Why RPGs Are Absolutely Dominating Gaming

We're getting some of the best content we have ever seen

2023 is officially behind us now and although the year could be described as underwhelming at best in most regards, we did get some amazing gaming content to hold us over until better times. Sequels, reboots, and DLCs dominated the gaming world this past year and fans couldn’t be happier. Normally, this style of release would result in gamer fatigue, but the industry showed up in 2023, showing recycled content isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

One of the most notable of these additions is the Cyberpunk 2077 expansion, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Cyberpunk 2077 had a very high bar to reach when it was first released. Fans of the Witch 3 expected CD Project Red to give them one of the greatest games ever made, with fine tuned details and amazing storylines. What they actually received was a buggy near unplayable mess.

But CD Project Red isn’t one to let their good name be tarnished by a bad release. The team constantly released new updates and patches to the game before finally releasing Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty in 2023. All of this effort has catapulted Cyberpunk 2077 into many top ten lists of the best modern RPGs. Unfortunately, the game is not likely to recover from its botched launch but that doesn’t mean it’s not an amazing game as well as a good example of how companies should handle a bad release.

I Am So Much More Than What You Made Me - Astarion

Speaking of amazing DLCs, God of War Ragnarök surprised everyone right at the end of the year by dropping a free DLC for their base game. This addition added a new roguelike mode to the game that really embraces the combat and action that made the franchise famous in the first place.

The most impressive release of this past year, by a large margin, is Baldur’s Gate 3. Not only did this title win Game of the Year, but the game also cemented itself as a piece of pop culture. Larian Studios managed to take an all but dead franchise and turn it into the most talked about game of the year. You couldn’t get on any form of social media without running the risk of spoilers for Baldur’s Gate 3 for months following the game’s release.

Since its release in August, Larian Studios hasn’t slowed down regarding Baldur’s Gate 3. They have been continuously patching and updating the game. This obviously includes general bug fixes and the like but what has fans so mesmerized with the studio is that they haven’t stopped adding new things to the game. It is almost unheard of for a gaming company to continuously add new content post release on this scale that also happens to be free of charge. This is just one of the many reasons gamers have come together to make Baldur’s Gate 3 one of the top three selling games of 2023.

I would be remiss if while on the topic of great RPG games, I didn’t mention the newly released remake of Super Mario RPG. While it may be more of a niche remake, it is still an important release to mention. Super Mario RPG combines aspects of traditional JRPGs with the characters from the Mario universe that everyone loves.

The reason this release is so important is because it is so niche. It shows that Nintendo still cares about all aspects of their fandom and is listening to what they want. Instead of just releasing another Mario Kart to make a quick buck, the company pulled out a little known classic from almost 30m years ago and gave it some new polish for fans to enjoy.

Sure, some people may be upset about the number of remakes, sequels, and additional content that dominated the scene this year. But as far as quality goes, I would say that these companies have been listening to the fan bases and releasing top notch content for us to engage in. And as long as they keep up this trend, I am ok with it. I think I could spend the entire next year just going on new adventures with my favorite characters again.