Incline RPG Codex's Best RPGs - 2024 - VOTING IS CLOSED

[BosanskiSeljak]

Butter what min-reviews are missing at the moment?

These are the ones I currently have:

Disco Elysium: 2 (felipepepe, BosanskiSeljak)
The Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos: 2 (Konjad, Optimist)
Knights of the Chalice 2: 1 (CryptRat)
Baldur's Gate 3: 1 (Konjad)
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous: 0
Elden Ring: 1 (Hell Swarm)
Brigand: Oaxaca: 1 (Konjad)
Caves of Lore: 1 (BosanskiSeljak)
Dungeon Rats: 2 (Konjad, CryptRat)
Prelude to Darkness: 1 (Konjad)
Avernum: Escape from the Pit: 0
Titan Outpost: 1 (Optimist)
Blackguards: 1 (CryptRat)
Colony Ship: 1 (Konjad)
Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children: 0


Still need:
1 for Knights of the Chalice 2
1 for Baldur's Gate 3
2 for Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
1 for Elden Ring
1 for Brigand: Oaxaca
1 for Caves of Lore
1 for Prelude to Darkness
2 for Avernum: Escape from the Pit
1 for Titan Outpost
1 for Blackguards
1 for Colony Ship
2 for Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children

I'll probably do one for Titan Outpost. It's not the end of the world if we get more than 2 for some games.

I'll do you one for Avernum: Escape From The Pit as I've just replayed it.

What word count you looking for chap?

250-350 word count approx.

 

[Hell Swarm]

Well, cool. So what exactly is H. P. Lovecraft's Cat's problem?

Wait, I already know. He's drunk again.

I apologize for bothering you all with this. I should have known. Carry on.

He goes into multiple threads to rant about DD2 and how great it is. Most his posts in Elden Ring's thread is this garbage and yet he's not thread banned for it.

Dark souls 2 has 3 votes. Drag queen's dogma has 1 vote. That means Dark souls 2 is 3 times better than the drag queen game.

Why do you hate Dragon's Dogma 2? Show me on the doll where it touched you.

Aren't you the one who wants a sex doll because no woman wants you? If you weren't such an annoying faggot shitting up every thread with Drag queen's dogma 2 it would be less hated here. You annoy people so much they dislike it because you constantly want to drag threads off topic with it.

Blackguard collection is on sale on Green man gaming. You can get all 3 games (2 and a DLC I think?) for £1. I picked it up yesterday and intend to try it later on steam deck.

 

[processdaemon]

In the end I did a BG3 mini-review anyway, but if someone comes along who actually put it in their top 10 go ahead and replace it.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a revival of the Baldur's Gate series, although the degree to which it lives up to that association is up for debate. While Larian's origin system means that the backstory of your protagonist can vary, one thing they all have in common is waking up on a Mindflayer ship with an unwelcome guest lurking behind their eye. BG3 is the story of how you and a colourful cast of libidinous companions deal with this, with twists and turns along the way that align the story more with the original saga (something more apparent in certain origins than others).

BG3 is an RPG with mainstream appeal, and it's not hard to see why; Larian's budget gave them the opportunity to make a game with full voice acting, motion capture and an accessible combat system in the form of Larian's adaptation of D&D 5e. 5e's simplicity is enticing to new players but can be offputting to long-term cRPG fans. This has only been exacerbated by Larian's itemisation which can change the game from easy to trivial as your build comes online in later acts, with a decline in the quality of the encounter design as the game progresses also contributing to this. The combat goes from genuinely enjoyable at the start to serviceable at the end when Larian were clearly struggling with balance.

At its best, BG3 is a character focused romp through a well-crafted world with memorable NPCs (like Auntie Ethel and Raphael) that makes you feel like the actions of your protagonist impact the game world. At its worst, it can be narratively incoherent and it becomes apparent on replays that your choices matter less than the game might lead you to believe. At times it feels like a pantomime; bright, exciting, dramatic, and even complete with a villainous musical theatre number, but requiring substantial suspension of disbelief to overlook plot holes and the shallowness of some of the less well developed characters. It's a game that worth playing, but if you are a fan of the original series you should manage your expectations.

 

[Harthwain]

In the end I did a BG3 mini-review anyway, but if someone comes along who actually put it in their top 10 feel free to replace it.

This is a good suggestion.

 

[Cohesion]

Baldur's Gate III - @whydoibother
Elden Ring - @Cryomancer

Get to work, bitches.

Imagine their revios.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

I didn't vote for Brigand, but I'll give a review a shot anyway:

When you first load up Brigand: Oaxaca, you wonder why someone told you this ugly abomination is actually a good game. The strange, barely human looking characters that dot the landscape look like a stretch even for a post-apocalyptic game. After a short dialog, and you get control of your character, you wonder why people like something that controls this jankily. How does a game that feels like it does everything wrong get so much praise? It's just another ugly, post-apocalyptic RPG.
Despite everything, the game is more than the sum of its shoddy looking parts. The game offers unparalleled freedom, there's very little you can't do, or can't go, if you have the right skillset. With enough agility, you can jump over any hill. There's usually stuff up there too. Quests can be solved pretty much any way you can think of, if you want to switch sides you very likely can. Quests often have multiple ways of solving or even outright two entirely different ways of winning.
Exploration is where the game truly shines, wandering around post-apocalyptic Mexico, on the constant look-out for bandits, demons and various treasures. You spot a treasure you didn't before. Then you see in the distance a demon. You stand still and carefully aim. Direct hit. One of his friends charges after you, and your companion goes after him, with a lead pipe instead of her gun. You curse, as she dies and four more demons show up. Such is life in Oaxaca, and you wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[Butter]

Titan Outpost

Your mission to the Saturnian moon Titan has not gone entirely to plan. After a botched shuttle landing, you're alone, your outpost has little power, and you need to begin harvesting liquid methane to ship back to Earth. To complicate matters, you're soon contacted by corporations, eco-terrorists, and even the Chinese, and they're all interested in what you're doing out here.

Titan Outpost combines exploration, base-building, survival mechanics, and traditional RPG character systems, but without the expected RPG combat. The result is one of the most freeform experiences outside of sandbox games like Kenshi; it always feels like player choice is the driving force of the narrative. There are multiple endings, some rather obscure, and the ability to solve problems in different ways makes it highly replayable.

Perhaps the game's greatest strength is its hard sci-fi setting. You'll find no ray guns or aliens or FTL drives here. It takes years to travel from Earth to Saturn. You will freeze to death if you spend too long outside, and different surfaces have different rates of conductance, meaning they can cause you to freeze to death even faster. You will spend a significant portion of the game just trying to keep yourself alive while somehow finding spare power to expand your outpost and conduct scientific research.

Titan Outpost released in 2019 to minimal fanfare, and it deserves much better. It was quite bug-riddled on release, but it has been improved significantly since then. It is a true hidden gem, and if you're getting tired of endless fantasy RPGs, you owe it to yourself to give the game a try.

 

[Butter]

Reviews still needed:

1 for Knights of the Chalice 2
1 for Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
1 for Elden Ring
1 for Caves of Lore
1 for Prelude to Darkness
1 for Avernum: Escape from the Pit
1 for Blackguards
1 for Colony Ship
2 for Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children

 

[Hell Swarm]

I've just started blackguards and it's really charming. In another few hours I can write a review if it's still needed. I think 5 hours of gameplay is enough to understand what makes the game tick.

 

[Gandalf]

I'm not a good writer, I think, but I'll try to write something with my broken English.

 

[Hell Swarm]

I'm not a good writer, I think, but I'll try to write something with my broken English.

This is a trick! Faggot wizard!

 

[Butter]

I'm not going to alter the substance of what anyone writes, but I will attempt to fix spelling/grammar/lack of clarity/formatting. CryptRat's reviews are going to be broken up into multiple paragraphs for ease of reading.

 

[Gandalf]

Knights of the Chalice 2 is one of the most interesting titles released in recent years that offers extremely rich experience for cRPG enthusiasts. This piece of software ships with Tutorial and Augury of Chaos modules for you to play and also contains extensive editor that allow you to create your own magnificent scenarios and campaigns.

My translator stopped to work with me. Let me know if this is any good. If yes - I will continue tommorrow. If no - I will stop.