Guide: 8 Modern Turn-Based RPGs to Know the Genre

Turn-based RPGs were treated as a genre stuck in the past for the last decade, commonly associated with static menus, slow pacing, and nostalgia, but it seems the tides are turning.

What we see today is a scenario where these titles are once again leaving the realm of JRPGs and reclaiming the mainstream scene, with titles where the turn-based system has become a malleable tool, capable of supporting mechanical tweaks and creating great commercial success. Instead of resisting time, the genre has reinvented itself, and some games have been fundamental in this process.

Between big-budget productions and independent projects, the modern turn-based RPG has ceased to be a legacy of the 1990s and has become its own trend. The titles below help to understand how this transformation happened and why the format remains relevant, creative, and, in many cases, more expressive than ever, and why you, whether a veteran of the genre or someone who just discovered it thanks to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, can have countless adventures with modern titles.

Persona 5 Royal

Persona 5 Royal is one of the most emblematic examples of this new phase of turn-based RPGs. Although the Persona series had its own identity for years, the fifth title from Atlus became a mainstream phenomenon and was considered one of the best PlayStation 4 titles in history.

The combat follows classic rules of the system adopted by Atlus for decades — exploiting elemental weaknesses, managing turns and resources — but the game integrates this system into a robust social structure. Every decision outside of battles, from how the protagonist spends their time to which relationships they choose to deepen, has a direct influence on the performance of allies, which Personas can be used, and also grants extra resources inside and outside of combat.

The Confidants are, in a way, the soul of Persona 5: the game follows a calendar system that demands resource management, and spending more time with some of your friends means not dedicating time to other tasks, which would be tedious if the characters didn't have personality, style, and dilemmas captivating enough to keep the viewer hooked.

The Royal version, released in 2020, consolidates this proposal by refining the campaign's pace and expanding the narrative, resulting in an experience that guarantees over a hundred hours of fun, of being moved by each character's stories and, above all, of questioning the individual and collective role of society.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

The reinvention of the genre also involves franchises that dared to change their identity, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon represents an important breaking point within a series known, until then, for real-time combat.

The decision to migrate to a turn-based system could have alienated the audience, but the opposite happened. The game found in the new format a way to translate its essence and present a new protagonist with coherent reasons for the change in the combat system, with ordinary characters facing absurd situations with creativity and improvisation, blending tactics with humor and intelligent use of the environment.

Like a Dragon also introduced a class system that is very reminiscent of that used in various RPGs, where heroes can "learn professions" and use them for combat. Although it may seem like a lot to those who have never played a turn-based RPG, the title manages to embrace this proposal without abandoning its roots, as it keeps everything accessible.

Its highlight, however, lies in another element: the Yakuza series is already known for mixing inherent dilemmas of adult life with doses of humor and absurdism, and the story of Ichiban Kasuga may start full of comic relief, but it develops into a well-crafted plot about a sense of duty, family, and maturity.

The success was so clear that Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the successor title and eighth game in the franchise, expanded on this approach, betting on a larger scale and more freedom, taking the plot to Hawaii, where Kasuga reunites with old friends and forges new alliances in his quest to uncover secrets from his past.

Metaphor: ReFantazio

Metaphor: ReFantazio, released in 2024, is a project that marks a new creative phase for Atlus outside the Persona universe and represents a concern for aligning traditional systems with innovation.

Set in a political fantasy world that questions the value of democracy, the game uses much of the Persona formula and turn-based combat as an extension of the thematic conflict it proposes, but with its own style and progression methods that set it apart from everything the studio had done.

Betting on a world of high fantasy brings new challenges. Also for the player: while turn-based combat is essential to Metaphor, the game also features segments where real-time battles are possible or even preferable, and the journey and map exploration, which takes the calendar system from the Persona series and transforms it into "travel time," establishes new ways to handle and manage resources, but without ever overly limiting the player or forcing them to make punishing decisions about what to do each day.

From a general perspective, Metaphor: ReFantazio is the culmination of all the lessons Atlus has learned from its other titles, and a new IP provided the necessary space to try something innovative and experiment with new ideas that, in the end, come together to offer one of the most iconic RPGs of the last five years.

The Ruined King: A League of Legends Story

Released in 2021, The Ruined King: A League of Legends Story tackles the challenge of adapting well-known characters from a competitive game into an RPG experience.

Surprisingly, the Airship Syndicate title manages to do so without requiring prior familiarity with League of Legends for those who have never been interested in the franchise, while also offering a great game for those passionate about the characters and world of Riot's franchise.

In this title, the turn-based combat attempts to innovate in the interpretation of initiative and positioning while opening space to expand the narrative of the Runeterra universe with iconic characters such as Ahri, Braum, Miss Fortune, and Yasuo, providing a complete RPG experience in one of the best-constructed worlds in the gaming universe, all with visual experimentation that highlights The Ruined King as one of the standouts on our list.

Octopath Traveler 2

The Octopath Traveler series may not be as famous a franchise as Final Fantasy, but the series, also developed by Square Enix — responsible for popularizing the RPG genre with Final Fantasy VII — has its own charm and a combat system focused on vulnerabilities and visual effects to avoid the static monotony of the turn-based system.

While the graphics might put off some viewers, the art style of Octopath Traveler II becomes one of the game's greatest achievements. Combined with a captivating storyline revolving around eight travelers in the world of Solistia, each with their own unique story to explore, it provides an experience that doesn't stray too far from the first title in the series but offers enough improvements to recommend it directly—and once players are captivated by the franchise's universe, there will be no shortage of reasons to explore the first game and the recently released Octopath Traveler 0.

Sea of ​​Stars

While some studios look to the future, others find inspiration in the past, and Sea of ​​Stars is one of the best recent examples. The game evokes the 16-bit era in aesthetics and structure but modernizes combat by incorporating timing-based interactions and momentary decisions, all wrapped in subtle nods to other great titles of the past, such as Chrono Trigger.

As seen in other games, interactivity has become essential to the turn-based system, and Sea of ​​Stars excels in this regard. Each turn requires attention to block attacks and enhance abilities, which reduces the feeling of repetition common in classic RPGs where everything was based on pressing a few commands and watching the effects unfold on screen.

Beyond combat, the game also boasts a complete package of captivating plot and characters, with enough creative freedom to break the mold while trying to find its own way of telling a story, resulting in a work that deeply respects its influences but ultimately offers an experience that feels fresh, even with so many familiar features.

Baldur's Gate 3

At the other end of the production spectrum is Baldur’s Gate 3, one of the most influential RPGs of recent years.

Although its base is the Dungeons & Dragons rules system, the Larian Studios game relies heavily on the role-playing aspect of RPGs, both in character creation and interaction with the world, bringing the experience of a D&D tabletop game to a digital environment with such freedom that it's easy to get lost in the expansion of its universe or provide hundreds of hours of gameplay among the various and unpredictable possibilities of each player's choice, dialogue, or action.

Unlike other titles on this list, this game focuses majorly on the narrative's interaction with the player, even making it possible to avoid as many battles as possible. However, once combat begins, Baldur's Gate 3 offers a classic blend of turn-based battles —rooted in the D&D-style gameplay with elements that flirt with tactical RPGs— establishes a challenging play style where the player can explore the environment, improvise solutions, and seek the best solution or build for each character or segment, transforming combat into a natural extension of role-playing.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 perhaps represents the most compelling example of how turn-based RPGs can still surprise. Developed by Sandfall Interactive, the game was off the radar for many when it was released, but it became a landmark of the current generation and the most awarded title in the history of The Game Awards, becoming a contemporary reference in the genre.

But every award requires its merit, and the French title earned it: the world presented in Clair Obscur is profoundly melancholic despite the strong color palettes, which reinforces the narrative oppression of being in a world on the brink of collapse, where we follow a group on an expedition to defeat the Paintress and end the cycle that haunts Lumière.

At the heart of this melancholy, two elements highlighted the French title: the way its plot works with the complex emotion of grief and the sense of duty when death is a certainty, and, of course, the famous turn-based combat that blends menus and commands with real-time interaction elements, where getting the timing of your commands or enemy attacks right is essential to secure an advantage in battle, sometimes resembling rhythm games where pressing the command at the exact moment guarantees the best success rate.

Expedition 33 was the most recent example of everything that turn-based RPGs can still offer to the contemporary industry, and it has become a must-play for an entire generation of genre enthusiasts and those who have never experienced turn-based games.

These titles demonstrate how turn-based RPGs have found new ways to express themselves in the evolution of the industry, seeking ways to deliver the most classic systems of the genre with new elements that keep them relevant in an increasingly interactive world.

Sometimes this will be done through a plot that leaves the player equally relaxed and heartbroken, as in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, sometimes imbuing elements of other genres and/or specific mechanics within their systems, as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 did; and at other times through a call to the echo of nostalgia with a fresh and innovative experience, where Sea of ​​Stars is a clear highlight.

Regardless of the medium, recently we have witnessed a new rise in the genre, and with it, a blend of nostalgia and excitement from an audience that, for a long time, felt underrepresented in the industry's major titles. The classic, somehow, has never seemed so new.