Baldur’s Gate 3 has, quite rightly, received a whole host of awards as well as acclaim from fans and critics alike. It’s not only one of the best games of 2023, but one of the best games. Full stop.
Baldur's Gate 3 has been a stand out title from 2023
The RPG manages to offer a wealth of brilliant experiences including detailed branching dialogue, fantastic strategic combat, lots of Dungeons and Dragons lore, and a beautiful open-world to explore. If you loved Baldur’s Gate 3, then what else should you be playing on PlayStation Plus?
Love the dialogue? - Disco Elysium
Nailing the dialogue in any game can be tough. You want something that not only feels natural but something that will pull in the player and have them hanging on every word. This is something that was perfected in Disco Elysium, another game based on dice rolls and random interactions. While Disco Elysium is a lot more surreal, its dialogue drifts back and forth between tones, sometimes playful, sometimes dreamlike, and often poignant. Much of this game is dialogue as there’s no traditional fighting or action, so the ‘over one million’ lines of dialogue have to transport the player.
Love the party building? - Dragon Quest XI
Putting together a part of heroes felt very unique in Baldur’s Gate 3. There’s a great sense of personality in everyone you meet. While this does happen in other games, it’s perhaps not to the level of detail seen in Larian’s RPG. If we look to one of best JRPGs on PlayStation Plus, Dragon Quest XI, we can see some wonderful characters brought together to save the world. You’re going to get a glimpse into what makes JRPGs such a compelling genre, with an eclectic cast of characters.
Love the turn-based Combat? - Sea of Stars
Many RPGs will focus on two ways to fight, either in real-time, or via turn-based mechanics. One recent game that managed to make the aging turn-based system feel fresh and unique, was Sea of Stars. This wonderful RPG featured battles that required a selection of an ability that then has players interacting in time with actions on the screen to buff the damage or healing potential of the ability. It’s a brilliant example of when turn-based battles can work well, though there are plenty of other RPGs that could take the crown here as it’s such a tried and tested mechanic in the genre.
Love the strategy? - Disgea 5
While the combat of Baldur’s Gate 3 is turn-based, to some degree, it is also incredibly strategic, and if you want strategy gameplay then look no further than Disgea 5. Now, you might hesitate given that this is part five of the series, but there’s no need to have played the earlier installments. Fighting in Disgea takes place across a grid and requires players to plan in advance where characters are placed and what abilities they use. The positioning, much like in Baldur’s Gate 3, is key to battle. It’s like a game of chess, lining up the pieces on a board - pieces that feature a great personality, plenty of humour, and some stand-out wacky moments.
Love the lore? - Kingdom Hearts
If you want lore, then you’ll get lore. So much lore that your head will spin. Kingdom Hearts is a JRPG that mixes Final Fantasy elements, original content, and Disney franchises. That might sound preposterous, but it is. There are websites filled to bursting with fan theories, and confirmation of character interactions, lives, and deaths. The lore of the universe is so vast that even hardcore fans can struggle to piece together all the different plotlines from the games and the spin-offs. Thankfully you can focus on the initial stories of the first three games, all on PlayStation Plus.
Love the depth? - Skyrim
RPGs generally feature a great deal of depth and longevity, and one of the best examples of this comes from Bethesda and The Elder Scrolls series. Chief among the franchise has to be Skyrim for its enormous world, the vast number of quests, and its replayability. Skyrim is the game that keeps on giving, one that tasks players with the chance to create an original character and explore a detailed world. There’s a reason that Skyrim has remained popular over the years, it’s a chance to venture off finding brilliant points of interest or getting lost in a dungeon or cave.
Love the open-world? - Ghost of Tsushima
In recent open-world games, Ghost of Tsushima stands out as featuring one of the most beautiful places to explore. Feudal Japan is an astonishing place, one filled with things to see and secrets to uncover. The landscape changes from small bamboo groves to lush fields of long grasses, and hidden away in these areas are traditional temples, hot springs, and battlefields. To be honest, several games could fulfill this want for an open-world, including Horizon Forbidden West. RPGs are a great source of escaping to other world rich in detail.
Featured Image Credit: Larian/SonyTopics: Baldur's Gate 3, Skyrim, Ghost Of Tsushima, PlayStation, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Playstation Plus