2014 was a strong year for the role-playing genre even though, yet again, Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3 were nowhere to be seen. Fortunately for fans, there were more than enough great games to fill the big holes. So which of these should you be purchasing? You can find out in our guide to the top five best RPGs released in 2014 to buy during Black Friday and the rest of this holiday season.
5. Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition
Chances are you may have already played Diablo III in one form or another. Even so, the Ultimate Evil Edition is the best version of the game yet (especially at 1080p and 60 frames per second on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One). Along with the tight controls (which seems more suitable to the gameplay than a PC and mouse), Blizzard also added Reaper of Souls expansion and a Nemesis system where you can avenge a friend’s death by killing an increasingly more powerful enemy.
So, even if you play the other versions to already, Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition is still worth buying. You can do so with this link.
4. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
While Persona 5 won’t be released next year, Atlus did launch a Persona game this year that should make the wait much shorter. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth combines the casts of Persona 3 and Persona 4 in addition to adding some gameplay elements from the Etrian Odyssey. As a result, you get an addicting dungeon crawling RPG with the same flash as the previous two mainline installments.
Even if you are not a Persona fan, Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth is still a great game to play on the go and should last for many hours. Check out the current price tag for the 3DS release with this link.
3. South Park: The Stick of Truth
After multiple delays, South Park: The Stick of Truth finally came out in 2014. Obsidan did a stellar job working with the show’s creators to not only create a faithful experience, but also provide a fun game as well. The dark humor transitioned flawlessly from the television screen to the interactive world while the timing-based combat should also keep players engaged throughout.
The Stick of Truth is a must buy for fans of South Park in addition to the RPG genre in general, especially if you are looking for something a little different. Find the price for the licensed game here.
2. Dark Souls 2
The Souls series was one of the breakout franchises of last-gen. The last of the three titles, Dark Souls 2, was released earlier this year and received great reviews. The sequel made some improvements to the first Dark Souls such as a better targeting system and more aggressive enemies that are less exploitable. There are simply no other games in the same RPG genre that can produce the same sense of accomplishment as From Software did with the series.
If you haven’t experience Dark Souls 2 yet, make sure to pick it up right now with this page on Amazon. You may also look into the two previous games, as well as the upcoming Bloodborne, in the next links: Bloodborne, Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls.
1. Dragon Age Inquisition
Bioware was able to make a great comeback with Dragon Age Inquisition after the tremendously disappointing Dragon Age II. One of the many improvements that were made include multiple playable races, a huge world to explore and deeper combat system that requires more strategic maneuvers. Keeping up with traditions, you can also use the Dragon Age Keep app to import all of your previous choices from the first two games in the series.
As you may expect from a Bioware release, Dragon Age Inquisition is also very well written as you will be easily engrossed in the world. Not to mention that it is highly replayable too with branching story paths and different perspectives when it comes to the race of the main character.
If you only afford one RPG for this Black Friday and the rest of the holiday season, make sure to pick up Inquisition with this Amazon page.
With these games, RPG fans should have more than enough to play until the next crop of releases in 2015.