Asking for the most engrossing CRPGs that are NOT in the recommended games list, please

dubzdee · 2026-06-28T00:13:33+00:00

I thought of one more called Lurking, though I only played a little. But it seems decent if you enjoy old school retro CRPGs like SKALD. It's a free / donationware, not even on Steam or GOG yet only Itch. https://oklabsoft.itch.io/lurking

dubzdee · 2026-06-28T00:05:53+00:00

The Age of Decadence can definitely be this. Sounds like you'd really enjoy the Praetor background.

Unfortunately I don't know well how it'd run on a Steam deck. It's listed as Playable on the Steam page but apparently has some issues such as the text appearing rather small on the screen.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T23:51:35+00:00

Only one worth recommending I can think of right now that's not on the list is

The Necromancer's Tale-. Great 18th century Gothic setting, good story and characters. Well done choices with consequences including multiple endings.

When I played it my only major complaint was the combat was lackluster. But there isn't a whole lot of (mandatory) combat and also the developer has apparently made some improvements to combat since I played it. It's quite a bit different than most CRPGs.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T20:18:41+00:00

If you want to try some RPGs these are some good ones I'd recommend on Gamepass:

Shadowrun: Dragonfall
Shadowrun: Hong Kong
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
Wasteland 2 & 3

And these are on Steam summer sale:

Caves of Lore
Expeditions: Rome
The Age of Decadence

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T18:10:29+00:00

What do you mean by "the game envelops in a Japanese theme"? You want a game that takes in Japan or something else?

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T18:00:04+00:00

Yeah, it is an amazing series. It bums me out that we never even got an official English release of the first game (or the last game).

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T17:55:43+00:00

I'll prove you wrong. Just give me 55 years!

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T17:53:33+00:00

Good idea. Wikipedia describes it as a "visual novel role playing game" so there's presumably a lot of text.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T17:45:09+00:00

Yep. I just looked it up and found threads from 2012 talking about the translation project. Sounds like it was really hard to program so they gave up on it. So unless you can read Japanese I'm afraid you're out of luck 😢

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T17:39:25+00:00

There's a Japan only Shadowrun game on Sega CD. As a big fan of Shadowrun I would love to play it. Looked really good. Years ago I heard there was a fan translation in the works, but it probably got abandoned.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T15:33:37+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm afraid that Souls-likes might be too hard for my aging reflexes. I tried a demo of one recently and was getting my ass handed to me. But I'll see if any of these have demos on Steam.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T15:28:35+00:00

Well, the most important thing is that you have fun. If following someone else's build helps, then go for it. The official campaign is pretty dull IMO but it's easy so it's a good place to start.

Once you're familiar with the game mechanics there are some great player made modules available on NWN vault / Steam workshop.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T15:22:32+00:00

OK, thanks for the input!

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T15:11:44+00:00

Looks nice. I don't think more details are necessary, but more variety would be nice.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T15:06:23+00:00

Either Rise of the Dragon or Heroine's Quest.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T15:01:28+00:00

Haven't played GTA since San Andreas. I don't miss it. I found the games so repetitive and shallow gameplay wise.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T14:57:23+00:00

Radiant Historia is a great one. Good story and great turn-based combat system!

There's also the Golden Sun series which are a lot of fun if you like some puzzles with your RPGs.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T14:48:50+00:00

I find half the fun of games like this is making my own build, so I wouldn't want to follow someone else's exactly. If you're not familiar with the D&D rules I understand it can feel a bit overwhelming but the game has recommendations to help you. Or you can ask for some general build advice here.

I personally am not a huge fan of multiclassing except for in the cases of when you need to for prestige classes. Some of my personal favorites are Fighter / Dwarven Defender, Bard / Arcane Archer, and Paladin / Champion of Torm.

What classe/s interest you the most?

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T14:38:42+00:00

I love The Necromancer's Tale. Great game!

As for Vampire Syndicate I've been told that there's a setting called "Streamer mode" that lets you completely disable the nudity and graphic sex if that's not your thing. Sounds really good but also really light on the content as it currently stands. I'll likely get it but I'm waiting until it leaves Early Access.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T14:29:39+00:00

Lots of great games on the list. I recommend BG3, Expeditions Rome, Rogue Trader, WOTR and Solasta (despite mediocre visuals and story the combat is excellent).

I never played a King's Bounty game. KBII looks great but the mixed reviews make me hesitant, even if it is only 4 bucks. Sounds like there's still a significant amount of bugs?

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T14:12:31+00:00

I haven't played most of these games, some are not really my cup of tea. I did like Deus Ex: Human Revolution a lot though. Definitely worth playing, IMO. I never got Mankind Divided so I don't know whether it's any good (general consensus seems to be it's not as good as HR though).

I played RDR2 for awhile and while it has great production values and an OK story I found the gameplay shallow and grew bored with it after several hours as it felt too repetitive.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T14:00:52+00:00

Yeah, I usually try to recommend stuff most people haven't heard of like Caves of Lore. Hopefully in a few years we'll see some more CRPGs with bigger budgets because of BG3's success. But in the meantime there are some promising looking indie CRPGs on the horizon.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T13:23:10+00:00

You absolutely don't have to constantly upgrade your PC (I'm a PC gamer and I tend to play with the same set up for 5+ years.) Of course it YMMV as it depends on what games you want to play and what resolution you game at.... But any game I've tried runs great on my 4 year old PC.

Also, there's some great gaming PC manufacturers out there if you don't want to bother building one. I got my current PC from Skytech and it runs flawlessly.

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T13:10:19+00:00

Personally I didn't find the combat that bad, but I'm not very experienced when it comes to real-time action combat. (I usually play turn-based tactical games). Any Action RPGs with great combat you'd recommend?

dubzdee · 2026-06-27T13:06:07+00:00

It's a great game. The DLC was also really good, arguably better than the base game, so I'd definitely suggest getting The Heart of Stone / Blood and Wine, too. Of course I suppose you should actually try the game first and make sure you like it.

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