5. Elden Ring

The games of Japanese designer Hidetaka Miyazaki are renowned for their quality and difficulty, but have mostly appealed to niche gamers. His earlier games like Bloodborne were mostly linear too. Elden Ring, though, is an open-world RPG that appeals to a wider audience. This is because if you encounter a tough enemy you cannot handle right now, you can level your character up in a different part of the world, and come back when you’re ready to defeat that pesky boss that seemed impossible in the Lands Between, the game’s fantasy world.

Here FromSoftware and Miyazaki have also mastered the art of “show not tell” to deliver Elden Ring’s story, while author George R. R. Martin himself contributed to the story of this stellar RPG game.

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Next: 6. Cyberpunk 2077