The best RPGs are traditional, story-rich, have isometric cameras, and turn-based combat. They’re around 50 hours long, with a custom-made character and no PvP. At least, that’s according to a survey undertaken by Larian, which documents the RPG tastes of its players.
Not convinced by the results? Check out our list of the best RPGs on PC.
Larian, the team behind Divinity: Original Sin gathered responses from more than 15,000 players, posing them questions about their favourite RPGs, their favourite features, and their gaming habits.
The survey states that JRPGs and MMOs are the least popular types of RPGs, while more ‘traditional’ games like Pillars of Eternity, Baldur’s Gate, and Divinity: Original Sin are the most popular, with over 10,000 users saying that they ‘loved’ those types of games.
A strong narrative element was seen as a key part of a successful game, with a good story and strong character progression seen as the most important features in any RPG. PvP gameplay was seen as the least important feature, with around two-thirds of those surveyed saying that it is simply “not important.”
The ideal game length is apparently 40-60 hours, with 28.6% of users saying that was their preferred game length. Nearly as many, however, said that an RPG should be more than 100 hours long, with 24% choosing that option. Less than 1% said that a game should take less than 20 hours to complete.
Elsewhere in the survey results, it was revealed that Divinity: Original Sin is the most popular ‘traditional’ RPG, beating out both Baldur’s Gate games as well as Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity. The Witcher 3 was the most popular action-RPG, and World of Warcraft was, unsurprisingly, the most popular MMO.
There are a whole load of extra survey results available, with results on several more games, features, and other details available in the full survey results.