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With the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, there was a renewed interest in the CRPG (Computer Role-Playing Game) genre. While it doesn’t automatically mean it’ll have a revival, the extra attention it's getting might help getting some attention to it again.
So while we wait for some cool new titles (fingers crossed!), we’ve got a few games for the beginners to explore before that (hopefully!) happens!
CRPGs were originally passion projects of people who used to enjoy TTRPGs (Tabletop Role-Playing Games) and they had quite a learning curve at the beginning. This of course was carried over to the CRPGs.
While the early titles weren’t impossible to learn and had some level of assistance, like manuals and very basic tutorials, they did expect players to spend some time learning them. Which was fine for the times, since there were less titles to choose from, plus the games were really fun once the players committed their time to them.
Over time, new developers wanted to reach more players and made alternative designs to make them more accessible for newbies, while not coddling the veterans.
While it’s common to create games that are more “casual” to allow newbies in, there’s a careful balance that developers need to uphold. Make the game too basic and the core players will abhor it from the get go, don’t make it “simple” enough and you’re risking putting casual players off.
This is usually mitigated by addition of a difficulty slider at the beginning of the game (or modifiable during it) but still an important part of making the game more accessible for less apt playerbase.
Difficulty setting is something that a lot of games include during the development, but it’s not an easy thing to design.
When designing encounters, there are many things that need to be accounted for and if there’s a difficulty slider involved, each encounter can be drastically easier or harder. A good solution is to allow players to “choose” their battles, rather than force them into them, since each player has their own level of skill and personal abilities to account for.
Modern games employ a lot of handholding and tend to lead the player where he’s meant to go, something that didn’t exist within the older CRPG titles.
Whether it’s an improvement or a detriment to the game, it’s definitely a useful feature if you’re stuck on a quest or struggle with remembering things from the game after putting it off for a while and returning to it.
Mission entries, journals etc, while useful, don’t always give the full story and looking up walkthroughs online tends to take the fun away, plus can accidentally cause story spoilers.
Giving the players choice to enable/disable markers should satisfy both groups.
Tutorials are a tried and tested method of helping players get acquainted with the games core mechanics and world building and while often considered annoying, there’s no denying that they’re essential for first time players, especially when playing already established IPs that rely on some prior knowledge.
It can be supplemented further with in-game guides and easy to access quick tutorials with context menus to further explain certain mechanics and game related terms.
The games below, aside from being super fun to play, are quite easy to get into, even for complete beginners to the CRPG genre. So no need to fret that they’re going to give you a headache after playing them with no prior knowledge!
If you’ve played Baldur’s Gate 3, you’ll feel right at home.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 uses the same game engine, so it would make it even easier to get into. The biggest ease of access is of course the difficulty setting at the start. Story and Explorer mode offer plenty of leeway for the new players, while at the same time tactician mode for those who wish to push themselves further. Other than that, players can employ multiple alternative solutions rather than straightforward combat and you can simply “examine” your enemies to check their stats/abilities and decide whether you’re ready for the challenge or not.
Also, quite early into the game, you’ll be able to re-specialise (basically remake) your character at no extra cost. The in-game table of content is also there to assist if you ever feel you need a quick refresh on what certain effects do.
The first part of the game is basically a tutorial, which explains the basics of the game quite effectively. Character creation may give you some trouble at the beginning but you’ll be given an option to recreate anyone on your team as you see fit, at a price though…
The game gives you plenty of warnings if you’re entering an area that may prove too challenging for your current team of rangers and allows you to choose your engagements rather than force you into them. Difficulty modes are also included for both beginners and masochi-, err, people who like to “suffer” while playing video games.
Bear in mind that the game is made for mature audiences as well and can be quite visually gory.
It’s hard not to recommend Disco Elysium for anyone who enjoys CRPGs, especially for new players. It’s important to understand what type of CRPG it is though. You won’t be fighting enemies here, but you will make a lot of choices and play an important part in the game world. You’ll make plenty of choices and deal with the consequences, all the while you explore a world from the eyes of an amnesiac detective with substance abuse problems and voices inside his head. It’s a really great concept and fun design overall. You’ll have a pre-made build ready for action so no need to worry about over analysing it, just follow your gut instinct like a real detective would.
It’s all about the journey and even making “mistakes” can lead to new interesting outcomes to explore. It’s an absolute banger for both fresh players and seasoned veterans.
The second and more polished of the Shadowrun Trilogy released on PC. As it would with the modern CRPGs, you can choose the difficulty before you begin your journey. The biggest challenge for new players would be character creation, as it does play into how your character is able to interact with the cyberpunk fantasy world of Shadowrun. You will have a team of other runners to help out with your missions though, plus the benefits of your choices are informative enough. Still, there’s no way to re-specialise after character creation, so choose wisely!
The game itself does a good job at helping out players find their way around the locations, interactable environment and objectives. Definitely a good starting point for cyberpunk RPG aesthetic lovers.
Dragon Age: Origins is often considered the best when it comes to the story and narrative out of the trilogy (soon to be tetralogy). The game offers the modern luxuries of difficulty slider, objective marker on the map and tutorial with a lengthy introduction to the overall story and game mechanics.
Definitely a great choice for everyone but bear in mind that the game contains more adult oriented dark fantasy and violence. It’s probably best to pick it up after experiencing one of the other titles first though, as it may be a little bit more challenging than the other titles on the list here.
The journey into CRPGs can be daunting at first but giving it a chance will open up some really fantastic titles to enjoy. Especially the older titles which had a tendency to not hold your hand and simply let you learn through exploration and, well, failure. Kind of like throwing you a gauntlet and challenging you to learn the game and master it. It’s an experience that is remembered quite fondly by the older generation of players. So why not give these titles a chance and discover new fantastical worlds to immerse yourself into?
It was easier to pick up a title in the old times and focus fully on it since there were a lot less choices for the players to choose from. With the game market being as huge as it is today, there’s unfortunately little incentive to give a game proper time to learn it.
Game mechanics tend to require quite a bit of knowledge, hence going into certain titles can be… daunting for beginners. It’s true both for older CRPGs and some modern spiritual successors to the series.
Practice on some less mechanically heavy titles first and once you’re hooked, give the more complex ones a chance.
