There is no genre where indie games are more embraced and beloved than role-playing games. Small developers have infused the genre with classics for years and are frequently considered to be among the all-time best in the genre, even better than some triple-A titles. This is likely due to the variety of what the genre can offer as well.
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While many earlier indie RPGs have reached a high level of success, the last five years have showcased a terrific run of games in the category that will be remembered for a long time. Those looking for a newer RPG from an indie developer have plenty of games to choose from.
Updated on June 11, 2023, by Ritwik Mitra: Only the most heartless gamer around would scoff at the rise of indie RPG gaming. The fact that small developers can now break into the market with sheer heart and determination is truly magisterial and goes to show just how important indie games are to propel the notion of creativity in the modern gaming landscape. Gamers who had the templatized nature of modern games will absolutely love how innovative some indie games really are, with the RPG genre being set ablaze with a wealth of unique and engaging titles that fans of the genre should definitely check out.
Please note that only games made in 2018 or later qualify for this list.
Living a double life can be difficult, but players in Moonlighter should enjoy taking on the many roles of Will. The shopkeeper takes care of his store by day but goes out to fight monsters at night. While in Rynoka village, players will be able to manage what to sell at the store while also setting the prices and managing the money the store has collected.
The indie roguelike will task players with taking on monsters while not at the shop, forcing them to carefully study each enemy and understand how to defeat them using both weapons and the environment.
Castlevania is considered to be one of the greatest action-adventure games of all time, and people have been itching for a new entry in the series. One of the producers that worked on the series was Koji Igarashi, who served as a producer at Konami.
After leaving the company, Igarashi decided to start a new studio to create a Castlevania spiritual successor. In the indie RPG Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, an orphan named Miriam is looking to save herself and society from being destroyed by Gebel and must go through a demon-filled castle to do it.
Developed by Chinese indie developer miHoYo, Genshin Impact is an action RPG that takes place in the fantastical world of Teyvat. This world is home to seven different nations, each with a God that rules over it.
Players are the Traveler, a twin who is looking for their sibling somewhere in the world. Joined by Paimon, they must get involved with the gods and nations in order to find where the other twin went. Players can travel the open world in a party of up to four characters, controlling only one of them at a time.
Despite being released by major publishers, RPG 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is the work of indie team Vanillaware. The plot of the game revolves around thirteen high school students who live in Japan during the 1980s.
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Early on in the game, the group is forced into a war set in the future which is a fight between Kaijus and mechs. The game is a side-scrolling adventure game with a combat system that takes place in real-time. Players will also need to explore and talk to people in order to advance the narrative while also examining scenes in Analysis mode.
The idea of a narrative-driven RPG with randomized events and procedurally-generated maps and encounters sounds like an experiment that can go up in flames if developers are careful while integrating these systems. Thankfully, Wildermyth didn't fall for this trap and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that this game is easily one of the most underrated strategy RPGs on Steam.
Characters may be randomized and generated by algorithms, but they still have a ton of heart to them that most other scripted role-playing games can only dream of! Party members can form friendships, rivalries, and romantic relationships as they engage in amazing adventures before eventually passing the baton down to their children or other fledgling adventurers.
While the game was out in early access, indie RPG CrossCode was officially released in September 2018. From developer Radical Fish Games, this action RPG is stylized like an old-school SNES game and is set in the future.
The player is Lea who is playing a fictional MMORPG called CrossWorlds. The game revolves around the conflicts and interactions that take place in the game she is playing. The game features a fast-paced real-time combat system as well as various puzzles that will need to be solved as the game goes on.
When thinking about classic role-playing games by major developers, Nintendo's Paper Mario games from the early-2000s come to mind. To the ire of some fans, the developers have moved away from what they feel made the series' first two installments a solid turn-based RPG.
Moonsprout Games felt similarly, and thus Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling was born. Players take on the role of three insects as they explore Bugaria in search of treasure and eternal life. Like its inspiration, the game uses paper-like aesthetics and turn-based combat.
Before Obsidian Entertainment was an Xbox Game Studio, it was considered one of the most successful indie developers out there with multiple hits since its start. One of its last titles before being purchased was the sequel to one of its highly successful role-playing games.
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Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire once again puts players in the role of the Watcher, an individual with the ability to read people's souls. The game focuses on traveling the open seas on a ship and also dealing with enemies once on land. Players can choose between classes that each have four subclasses.
Fans of games like Earthbound and Undertale will become hopelessly enamored with Omori and how brilliantly it subverts expectations. At the start of the game, most people would feel that the game is nothing more than a cute RPG that explores the story of a boy and his friends as they explore a surreal world and have a great time with their friends.
However, it doesn't take long for players to figure out that something is really wrong in this game. The psychological horror side of the game comes out in unexpected and brilliant ways that keep players on the edge of their seats as they uncover the mystery surrounding both Omori and Sunny.
The sequel to the critically acclaimed indie smash-hit Rogue Legacy was finally released in 2022 and fans were eager to hop back into the procedurally generated worlds, aided by a list of randomly generated ancestors. The newest release didn't stray too far from the original formula, which made the first game such a blast to play, but did manage to add a slew of new and interesting mechanics, along with new (and supremely challenging bosses) and enemies.
The end result is an expanded Rogue Legacy experience that has players grinding for gold, building their castle, defeating a slew of challenging bosses, and finding new and helpful heirlooms Metroidvania style to help them progress through some previously inaccessible areas. Rogue Legacy 2 is deserving of its high Metacritic score for providing gamers with an upgraded Rogue Legacy experience that never strays too far from its source material.
What started out as an iOS release in 2018, Barbearian is a colorful and entertaining top-down hack-and-slash-style release that plays a lot like Hades, Nobody Saves the World, and other action-packed bullet-hell-infused releases. A game that definitely doesn't take itself too seriously, the Indie release exceeded expectations and works incredibly well as either a mobile release or a PC title (via Steam).
Players that are looking for something that feels different, should give Barbearian a chance. Its high-octane action-packed gameplay should appeal to most players and it features a wide array of difficulties, challenging those that are looking for something a bit more difficult while simultaneously appealing to a crowd that just wants to relax and hack away at enemies.
Dark Souls set a precedent for most players, providing the gaming world with a tough-as-nails gameplay loop that felt fantastic to conquer. Players would find themselves struggling against minor enemies, hacking and slashing their way through them to challenge some truly imposing and unforgiving bosses. This style of gameplay helped to influence some great Indie releases, with many of them opting to go the exceedingly difficult route.
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Curse of the Dead Gods is a great example of a difficult gameplay loop done correctly. Fans of Hades will feel right at home with this top-down release, which has players heading through a series of procedurally generated areas, collecting weapons and upgrades to help them stave off the darkness and survive some truly harrowing foes.
Chained Echoes is a game that came out of nowhere and became a hit among JRPG fans. The game's unique take on the leveling system coupled with its callbacks to classic games like Chrono Trigger helped it stand out as a great example of a game that perfectly combines classic genre tropes with modern innovations to great effect.
Valandis is a beautiful land to explore, full of different landscapes that look pretty unique and interesting. The Overdrive system is also pretty engaging and forces players to switch things up in combat instead of employing the same tactics over and over again.
Role-playing games tend to focus on combat, but that is not at all the case in Disco Elysium. In a game by ZA/UM, players start as a detective who is struggling with amnesia and initially learn nothing about the character as they are thrown into solving a murder mystery.
The game focuses on skill checks and dialogue to drive the gameplay. Players have a set of 24 different skills that they can upgrade throughout their journey that can help get to the bottom of what is really going on in the game.
Supergiant Games' most recent game was considered one of the best games of 2020. Hades is a roguelike where the player character, Zagreus, is attempting to escape the Underworld and his father Hades to make it to Mount Olympus.
The game is presented in "runs" that the player must go through. When going through a series of rooms, players will face hack-and-slash style combat that, if they survive, can earn them rewards that can help with continuing the run and may even help in future runs as well.
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