Gamers have an infinite wealth of titles to choose from, but their wallets are limited. With this in mind, many want to find the best bang for their buck and buy one game that will last them for weeks or even months.
RPGs in general are great for this because of their generally long runtimes, but the games below go even beyond just being lengthy experiences. It is easy for any entry in the genre tojust make it a grind,but it takes a truly masterful studio to craft an adventure that stays compelling from the first moments until the end credits. Note that free games will not be considered for this list.
The eighth mainline entry in theLike a Dragonseries is the second to be a turn-based RPG. The story mode alone will take players about 50 hours, and that is before getting into any of the beefy side content and side quests.
The various minigamesand challenges available inInfinite Wealthprovide both variety and replay value. Unfortunately, new game plus and some endgame dungeons are locked behind DLC, but players are still looking at about one hundred hours of content with just the base game.
Infinite Wealthgets the entry and notYakuza: Like a Dragonbecause the latter has a couple of moments where players need to heavily grind to progress.Infinite Wealth’sprogression eliminates the need for grinding.
Anybody who didn’t playFinal Fantasy Remakecan probably find it for a relatively inexpensive price. Then, they can move on toRebirth, which is a significantly longer adventure that sates gamers of all types. The main story alone takes about 45 hours to complete.
Then,there is a wealth of side quests to complete. For completionists, they can try their hand at hard mode, which provides some of the most difficult RPG battles in modern gaming. All in all, doing everything there is to do inRebirthcan take players close to 200 hours.
As ifPersona 5was not a long enough game already,Personal 5 Royaladds additional content to the experience. The great thing about the game’s structure of going through a typical school year is that it lends itself to playing little by little over a long period of time.
Whether one likes to play for hours upon hours a day or just go through an in-game school day every few days,Persona 5 Royalfeels right either way. The game has a great balance of narrative and gameplay, offering plenty of both.
It is difficult to describe just how varied one’s playthrough ofBaldur’s Gate 3can be. Every decision players make has a rippling effect on the narrative and various side quests. A single playthrough can take between 60 and 100 hours, but players are encouraged to go through it again and make different decisions.
Players can even go through thecampaign cooperatively (either locally or online), with each player having basically full autonomy. The multiple difficulty modes also make the game accessible for both newcomers to the genre and avid fans.
4Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Bundle
Six Classic RPGs In One Bundle
For a little over the price of one new game, players can purchase six classic RPGs that are each over 20 hours long.That is more than 100 hours worth of content.It is interesting to go from the first game all the way until the sixth entry, seeing how the series developed over the NES and SNES generations.
Because they are six games, there is a clear point where players can take a break before moving on to the next title if they choose not to blitz through the whole bundle. Assists available in the options menu also make the games easier for those who just want to play the story mode.
BioWare released one of the early examples of a CRPG making its way to consoles (ironically making the term CRPG somewhat obsolete).Knights of the Old Republicfeels historical for this very reason and its gameplay, though difficult to understand at times, still holds up today.
Fortunately, it is much cheaper to purchase these days for Nintendo Switch or mobile devices, making it a great game to play on the go forfans of both RPGs andStar Wars. While it is shorter than a lot of other RPGs, players will want to do multiple playthroughs for the different dialogue choices that affect whether one goes to the dark side or the light side of the force.
Tactics Ogre: Rebornis a re-release of the cult classicTactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. This game is great for any fan ofFinal Fantasy Tacticsalong with anyone who appreciates more grounded stories as opposed to those that lean into the fantasy elements (though there is still magic and sorcery).
The story alone takes about fifty hours to complete, but players are encouraged to replay certain segments to see the different story paths and get the fullTactics Ogreexperience.Rebornis also available on Switch, and the battles generally take between 15 and 30 minutes, which also makes the game great for bite-sized gameplay chunks on a commute to work or school.
Tactics Ogre: Rebornis set apart from other entries here by its tactical RPG vibe.
Just oneMass Effectgame has enough content and branching paths to justify its inclusion on this list. Bundling the whole remastered trilogy as a single game is a deal that’s too hard to pass up.
Not only will all three games take over 100 hours to complete,but decisions in each game affect the next, meaning players are bound to find something new if they replay it. This re-release not only improved the visuals but also tweaked certain gameplay elements of the first game to bring it up to date with the second and third entries.
Multiplayer is missing from the third game, but servers are still online from the original release.
