It has been an exceptional time to be an RPG fan. In just six years, we've had Disco Elysium, Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring, and so much more, and 2025 has proved to be yet another corker of a year for those so inclined. In the past 12 months, we've seen RPGs that run the gamut in terms of style and setting, from historically accurate Bohemian brutality to hypercapitalist exoplanets, there's been a storming set of RPGs released this year.
Let's be real, though – RPGs can be a big time sink, and if you've only got time to play a handful of them each year, which should you invest in? With that in mind, we've put the GamesRadar+ heads together to trim down a great year to just the five very best RPGs that you need to check out from this year!
5. Avowed
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X
When a new RPG arrives from Obsidian, expectations are high, and Avowed didn't disappoint. Set in the same universe as the Pillars of Eternity games, Avowed shifts from an isometric perspective to a first-person one, tasking players with investigating a bizarre spiritual plague called the Dream Scourge. It's weird and kind of gross, corrupting souls and turning everything a bit Last of Us.
This title offers you many different ways to play it, too, with popular builds including ones focused on magic, pistols, or good old melee combat. Way back when Anna Koselke reviewed it in February, she said, "Avowed takes Obsidian's penchant for stellar storytelling and combines it with breathtaking visuals to create what might just stand as one of this year's best RPGs," and she was absolutely right.
4. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Developer: Warhorse Studios
Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X, PS5
Oh, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Bane of my productivity in February and March, and the most immersive game that I've played since Red Dead Redemption 2. Despite being a full-on RPG, it actually shares a shocking amount of DNA with Rockstar's epic. It is as equally obsessive about creating a living, breathing world, for one, whether you're out in the forests of Bohemia scouring bushes for herbs or prowling the streets of Kuttenberg.
What makes this game truly great, beyond its strong story and enjoyable action, is how reactive the world is. What you make Henry of Skalitz do will have an impact on the game world – something as simple as carelessly wearing a ring around the person that you pilfered it from will get a strong reaction. It's an entire world that you immerse yourself into and lose 100 hours, and every one of them will have been worth it.
3. The Outer Worlds 2
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X, PS5
It's rare that a developer ends up with two games in one of our end-of-year wrap-ups, but Obsidian thoroughly deserves it. The original Outer Worlds was a decent, if inessential experience, but The Outer Worlds 2 has taken everything that worked well in its predecessor and improved on it.
It's a shockingly plastic game, one that lets you bend it to your will in a huge variety of ways. If you want to just gun everyone down, you can, if you'd rather use your wits, you can, and if you'd like to create some kind of chimeric monstrosity of a protagonist who does both, you can do that too. The game will play along with your choices, no matter how boneheaded they may appear to be. It also takes the thieving RPG protagonist stereotype to its logical extreme by ditching encumbrance, a very, very welcome quality-of-life feature. Now you can ransack houses to your heart's content – brilliant!
2. Hades 2
Developer: Supergiant Games
Platform(s): PC, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2
At first glance, Hades 2 might not seem like an RPG, but look below the surface of Supergiant's titanic portion of action and you'll find a keenly devised action RPG in there. Persistent upgrades that change Melinoe significantly, the huge build variety, and the bond system all contribute to making the game much more than a simple hack-and-slash.
After an ungodly (or should that be ungodsly) number of hours in Hades 2, every run still manages to feel fresh thanks to the game's somewhat random nature. It's refreshing that such a comparatively small game is able to stand toe-to-toe with the biggest titles going. We love Hades 2 – it builds on what was already a staggeringly excellent game and doles out a double portion of well-written, exciting, and plain fun action role-playing.
1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Developer: Sandfall Interactive
Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X, PS5
Clair Obscur was a title that seemed to come out of nowhere, then take over the world. An homage to Japanese RPGs like Persona, with a truly Gallic twist; a JRPG that smokes Gauloises, but it's so much more than that once you dig into it. What really sets the game apart is how capable it is of tugging at our heartstrings, with themes of love and loss sprinkled embedded within like emotional landmines. Dig even further, though, and you'll find a multilayered experience that is also capable of invoking hope and finding beauty in mortal terrors.
The story, while key to an RPG, is just one element of the game – its beautiful world and fun combat, combined with its strong support following release (it nearly made it onto the list of best ongoing games), and fantastic characters make it an experience that will stay in the mind of anyone who plays it. A superb game that deservedly wins this category, and the studio's debut at that!
Get stuck into the best games of 2025 for the ultimate rundown of the year's heaviest hitters.
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