Turn-based JRPGs never went anywhere, but with games like Baldur's Gate 3, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 scooping up GOTY awards like XP in a dungeon, their staying power has perhaps never been more clear. That wasn't the case just a few years ago, when former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida advised Sandfall Interactive to avoid describing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, now among the most awarded games of all time, as a turn-based JRPG for fear that it "might lost the interest of many consumers." These days, Yoshida finds the irony of that advice in hindsight amusing.
"I advised them that if they described the game as a turn-based JRPG, they might lose the interest of many consumers," Yoshida tells GamerBraves. "I suggested that they come up with a new name for the combat system."
Without wading into the interminable debate around what makes a JRPG a JRPG, I'll just say objectively that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't strictly a JRPG because Sandfall is a French developer, but it largely fits the bill from a gameplay perspective despite a unique combat system labeled "reactive" turn-based, apparently based on Yoshida's suggestion.
Nowadays, "A lot of developers are now pitching new turn-based JRPG-like games to publishers. So, it's really funny," he says.
Somewhat ironically, there actually isn't a single turn-based RPG having released or about to release in 2026 that's really defining the zeitgeist in the way Clair Obscur or Baldur's Gate 3 did during their respective release years, but with Larian's new Divinity confirmed to be a turn-based RPG and Persona 6 on the horizon, that's bound to change eventually.
