Perfect Turn-Based RPGs That You Haven’t Played

Turn-based RPGs have always been a popular genre, whether it’s simplistic RPG-makers or more extravagant triple-A releases, but because of how crowded the space has become, a lot of great games get swept under the rug. There are so many exceptional RPGs that even diehards will have missed, and they are all sitting there waiting to be experienced in all their glory.

You have pixel-art junkyards, sci-fi spaceships, and classic-style RPGs that compete with the best the genre has to offer. It doesn’t matter what kind of turn-based RPG you are looking for; there is bound to be one out there that you are yet to try that just might become your next favorite.

Wolfstride

Mechs Meet Talking Dogs

• Stylish turn-based combat with a visual novel structure.
• Resource management in the middle of fights.

Wolfstride is an exceptionally strange take on the turn-based RPG, combining tactical mech battles with a story that takes you deep into the criminal underworld. You play as Dominic Shade and set out to conquer the world’s most elite mech fighting competition, becoming stronger and learning over time to become the best in the arena.

The combat has considerably more depth than it appears, and each match poses a new threat for you to overcome and exploit, assuming you can make it through unscathed. In between the fights is an extensive story that takes you to all kinds of different settings full of quirky characters, and you get to experience each person’s story through a visual novel style that combines all the best parts of several genres at once.

Kingdoms Of The Dump

Turning Trash Into Gold

• Garbage-themed adventure with traditional RPG structure.
• SNES style that evokes classic JRPGs.

Kingdoms of the Dump is exactly the sort of RPG that can disappear beneath the sheer volume of indie releases despite having an incredible, memorable premise. Set in a junk-filled world inhabited by anthropomorphic garbage, you find yourself at the center of a huge adventure across the world, and it is up to you and a rag-tag group of heroes to save the dump from a war.

Everything about the game feels familiar, from the combat to the party-based progression, while the setting provides enough personality to prevent it from feeling like a simple retro imitation. It is also very comedic and imaginative and gave me a real sense of wonder as I grew to know and love the characters and their boldness in the face of defeat.

Entropy

Weird And Wonderful

• Bleak dark fantasy setting.
• Tactical battle system.

Entropy blends grim and frankly brutal visuals with a classic turn-based RPG structure that makes use of both new and old concepts in one package. Set in a dying world where humanity has been reduced to isolated settlements, you must travel across a dangerous land, taking out demons and building up the strength of your party piece by piece.

The appeal goes well beyond its striking retro aesthetic, as not only can you control a party of up to six characters, but you can also recruit new ones along your journey as you push further on into the dark unknown. I have had a blast exploring the different towns and locations in the Early Access release, and things are only going to get bigger and better from here in the lead-up to the full launch.

Brutal Orchestra

Strange Yet Surprisingly Complex

• Grotesque art style hides exceptionally deep roguelike RPG.
• Party composition dictates success.

Roguelikes and RPGs don’t often cross paths, but when they do, the results can vary from perfection to failure. Brutal Orchestra is for sure on the former end of the spectrum, presenting you with a surreal setting that houses a bizarre underworld filled with grotesque enemies and strange characters that only get weirder as time goes on.

The combat is where Brutal Orchestra truly distinguishes itself, as your characters occupy positions on a battlefield, and movement can be just as important as choosing which attack to use. Different characters and abilities interact with those positions in ways that encourage you to construct synergistic teams rather than relying on a single dominant strategy, and within just a few runs, you will realize just how unpredictable and in-depth the game is.

Space Wreck

Something Old, Something New

• Old-school RPG gameplay.
• Player choice dictates many situations.

Space Wreck is a love letter to the classic CRPGs of the late 90s, taking place in a bleak post-apocalyptic future where humanity has been scattered across the remnants of civilization. Rather than pushing you toward a predetermined build or playstyle, it emphasizes freedom, allowing character skills and decisions to determine how situations unfold in a surprisingly large number of ways despite its smaller scale.

That kind of reactivity is what makes it appealing to older fans of the genre. Every moment of exploration and combat is tied into that same philosophy of a player-driven story. It feels like the sort of experimental CRPG that could have developed a cult following decades ago, and one that deserves a whole lot more love today.

Tinyfolks

Condensed To A Few Pixels

• Bare-bones RPG design.
• Huge variety despite minimalist exterior.

Tinyfolks scales down several familiar RPG concepts into a focused package that is by no means worse than any of its contemporaries. You start out by recruiting and training a group of tiny soldiers, developing their abilities while exploring a dangerous world, and fighting all manner of fantasy creatures.

From there, you get to upgrade and unlock more units, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The lack of visual complexity hides just how many paths of progression and layers of depth there are beyond the surface. I was skeptical at first, but after figuring out how to use enemy weaknesses and my abilities more tactically, I realized that TinyFolks truly is a special RPG that virtually any player, new and old, could come to adore.

UFO 50

An Entire JRPG Hidden Inside

• Several turn-based games of all kinds.
• A full-length JRPG, among others.

UFO 50 looks like a collection of pixel-art minigames with not a lot of substance, yet each one offers a completely different style of game with as much polish and variety as many larger games. There are platformers, beat-’em-ups, puzzle games, but perhaps most impressively of all, a full 60+ hour JRPG in Grimstone that many owners of the game may never have even opened.

It’s simple and exactly what genre purists love to see from an old-school JRPG, but there are actually more turn-based games tucked away in the library. Divers is another style of turn-based RPG that takes you under the waves, and there are many more genre-blended titles within the package that should keep you entertained for dozens of hours, proving that looks can definitely be deceiving.