TheRPGgenre is expansive and varied, offering several sub-genres ranging from turn-based combat to real-time action battle systems and much more, having something for just about any player and playstyle. While most titles are outstanding in the genre, the vast majority center around your party rising up against all odds to save the world or defeat a literal God.
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While there are some RPGs where you aren’t fighting God,you will still be fighting to save the world over some entity or corrupt leader, making the stakes feel a bit too grand at times. Fortunately, there are many fantastic RPG titles that have a more focused and contained plot, where you aren’t expected to save all of humanity.
10Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time is, perhaps, the darkest Mario game in existence,and has Mario and Luigi time travel in attempts to save the Mushroom Kingdom from being overtaken by invading alien forces known as “Shroobs.”
Even with the time travel aspect and other-worldly beings invading their homeland, the game centers around Mario and Luigi trying to drive the Shroobs out of the Mushroom Kingdom to save it. While they are still saving an entire kingdom’s worth of people, the world as a whole isn’t at stake, which makes the story much more focused as a result.
9Tactics Ogre
Tactics Ogreis a tactical JRPG that centers around various factions going to war with one another, leaving critical choices up to you throughout the story, leading to three possible endings.The beauty of Tactics Ogre is how each path gives you a different perspective on the battles being fought and the suffering that comes with it.
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All routes in Tactics Ogre are dark, harrowing, and downright depressing, but that’s what makes it such an excellent and oddly refreshing take on a game focused are war. Furthermore, the fact there isn’t a looming threat that can wipe out humanity makes it a more grounded and believable tale that is worth checking out, especially now that it has been remade for modern platforms.
8Dragon Age 2
Like Tactics Ogre,Dragon Age 2features a more focused story that deals heavily with the politics of the game’s world and its conflicts. However, unlike Tactics Ogre,Dragon Age 2’s primary focus is on local areas instead of several factions heading to war with one another.
Nonetheless, the laser focus of Dragon Age 2’s narrative and overall themes allow it to shine bright when big twists and turns pop up and enable you to sink your teeth into the areas you explore without feeling like the weight of the world is on your shoulders.
7Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Regarding JRPGs,Yakuza: Like a Dragonmay be one of the best ones ever created, and Ichiban, the game’s main protagonist, is a significant reason for that. Like every Yakuza installment, Like a Dragon’s plot is hard set in the drama and action that follows the life of members of various Yakuza Families.
There’s no worldwide threat, no celestial entities looking to exterminate everyone in the city, just Ichiban trying to piece together everything that has happened during his 18-year prison sentence for taking the fall for a murder to protect the Arakawa Family.There’s no better drama or storytelling than the Yakuza series, and this checks all the boxes and then some.
6Disco Elysium
Speaking of fantastic writing,Disco Elysiumfollows a Lieutenant RCM Detective recovering from a three-day bender due to an event that caused him to spin out of control and kickstart his mid-life crisis. This man is named Harry, and, depending on your actions, he can continue spiraling out of control or redeem himself.
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Disco Elysium is an extraordinarily unique and charming RPG with superb writing and characters, making it a must-play for fans of the genre.Trying to solve cases as a detective that checked out mentally days ago can, and likely will, lead you down a whacky path you will not expect.
5Fallout: New Vegas
Instead of waking up from a three-day, self-inflicted bender,Fallout: New Vegasbegins with your character regaining consciousness after being ambushed by Benny. Benny is a mobster who runs “The Tops” casino on the Las Vegas Strip and possesses tremendous power and influence because of it.
When you fully recover, your goal is to track Benny down, which has you travel across the Mojave Wasteland, where you will encounter various factions, characters, and threats that will push and pull you in several directions. Ultimately, you will make New Vegas a slightly better place or will make it much, much worse by the actions you choose and the people you choose to align yourself with.
4Pokémon Red & Blue
Pokémonis a series that, for the most part, has never been about your character overcoming impossible odds and taking down a God or saving the world from a rogue, ultra-power Pokémon or a trainer abusing their powers. However, Pokémon Red and Blue (as well as most installments in the first two generations of the series) sidestep this completely, which is why we chose them.
In Pokémon Red and Blue, you’re simply just a kid trying to fill out your Pokédex, beat gym leaders to earn badges and defeat the Elite Four. That’s it. The world won’t end if you can’t achieve that goal, and no one’s life is in danger. It’s a simpler time and one we might actually prefer for something like Pokémon.
3Nier: Automata
Nier: Automatais an excellent example of a game that subverts your expectations every step of the way. On the surface, you’re able to see the battle with God coming and see 2B and 9S save the world by rising to the challenge and defeating it.
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However, that’s not the case. In fact, that’s not even remotely close to what the central theme or plot of the game is.The emotional rollercoaster that is Nier: Automata deserves your time and undivided attention,especially now that it is finally on every modern platform and runs well on them too!
2Valkyria Chronicles (Series)
Valkyria Chroniclesis a strategy JRPG series that takes place on an alternate version of earth and centers around conflicts of war in the 20th century, with each installment of the series following a different unit while taking place during the same timeline in roughly the same period.
Though it never quite reached the heights it maybe should have, Valkyria Chronicles has a dedicated audience that will, rightfully, fight for the game’s narrative and unique “BLiTZ” and real-time battle systems. Everything from its setting to the overarching storyline makes it a perfect fit for this list.
1The World Ends With You
Despite what its name may suggest,The World Ends With Youis not an action JRPG about saving the world from a God or other ultra-powerful being. Instead, you play as Neku, a teenage boy forced to partake in the Reapers' Games event.
This is a week-long event in the Underground, an alternate plain of existence, where creatures known as the Noise reside. The overall goal and plot of The World Ends With You is to compete in the Reapers' Games to either get revived in the “real world” or transcend your spirit to another plain of existence and become a Reaper. This game has everything you’d expect a game to have that has you defeat God and save the world, but it pleasantly subverts your expectations every step of the way while delivering an unforgettable and emotional story.
