Key things
- RPGs excel at combining storytelling and world-building through engaging text.
- Roadwarden, Wildermyth, Citizen Sleeper, Suzerain and Disco Elysium stand out for their immersive text experiences.
- These titles offer deep emotional connections, rich character development, intense moral dilemmas, and compelling political stories.
Role-playing games have their roots in the world of text and text titles. Who knows where the genre would be today if it weren't for the monolithic tabletop RPG world that preceded it? If the best RPGs have anything in common, it's an excellent combination of storytelling and world-building to create a highly engaging and highly immersive title.
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However, some games in particular can use the written word to enhance their world. A significant area of overlap between books and video games is the prose's ability to capture the imagination and get the player much more connected to their game. For gamers who don't mind a bit of reading, here are a few titles to look out for.
5 Roadwarden
A longing journey through the untamed hinterland
Roadwarden is a title that, despite being full of life, leaves the player feeling lonely, in the best possible way. There is a strong emphasis on the protagonist, who is built from the ground up based on early player decisions. This almost introspective tone is especially interesting given that the story itself lends itself to one of great adventure – the Roadwarden must brave the wilds of the peninsula to help grow settlements and cities and protect the innocent from the monsters that roam the land.
It parallels many great RPGs that have a fluid, dynamic world that is constantly changing. IN Roadwardenthe text is used along with fantastic graphics with a fascinating amber tone. The event descriptions, NPC dialogue, and combat interactions are fantastic textual parts of this title, and the attention to player choice puts it in some of the great branching RPGs out there today.
4 Wildermyth
A fairy tale epic of mythic proportions
Wildermyth is one of those games that will stick with players for a long time. Not only is it an incredibly engaging strategy RPG, but it has a new character creation system that does the impossible, combining the kind of attachment and depth found in pre-written characters, along with the creative freedom and storytelling that comes with custom characters. There are many intricate ways in which the character's personalities and events work, but the best way to play this one is to simply immerse yourself.
With each event and hundreds of variations based on the characters' personalities written so artfully that it's not uncommon to forget about the world outside of the game, there's a strong but understated sense of wonder to this game. Each campaign is conceived as a mythic retelling, an epic that features a group of adventurers fighting against some long-forgotten threat.
3 Citizen Sleeper
A dystopian space RPG
This unique text-based RPG is a masterpiece in cyberpunk aesthetics and themes, perfect for fans of… well, cyberpunk. There's a huge amount of passion put into the work here, from the tabletop-inspired stats to the unique mix of colors and illustrations that make up the style of this game, with a heavy emphasis on shadows, deep blacks and bright reds. The text itself is of a novel quality, reading like a mix of enthusiastic DM worldbuilding with pulp sci-fi classics of the 70s and 80s.
This is a game with hard choices, capitalist dystopias and compelling characters. The perfect title for anyone looking to immerse themselves in a space-focused environment without cutting corners.
2 Suzerain
A political RPG that won't offend
Suzerain uses text and narrative to immerse the player in the deep political machinations of a single nation and its nascent democracy as it struggles to find a place for itself in the world. The fictional nation of Sordland is theoretically under player control, but those looking for a powerful fantasy will have to look elsewhere. The old, crypto-fascist former president continues to manipulate parliament, the political right and left are trying to steer the country in two different directions, and through it all, the president must try to get a large enough coalition of allies to get his political ambition – a refined constitution – through parliament.
There's no other way to say it – this game is brutal. A fantastic, utterly compelling, near-perfect representation of what a good text-based RPG should be, yes. But also brutal. There are no promises that things will work out, no promises that what one person tells you is true, but if a player does nothing but compromise and hedge bets, they will find a country with nothing to show for it by the end of the year. this amazing 900,000 word title.
1 Disco Elysium
One of the best RPG ever
BAFTA Award Winner Disco Elysium it has a level of quality that pretty much speaks for itself. It's one of the greatest CRPGs of the 21st century, and with that comes a lot of wonderfully written prose. Deciding how the protagonist makes his way through the world, what his political and philosophical leanings are, and how this shapes the city around him is one of the most engaging experiences to be found in a video game today.
Gamers would be doing themselves a disservice if they didn't get into this gritty, surreal, and highly immersive RPG with dream-written text and world-building that will leave people in awe. Like the other titles on this list, the text isn't the only barrier to entry, as it's quite a difficult title at times and requires a solid attention to detail, but players who like deep RPGs won't want to miss this one.
