With some of the best RPG games for Xbox delivering the most phenomenal role-playing experiences around, making our shortlist is no mean feat. Through supportive freedom, autonomy over the narrative, and the right to make your experience as unique and rewarding as possible to you and you alone, RPG games are the epitome of gaming.
Okay, let’s not be in denial here. RPGs are real video gamers games. Right? But which RPG titles are worthy of crowning the best role-playing games on Xbox?
Let’s find out! 👇
Best Xbox RPG Games
For anyone with an Xbox console, get yourself comfortable as we’re about to reveal our shortlist of the most epic RPG titles to play this year. From classics that could easily be considered as the greatest Xbox original games of all time to more modern titles, scroll down to find your next grand adventure.
Here are the best Xbox RPG games to play now:
- Elden Ring
- Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Dues Ex: Mankind Divided
- Middle Earth: Shadow Of War
- Fallout 4
- South Park: The Stick Of Truth
- Dragon Age: Inquisition
- Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
- Dark Souls 3: The Fire Fades Edition
- Monster Hunter World
- The Witcher 3
Get the loot ready; it’s time to go on an adventure! 👇
Elden Ring
Critically acclaimed as one of the best Xbox games of all time, Elden Ring is a complete masterclass evolution of the Souls-like genre of RPG games for Xbox. While also a fantasy and open world game, the success of Elden Ring can be attributed to the new open world, which gives the player the freedom to explore and tackle quests, bosses, and dungeons in whatever order they please.
The critically acclaimed ARPG also thankfully manages to avoid existing genre tropes – this is no Assassin’s Creed or Witcher – and offers its own unique fusion of challenging gameplay and free-form game design.
Don’t Miss: Complete Elden Ring Review (Full Breakdown)
For anybody who is a fan of Dark Souls, this game is a must purchase. Additionally, for anyone who is totally new to the genre, you should definitely start with one of the best Xbox RPG games of the bunch and Elden Ring is the cream of the pack.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
It may be erroneous to include a game that came out on the Xbox 360 many moons ago, but there’s a reason Bethesda keeps releasing Skyrim as much as humanly possible. In fact, Elder Scrolls 6 could be potentially years away so there’s plenty of time to keep playing or replaying this classic RPG title.
The source of a litany of memes, the story of the Dragonborn’s quest to stop the World Eater Alduin from consuming all the lands of Tamriel, as well as the equally rewarding side quests for groups like the Thieves’ Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Companions, and the College of Winterhold, all make up the genetics of a game that is held in high and fond regard by the general gaming demographic.
On top of this, Skyrim makes the cut as one of the best RPG games of all time as you get the games’ three expansions included in the package; Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn respectively. Hearthfire is a bit flat with just property management as the only selling point, the task of helping the vampire hunters in Dawnguard and doing battle with the first (and now corrupted) Dragonborn Miraak in the nearly eponymous third expansion making up for Hearthfire’s lack of pizzazz.
Skyrim is obviously not without its flaws. The combat is by no means a tactical affair, the AI can be a bit janky and being a Bethesda game, you’ll run into your fair share of bugs and glitches. However, that being said, there’s a ton of content in Skyrim that a player can lose themselves for tens or even hundreds of hours.
We love Skyrim, flaws et all!
Dues Ex: Mankind Divided
Dues Ex received a rough start with its fairly insensitive marketing campaign and criticism of its pre-order structure which allowed players access to early Praxis Kits (items that enable players to upgrade their skills and abilities). However, despite its controversies, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a great showcase of the balancing of a hybrid of genres, with RPG being the prevailing one.
Recurring protagonist Adam Jensen is back after the events of the equally sublime Deus Ex: Human Revolution, this time to stop a civil war of sorts from erupting in a world where humans augmented with enhancements are segregated in society. As mentioned above, the game utilises a few different genre styles and borrows mechanics from other games. A more prominent element in Deus Ex is the dialogue, and the choices the player makes as Adam, with your decisions having a genuine impact on the events in the story.
Without question one of the best RPG games that blend other styles of gameplay.
DE:MK also gives a lot of freedom in terms of playstyles, allowing players to choose how or even if they want to engage with a situation. You can talk your way around problems, weaponizing your words into smooth and persuasive tools that draw clues out of suspects or allow you to slip into unauthorised areas. Alternatively, you can become a walking tank, crushing anyone that looks at you the wrong way. After all, you can’t be caught if there aren’t any witnesses left.
Middle Earth: Shadow Of War
After the success of Shadow of Mordor, it makes sense that a sequel was never far behind. After all, when your setting is in the world of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books, the possibility of what you can do within the realms of a video game is almost endless.
In Shadow of War, you play once again as Talion, still sharing his body with the spirit of the elf Celebrimbor, as they look to raise an army to stand against the dark lord Sauron by forging a new Ring of Power.
The original Shadow of Mordor received praise for its “Nemesis System” where enemies would remember the player after either killing them or surviving a skirmish with them, subsequently gaining more power and influence in the world. This returns again, this time adding in the ability for Talion/Celebrimbor to amass their own army and devise strategies and tactics with regard to attacking enemy encampments and fortresses.
In my personal opinion, games that take on a license of something like Star Wars, The Simpsons or Harry Potter, work at their best when they indulge and cater to their established fanbase without raising the drawbridge and shutting out players who aren’t as acquainted with the franchise at hand.
Thankfully, Shadow of War (and also Shadow of Mordor) do just that.
Fallout 4
Another title from Bethesda that makes the cut as one of the best RPG games on xbox, say hello to Fallout 4. Except, this time venturing into the post-apocalyptic wastelands of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, rather than the mountainous regions of Skyrim, Fallout’s initial excursion onto the Xbox One wasn’t perfect by any means.
However, it was genuinely fun to play, explore, and discover the shady disappearance of your kidnapped son across the entire title. Unlike the previous iterations, the player character now has voice acting as opposed to the formerly text-based responses, but the real star of the show is the American state that is the backdrop to the Sole Survivor’s journey to reclaim their child.
The dilapidated buildings that house precious loot, the monuments that pierce the horizon that intrigue you to explore, the underground tunnels that are teeming with ghouls, malfunctioning robots, and automated security, these things all stew in the melting pot that is Fallout 4 that leaves an irresistible breadcrumb trail for the player to follow.
There’s also a deep crafting system thanks to the inclusion of settlements, intertwined with the returning but elaborated weapon construction and modification system, allowing you to make zany weapons of mass destruction to decimate Deathclaws and Bloatflies alike.
The Bethesda open-world environment is chock full of secrets, side quests, enemies, and loot just waiting to be discovered, with a main story that will force the player to choose how the fate of the Commonwealth will be decided.
South Park: The Stick of Truth
This entry may raise some eyebrows and cause some people to wonder why we are including a game that openly makes a mockery of pop culture and is synonymous with toilet humour on a list about the best Xbox RPGs around. Allow us to make our case.
Before we played this game, being a fan of South Park (similarly as we did with The Simpsons Hit & Run and The Simpsons Game), we went into it merely happy with the fact that I’d get an interactive experience based on a TV show that we watched, with the quality of the game an added bonus. South Park: The Stick of Truth exceeded all our expectations, and we would imagine the many fans/players had the same reaction. Thankfully, all the components were just right for the game to be a triumph.
Being published by Open World/RPG veterans Ubisoft and developed by Obsidian who are no strangers to the genre having worked on the brilliant Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout: New Vegas, the game had the right people working behind-the-scenes.
A huge part of the success of games like this also relies on the cooperation and inclusion of any source material or contribution from the show’s writing and production staff, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s original story was both hilarious and allowed the game to retain South Park’s authentic soul. SP:TSoT has all the axioms of great and classic RPGs, albeit in a more simplified manner to allow people who may have picked up the game merely because of the South Park brand, but this doesn’t lessen it for the more fanatic RPG crowd who can easily grasp and master things like the turn-based battle system.
South Park: The Sitck Of Truth may look like a 20 hour joke game from the outside, but there’s substance to the comedic style, and much more than just a casual or throwaway RPG. Much, much more.
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Something of a sleeper and cult hit, Dragon Age: Inquisition is overshadowed to some degree by its Bethesda created counterpart Skyrim, and was initially marred by the stigma of Dragon Age II’s critical reception. However, BioWare revitalised the series with the 2014 release that burrows deep into the action portion of RPGs while simultaneously relating more to the board game/tabletop crowd and frequenters of Dungeons & Dragons with its emphasis on dialogue and non-combat encounters.
As the Inquisitor, it is up to the player to close “The Breach” , a tear in the continent of Thedas that is allowing demons, spirits, and monsters to spew forth from a plain known as The Fade and wreak havoc on the world and its inhabitants. In addition, the player must negotiate a civil war that is gradually brewing and ready to bubble over.
The beauty of a great RPG in my humble opinion is the flexibility and optionality provided to players with regards to the Role aspect of the game. The breadth of choice the game presents you with to truly play the character you want to be and exercise your will in the world, whether that’s by becoming a complete pacifist or a power-hunger egomaniac, is up to you and the game supports you in your efforts, however noble or selfish.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is a tremendous RPG that ticks all the boxes of the genre, and should take pride of place in any player’s library of games.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
Regardless of whether you’re into FPS games, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is one of the best action RPG games on Xbox right now delivering everything you could expect from a Borderlands title and much more.
We weren’t going to add a game that was heavy on shooting into our list of best Xbox RPG games, however, the story-telling through Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands makes it very much an RPG game rather than just a looter shooter.
Learn More » Read Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands Review
Assuming the role of the ‘The Fatemaker’ within a wild game of Bunkers & Badasses (D&D), of which Tiny Tina is the dungeon master, you’re in for an epic ride throughout Borghoff as you fight your way to save the realm. Talking with hilarious characters, melding weaponry to defeat armies of skeletons and just revelling with all that is good about a Borderlands title, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a high-quality action RPG game that will also appeal to anyone who likes a more fast-paced looter shooter title too.
It’s wild, it’s zany, it’s got bags of character and some of the jokes throughout will make even the sookiest of souls chuckle just a little.
Dark Souls 3: The Fire Fades Edition
Infamous for its punishing difficulty, the Hidetaka Miyazaki created series is no place for the faint of heart. It is without question one of the most challenging RPGs for Xbox players. But simply one of the best.
While that makes it hard to recommend to new players, that does nothing to diminish the series overall as a fantastic trio of games that will test the will, determination, and execution of even the stalwart RPG player, as even the lowliest of minions can spell certain death for the unprepared or the uninitiated.
As The Ashen One, the player must traverse the world of Lothric and rekindle the First Flame to maintain the Age of Fire and prevent the Age of Darkness, where the undead rise to plague the land, by returning the souls of Prince Lothric and the Lords of Cinder to Firelink Shrine by defeating them in battle.
Bethesda (as many other publishers and developers do) let their world entice the player to poke around in every nook and cranny, and while I’m not accusing of Dark Souls 3 and FromSoftware of not doing that with the mystical and dangerous kingdom of Lothric, it does it in a more veiled way by entangling its story and lore within its world. This encourages players to let their curiosity be their guide as they search for more and more clarity in the unfolding events.
We have also recommended the Fire Fades Edition for the fact that, like the Special Edition of Skyrim, includes the DLC packs of Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City, both of which only add to the value.
Monster Hunter: World
If you’re looking for a game to engulf all your gaming time thanks to the sheer enormity of its world and tasks laid out before you, look no further than one of the most expansive RPGs for Xbox that is Monster Hunter: World.
As a settler for the New World, the player embarks on a quest to tame the land that they and their people have arrived at by establishing settlements and defending them from the antagonistic wildlife by either killing them or trapping/capturing them. Your other primary objective is to aid in the research and observation of Elder Dragons and discover why they migrate to the New World every ten years.
Teeming with a living and breathing world that is full to the brim with NPCs, quests, side tasks, items, weapons, and of course, monsters, the loop of the game is simple, but feels so good to take part in that it can keep you playing to the point where hours feel like minutes. The database and bestiary for Monster Hunter: Worlds is near infinite, so for RPG fans that like managing inventory and crafting, this should have your mouths watering in no time.
Combat is simple but effective. The crafting is extensive yet accessible. The environment is vast while being easily traversable. If Dark Souls is too hardcore and macabre for you, Monster Hunter: World is a fantastic alternative and could potentially be considered as one of the most incredible JRPG storylines of all time.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Often cited as one of the best games of modern times, The Witcher 3 is a masterclass in video game design in practically every department. As such, it takes the crown as the best RPG game for Xbox both today and most likely for a long time to come.
We would love to be able to give this spot (or indeed any spot on this list) to CD Projekt Red’s most recent project of Cyberpunk 2077, but alas with all the trials and tribulations plaguing that title (notably more on the previous console generation) we can’t in good conscience do such a thing.
Tangents aside, Geralt’s third adventure to rescue his adopted daughter from the pursuit of the ethereal Wild Hunt is a triumph in how to create an enthralling project. The multitude of systems that dance and play together all meld into a beautiful symphony of ideas that seeks to give the utmost value and entertainment to its players. You’ll start as a poor enchanter and work your way up to making so much money in the Witcher 3 that you’ll be sipping wine in Toussaint.
The weapons available to slay your enemies (both human and monstrous), the magical mutations that Geralt can imbue to aid him in his combat prowess, the side quests, the pursuit of better armour and equipment, the voice/digital acting, the additional activities like horse racing and the now standalone card game Gwent; The Witcher 3’s cup runneth over in both quality and quantity.
Any words written about CDPR’s majestic piece of work fail to truly convey how good it really is. I strongly encourage those reading this who are yet to play to step foot into the world of The Continent and take up arms in this magnificent adventure.
Best Selling All Time Xbox RPG Games
As much as we would love to think that our list of the best RPG Games for Xbox One and Xbox Series was synonymous throughout the gaming community, that is not the case. If you’re looking for high-quality RPG titles that have also been adored by millions of other Xbox gamers worldwide, this shortlist of the all-time best-selling RPG Xbox games is for you.
Remember, total unit sales are for Xbox only, and therefore the order of this list may not be accurate when you combine other platforms too.
Nevertheless, here are the top 10 best-selling RPG games for Xbox One & Xbox Series X combined:
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| # | Title | Release | Unit Sales † | Buy Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elder Scrolls: Skyrim | Nov 11, 2011 | 14,000,00+ | Buy Game → |
| 2 | Red Dead Redemption 2 | Oct 26, 2018 | 6,100,000+ | Buy Game → |
| 3 | Fallout 4 | Nov 10, 2015 | 5,030,000+ | Buy Game → |
| 4 | Fable | Sep 14, 2004 | 5,000,000+ | Buy Game → |
| 5 | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | May 19, 2015 | 4,300,000+ | Buy Game → |
| 6 | Assassin’s Creed Unity | Nov 17, 2014 | 3,580,000+ | Buy Game → |
| 7 | Tom Clancy: The Division | Oct 5, 2018 | 17,300,000 | Buy Game → |
| 8 | Cyberpunk 2077 | Nov 16, 2018 | 14,300,000 | Buy Game → |
| 9 | Monster Hunter World | Nov 19, 2021 | 13,900,000 | Buy Game → |
| 10 | Ark: Survival Evolved | Oct 18, 2019 | 13,500,000 | Buy Game → |
† Unit sales are an estimate.
Did you spot the error-plague Cyberpunk in that list? My lord, they really did screw a lot of people over upon first release! How on earth so many people bought the game despite plenty of pre-launch noise surrounding it’s beta-state is actually beyond us!
Best RPG Games For Xbox Roundup
The real beauty of playing the world’s best RPG games for Xbox is that each one is so unique and can often be dictated by your own preferred style of gameplay. Bury your head within side quests or delve straight into the main storyline as you take charge of your favourite protagonists or antagonists.
One thing that the very best RPG games for Xbox have in common is not just smooth mechanics but gripping storylines with plot twists and options to mould your own versions. Whether you want to take the helm as Geralt or forge new rings as Talion, there are so many brilliant RPG games for you to choose from.
Did we miss any titles? Let us know your favourite RPG games in the comments
Meanwhile, here are some other awesome articles with listicles on the best games for each core genre available on Xbox.
- Best Xbox Survival Games.
- Fun & Child-Friendly Xbox Games.
- Best FPS Shooting Games.
- Spiderman Miles Morales (PS5) Review.
- Best Xbox Open World Games
- Dying Light 2: Stay Human Review
- Best Book Inspired Video Games
- Must Buy Xbox Racing Games.
- Best Sports Games On Xbox Consoles.
- Best Horror Games For Xbox
Content Disclaimer: This handpicked shortlist of the best role playing games for Xbox has been independently written. We have not been commissioned by any manufacturers featured on this list, nor have we received any royalties for this article. This includes financial reimbursement, free advertising or free gifts.
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