What is an RPG?

If you like odysseys, drawing on the codes and premise of tabletop role-playing games. If you feel capable of embodying one or more characters that you will develop, grow, and improve over the course of a quest. If there is a genre of games that invites travel, it is indeed role-playing games, also called RPGs (from English Role Playing Game).
These games let you live epic adventures through stories full of twists. But you need to have time.
What differentiates them from the story mode of a shooter is the time it will take to finish these games. An RPG ends after several tens of hours; some reach as many as a hundred hours of gameplay. These games are very close to the “choose-your-own-adventure books.”

The only gameplay mode available in an RPG is its story mode. You must complete a main quest. This can be to prove your innocence as in Blackguards or simply to save your skin against hordes of zombies as in Dead Age.
In these games, you will also find side quests. These quests are much shorter than the main quest, but they are also much more numerous. These quests typically involve killing brigands or bringing sausages to the cousin in the neighboring village. They are not always mandatory but completing them will reward you with a gift or an upgrade.

Thus during your adventure, your equipment will evolve, but that won't happen without trouble. At best, a blacksmith will be happy to upgrade your weapon and armor in exchange for a few pennies. At worst, you’ll have to go fetch your weapon yourself, and it is usually guarded by an army of monsters that have nothing better to do with their days than attack you if you poke your head out.

Fantasy, but not only…

While many RPGs typically take place in fantasy universes, many games can set you in a science fiction universe like

As usual, a few lexical clarifications are necessary :

A J-RPG

A Japanese role-playing game, think Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Tales of series we mentioned earlier. In a J-RPG, you play as a hero surrounded by companions. These are the best-selling games in Japan for decades.
A little anecdote. The game is so popular there that a record rate of school absenteeism was recorded at the release of Dragon Quest 3 (in 1988). The Japanese government thus had to pass a law prohibiting Square Enix, the game's developer, from releasing new installments on weekdays!

An American RPG

Yes, we have to admit that the term didn't require hours of brainstorming, but at least it's clear. The most famous of them are Skyrim and the Fallout games. These games are similar in many ways to the old Dungeons & Dragons-style dungeon nights. You create your character, give them the appearance you want, choose their class (mage, thief, barbarian, etc.), and off you go.

Action RPG

ZELDA! Sorry, I got carried away. It's The Reference, but it's also the most obvious example. You indeed play as a predefined hero (for example, Link, just as a random example) and you're going to save the world. Here there is no team; you're on your own against hordes of villains. You can find gameplay phases borrowed from other genres, such as platforming, for example. The gameplay is more action-packed than in a J-RPG.

Turn-based Combat

It's something unique to J-RPGs; your party is lined up in a neat row, facing the enemy. The members of your party hop in place and wait patiently for their turn to attack (the enemy does the same, rest assured). Some hate it, others love it. This style of combat has been fading in recent years in favor of more dynamic battles.

RPGs are games that have appealed to players across generations; you may already have a few at home. The only constraint is the investment required to finish the game. But if you have the time, dive into one of these worlds. RPGs are above all invitations to travel; some, like Evoland, even let you traverse the history of the RPG (and the development studio is French). You are immersed in a fantastical world for the duration of your gaming session, and you forget the worries of daily life.
So, ready to live the most beautiful adventures of your life? Find all our RPGs.