a well-chosen approach to camera. Unlike the best third-person RPGs that hold you at a slight remove for good effect, first-person is all about placing you into a game as closely as possible. Worlds become more immersive. Action more immediate. Thievery more guilt-laden.

Below, I've collected together the best first-person RPGs that either commit completely to the viewpoint, or that feel especially exciting from that perspective when they offer both. I've also included what "vibe" they are (which you can get full explanations of in our FAQ section). But, I wouldn't want my views to be too restrictive. If you have some first-person RPG favorites of your own I missed, please let me know what you'd include in the comments!

The best first-person RPGs, starting with...

10. Avowed

Avowed allows you to choose between playing in third-person or first-person. Yet, despite knowing this, I completely forgot to even try third-person until I hit credits for the first time because the first-person view immersed me in the fantastical world of the Living Lands so much. These large, vibrant, and colorful maps are so engrossing to explore that when I started, I just couldn't stop playing until I had seen all I could.

Combat uses a dual-wielding mix-and-match system that allows you to go at it with two swords, or even hold a spellbook in one hand and a gun in the other – and seeing both hands gripping your arsenal in first-person is great. With a world that's constantly rewarding to explore with treasure in every nook and cranny, feeling immersed directly in the world really adds to that sense of discovery. In our Avowed review, we said that it "fills a first-person void within the fantasy RPG genre".

9. Cyberpunk 2077

I'm not Cyberpunk 2077's biggest fan in the world, but even I have to admit that this sci-fi RPG's first-person presentation is practically impeccable. Night City is a dangerous, neon-soaked world, but even among the grime, tiny among its massive skyscrapers, exploring it from a ground level makes it clear how tantalizing it could be to try to make a name for yourself as a mercenary. So dedicated is Cyberpunk 2077 to this presentation, there's no third-person option except in some vehicle segments.

In our Cyberpunk 2077 review we called it "a masterpiece of world-building", and it's this dedication to crafting a believable space that makes it so successful as a first-person RPG. Forget your quest to stop your own brain from being overwritten like a hard drive and walk the streets, and it's easy to simply lose yourself. The story also has loads of fantastic moments that make use of the immersive viewpoint, from deadly chases to simply chatting with Johnny Silverhand, a punk rocker in your head played by Keanu Reeves. What other first-person RPG can fill your POV with a bit of Keanu?

8. Dread Delusion

Dread Delusion is a phenomenally impressive indie game that feels like a pixel-grafted mash-up of The Elder Scrolls and Dark Souls, with a dreamy, lo-fi polygon aesthetic that feels uniquely its own. The retro-inspired visualsonly enhances the first-person perspective of this wonderfully weird RPG, thrusting you into a strange world that you'll want to push to the limits for yourself.

The game unleashes you on a large and strange open world for you to make discoveries for yourself. Hack and slash combat is delightfully old school, but there's a lot more freedom in how you play, with a variety of skills rewarding curiosity with how you progress through your quest. Not only is this a wonderful trip back to the vibe of '00s RPGs, but it feels like a rebellious evolution. There are obvious limits to this smaller-scale project, of course, but this indie makes you feel like so much is possible that it pushes beyond them. That's a hallmark of a great first-person RPG, offering an exciting new world to explore.

7. Legend of Grimrock

You can't talk about the best first-person RPGs without some dungeon crawler gridders in the mix. After all, video game RPGs all trace a lineage back to the likes of Wizardry and Ultima. Legend of Grimrock and its excellent sequel remain some of the best to boot up today, thanks to its release in 2012 straddling the line between being a retro throwback and modernizing the genre for new players.

Sentenced to death in the horrific Mount Grimrock prison, your party's one hope of escape is to face down the pit of despair and master its tunnels filled with deadly traps and monsters. While powering up to battle beasties is certainly a must, the dungeon is laden with puzzles to solve that'll help you progress, feeling like the best kind of adventure maps you might conquer in Dungeons & Dragons. Legend of Grimrock goes beyond just leveling up – you, yourself, will feel like you're pushing beyond your own limits. If that's not enough, Legend of Grimrock even supports a Dungeon Editor, meaning there's a potentially limitless amount of first-person RPG dungeon delving up for grabs.

6. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Adam Jensen might not have asked for this, but I'm glad we got Deus Ex: Human Revolution anyway. This slick revival of the Deus Ex series creates a hazy, yellow-tinged cyberpunk world to explore. Playing as a security agent who is unwillingly grafted with experimental biotechnology robotics to save your life from a terrorist attack, coming to terms with your new body feels more immediate thanks to the first-person presentation. Sequel Deus Ex: Mankind Divided directly follows on from this, though I still prefer Jensen's first outing.

It's up to you how far you want to enhance your body. Drawing on the original Deus Ex's immersive sim vibes, these can help you approach missions in a variety of different ways, from speccing into social abilities, stealth, or simply jacking up your robot muscles to beat the daylights out of enemies. Zones might not be massive, but are dense with discoveries that are great to explore in first-person. In our Deus Ex: Human Revolution review, we said it "reboot[s] a classic franchise without losing the core of what made the original beloved".

5. Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society

Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society is a dungeon-crawling gridder that has you summoned into the Lanterne De Fantasmagorie by a witch's apprentice to explore a strange maze beneath a fantasy manor loaded with treasure. Each step forward through these halls advances a turn, adjusting the maze around you. It's a simple enough start, your spiritual form controlling puppet soldiers to fight through, until you realize just how dangerous the maze's monsters and traps are, and how many treasures appear completely inaccessible.

The twist is that witchy powers you can accrue allow you to break the rules of the game. Beginning with five party member slots, you can eventually carve up each slot to have up to three fighters each (making for 15-party member battles). Special abilities allow you to spend mana to smash through walls, pushing at the seams of the maze to create your own path forward with each run. The narrative feels just as breakable as well. The further you get, the more it twists and turns to equally rail against the definitions of what you thought you knew.

4. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

Turned into a vampire and thrust into a hidden supernatural world that thrives in the underbelly of Los Angeles, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines has you scrabbling to get to grips with vampire politics and make a name for yourself in order to survive. Built in Source Engine, this older RPG might be simple in some ways, but that just makes its dense, urban zones welcoming to poke around, all while getting into paranormal trouble.

Building off of immersive-sim style vibes, each vampire clan you can play as has unique powers that allow you to tackle quests and social interactions in vastly different ways. Poke around spaces to find vents and side-entrances, hack computers, smooth-talk past guards, it's up to you how you want to play. But, you're still a vampire, and first-person only enhances the sense of being a supernatural predator in an exaggerated urban sprawl. Even now, little else captures the energy and sense of urban adventure like this genuine classic. Don't act like I don't see you hitting the reinstall button right now.

3. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

There's a lot to love about Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's first-person medieval world, but the standout for me is how upfront it is about having you embody the lovable young man, Henry, on a grounded quest that still feels epic in scale. Few first-person RPGs commit so hard to painting such a specific tone for you to inhabit. In our Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 review we said "its realization of medieval life remains utterly absorbing".

In fact, it makes the brutal conditions Henry has to quest through feel even more stressful, as you can't help but feel responsible for the put-upon lad. Whether you're skilled enough at the twitchy combat to have him dominate every ambush, or are sneaking around and getting him in trouble because you've not bathed enough that his stench gives him away, Henry's fate is in your hands. Of course, you shape his journey, from romance options to playstyle, and have plenty of freedom to explore – but synergizing with Henry to tackle this detailed, gritty world is the real joy here.

2. Fallout: New Vegas

Shot, and left for dead, Fallout: New Vegas is a first-person thrill from its very opening moments (and yes, watch out for Deathclaws). The deadly heat and mutated monsters of the post-apocalyptic Mojave Wasteland are just the beginning, the many machinations of the titular New Vegas immersing you into its RPG narrative as you pull at threads and decide how you want to finish its gripping questlines to reflect your story – which fits the first-person format well.

I particularly love how Fallout: New Vegas uses its first-person perspective to enhance combat. While you can blast your guns like an FPS, a hidden RPG dice-rolling system means these can only be so accurate. Instead, VATS allows you to pause time to tactically aim at specific limbs, essentially blending real-time and turn-based combat with a unique system I've never seen replicated elsewhere. From wasteland firefights to silver-tonguing through this glitzy town of secrets, New Vegas champions pulling you into its world through first-person.

1. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

Come on, it was always going to be Skyrim, wasn't it? No matter what you think of Bethesda's often re-released dragon-themed first-person RPG, it's become a titan of the genre. A large part of that is because of its first-person presentation. From the opening moments where you wake up on a prison-bound cart – "Hey you, finally awake…" – you are immersed in Skyrim's world, and it won't let go. In our Skyrim Special Edition review, we rightly called it "one of the greatest RPGs ever made".

After a thrilling, dragon-hounded tutorial quest, you're let off the leash to explore an absolutely massive fantasy world, getting up to as much mischief as you desire, whether you want to actually follow the main quest or completely disregard it. Climbing mountains, looting caves, bobbing your hands up and down as you dual-wield spells, the first-person perspective makes this quest feel like your own and has become a vital part of Skyrim's identity. Available on almost any gaming platform ever invented, starting a fresh Skyrim save to pursue a completely new character build is always tempting.

Best first-person RPGs FAQs