The turn-based RPG is one of the most divisive genres of video game available. Some people jump at the opportunity to play whatever the latest popular turn-based game is, and others avoid them like the plague even if they’re developed by creators they tend to enjoy work from. They’re often seen as a relic of the past by their detractors, despite the fact they’re still very much alive. As such, there’s one comment we keep seeing over and over again whenever a new turn-based RPG breaks onto the scene: “turn-based RPGs are back!”
Whilst yes, whatever the hot new turn-based RPG is likely leading to a spike in players of the genre in that given moment, it seems like a somewhat dismissive thing to say. The issue is, with so many good turn-based RPGs coming out, gaming spaces online keep saying it over and over again and failing to realise the truth. You see, turn-based RPGs may be back to you personally, but for the industry at large they never left.
Recency Bias 101: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
It’s a phenomenon we’ve all heard of, but recency bias plays a big role in the constant framing of turn-based RPGs being back from some unspecified disappearance, and there’s one big one we’re all thinking of right now. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has received massive critical acclaim, even becoming one of the best reviewed games on Metacritic of all time. It’s a huge success, and rightfully so. We gave it a perfect 10 in our review, and it deserves almost every bit of praise it receives. Many herald it as perhaps being Game of the Year, as did we. That being said, there’s that one line repeated in a lot of discussions across social media that just isn’t true – that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 revived the turn-based RPG.
It is a great turn-based RPG, and that was very much baked into it. What Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wanted to replicate was the impact of classic Final Fantasy games, which themselves were turn-based. Whilst the franchise has drifted from its roots, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 takes us back to them, it’s just one of many games that have successfully done so. That’s what we mean when we say that turn-based RPGs never left, because all we have to do is look at what many consider to be last year’s Game of the Year.
Metaphor, Baldur’s Gate and selective memory
Yes, it was only last year that a turn-based RPG was the talk of the internet, as Metaphor: ReFantazio surprised us all with its incredibly refreshing interpretation of turn-based battle mechanics. Yet somehow, a lot of the discourse around turn-based RPGs being back from the dead are missing the key fact that everyone already said that last year. Selective memory seems to be very strong for this genre of game.
The point doesn’t end there though, as all we have to do is turn the clock back another year to look at what most perceive to be 2023’s biggest and best game of the year, which was Baldur’s Gate 3. You’ll never believe what genre that is! Yes, it’s a turn-based RPG. We’ve had three years in a row where turn-based RPGs have been some of the most discussed, best-selling and best-reviewed releases, yet people still pretend that turn-based games have been missing. It’s not just the last few years though, as if we take it back further we get Persona 5 in 2016, one of the most influential games in the genre, one that’s widely known by many and even got Smash Bros. representation.
Turn-based RPGs are super effective
If you’re still not convinced, we might need to acknowledge the elephant in the room. The elephant in this case is the highest-grossing media franchise of all time. Bigger than any other game, bigger than any other movie or merchandise IP, atop the biggest possible pile of gold sits a single franchise: Pokémon. The massive amounts of money that Pokémon has earned comes from the fact that it’s one of the most popular franchises amongst children, and this fact has remained true across at least three generations of kids. Pokémon makes its name from its games, it always has since Red and Blue – and they’re turn-based RPGs.
Oftentimes, Pokémon is removed from the turn-based RPG conversation because they tend to be easier than others, but this still can’t negate the fact that this is Pokémon’s genre and has been since 1996. That’s what makes the idea that turn-based RPGs ever went anywhere so baffling, as we’ve had almost three decades of a turn-based RPG quite literally ruling the entire global media industry.
This isn’t to say that Pokémon, Metaphor: ReFantazio and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are anything alike; they aren’t, but that’s actually the beauty of the turn-based RPG genre. It has never left, it has never died, but what it has done is be reimagined and reinterpreted over and over again, manifesting itself as everything from a creature catcher game to an epic fantasy saga. Turn-based games are varied, so it’s understandable that for any individual that one turn-based game may capture their passion for the genre more than another does. That’s a great thing to see, and I support any turn-based RPG that gets new people into the genre with its unique perspective, but it’s a disservice to decades of gaming history to suggest that the turn-based RPG is back when really they never left.
Do you agree with our assessment of the persistence of turn-based RPGs? What are your favorite turn-based games? Sound off in the comments down below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more gaming analysis and opinions just like this one.
I’ve always loved turn-based RPGs!! Some ARPGs are ok, but if two games I’m interested in are coming out around the same time & one’s turn-based vs. one action, I’ll take the turn-based every time!! I personally prefer taking my time to think about my next move; sip my coffee & plan my strategy – which is why I dislike QTEs, I skip those games.