As we move into 2016, there’re plenty of video games to keep track of. From exclusives to the genre specific titles, we went ahead and picked out the top fifteen RPG based video game titles releasing throughout 2016 and it’s a list comprised of new entries to long-standing franchises, completely new IPs, along with sequels we’ve been eagerly awaiting for. As always, if we missed out on an RPG video game title that should be included within this list then let us know by leaving a comment down below.
#15. Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC Release Date: January 15, 2016
If you’ve never played Dragon’s Dogma, the new version that has already released on both Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 known as Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen may be your best bet in going through this RPG. While already available on both the last generation consoles for Sony and Microsoft, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is set to release on PC this coming January 15, 2016, and being the updated version of the game it will feature various updates and tweaks. Additionally, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is set with all the previously released DLC content for the game along with new items, weapons, armor, quests, and a brand new fast travel system.
#14. Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Platforms: PC Release Date: Q2/Q3 2016 PS4, XB1 Release Date: TBA
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a more accurate period piece role-playing game. Set in 1403 within the Kingdom of Bohemia, the old king has passed leaving his heir to struggle in maintaining order within the lands. Seeking to further his advancement within the kingdom, the new king’s brother kidnaps the king leaving our protagonist, a son of a blacksmith, to set out to restore order in a story of retribution and revenge. As mentioned, developers Warhorse Studios has taken great care in presenting a game that would show an accurate depiction of the period with various armor, clothing, combat techniques, real-world castles, and even period correct music.
#13. Lost Ark
Platforms: PC Release Date: TBA
Diablo is a massive video game franchise and with that said there are plenty of clones out there looking to ride on the gameplay style bandwagon. However, Lost Ark is something truly unique and beautiful and that’s a rare thing to say about a game that takes so many similarities from a bigger release like Diablo 3. Unfortunately, the game, while looking incredibly well developed and polished, seemed to be an exclusive release within Korea. That is until recently when developers revealed that they are working to bring the game out of the Korean market where it may see a western release within 2016. Gamers can enjoy the Diablo-style gameplay of Lost Ark with its PVP battleground system, extensive economy, and the variety of quests that can be given through endless NPCs. As of right now, it’s unclear just when Lost Ark will release, but it’s nice knowing that a western release for the game was not ruled out by development team Tripod Studios.
#12. The Technomancer
Platforms: PC, PS4, XB1 TBA
The Technomancer is an upcoming video game by Spiders, developers of Mars: War Logs and Of Orcs and Men. Set over a hundred years after the planet Mars is colonized by humans, players take control of a technomancer, a human with magical abilities revolving around technology. Our protagonist Zachariah is on the run from the secret police, but it’s unclear just why he’s on the run. While trying to escape and searching for answers that will lead Zachariah to uncover a hidden past, players will find that there are a number of different routes to make their way towards the end of the game. Additionally, development team Spiders have also revealed that The Technomancer will include five unique endings.
#11. Pillars of Eternity: The White March Part II
Platforms: Windows, OS X, Linux Release Date: January 2016
The second part of The White March for Pillars of Eternity will be released in late January 2016. This new part of the expansion by developers Obsidian is said to bring in a slew of new quests, abilities, and even a brand new Barbarian companion, Meneha. Furthermore, the level caps have been raised along with a new Story Time mode which lets players go through the game narrative at a faster pace.
#10. Albion Online
Platforms: Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS, Android
The development team behind Albion Online prides themselves on having the first truly cross-platform video game. This RPG is set within a fantasy medieval world and will be releasing on Windows, Linux, OS X, iOS, along with Android. Every player within the game will be placed on a single server allowing players to meet up no matter what system they are playing on. Players can also take on quests, battle within a guild, acquire their own land settlement with a home, sell goods in the player generated market, and much more.
#9. Divinity: Original Sin 2
Platforms: Windows Release Date: December 2016
After a successful Kickstarter, the sequel to Divinity: Original Sin known as Divinity: Original Sin 2 went into development. We don’t know too much about this game quite yet and it’s not set to release until December of 2016, but so far the development team Larian Studios has revealed that the game will include a period in which all the sorcerers have been persecuted. This has left a small group of four sorcerers to embark on a grand quest to defeat the Bishop that has sought to destroy the remaining sorcerers within the world. Players who have already completed Divinity: Original Sin will find that most of the gameplay aspect will be brought over for the upcoming sequel.
#8. Persona 5
Platforms: PS3, PS4 Release Date: Q3 2016
The sixth installment to the Persona series, Persona 5, is currently in development from Atlus with a slated release schedule starting in the third quarter of 2016. This time, around players will take control of a 16-year-old protagonist who meets up with fellow students and a shape-shift cat-like species known as Morgana. These individuals form a group known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, where their goal is to explore a castle known as the Palace and to fight off the greater enemies that lurk about.
#7. Dark Souls III
Windows, PS4, XB1 Release Date: March 24, 2016 (jp) April 12, 2016 (ww)
The fourth entry to the Souls series, Dark Souls III, will be released in March of 2016. Not too much has been revealed about Dark Souls III quite yet though developers FromSoftware has confirmed that the gameplay will act similar to the past installments with the protagonist being viewed from a third-person perspective. Players will also have a variety of weapons to choose from, Bonfire checkpoints will make a return along with a magic meter feature similarly to the one from Demon’s Souls. Ashes have also been revealed to play a bigger role in this title according to Hidetaka Miyazaki, Dark Souls III game director.
#6. The Banner Saga 2
Platforms: PC, PS4, XB1 TBA
Originally meant to reach a release date within 2015, Versus Evil’s The Banner Saga sequel will officially release at some point in 2016. The Banner Saga 2 will pick up after the events of the first installment, though who is present within The Banner Saga 2 will be determined from your initial The Banner Saga save. Players are up for another grand adventure in which an epic tale will unfold that showcases strong leaderships, hard sacrifices, new heroes, along with the strategy combat the game series is known for.
#5. Torment: Tides of Numenera
Platforms: Windows, OS X, Linux TBA
Through Kickstarter funding, the spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment, Torment: Tides of Numenera will be heading into the market sometime in 2016. This RPG is set in the distant future where the fall of civilizations has left humanity into a more simplistic medieval state. Players take control of a protagonist known as the Last Castoff, the final vessel that was used by a man capable of using his consciousness in other hosts bodies, thus granting him eternal life. These vessels awake with no prior memory though they become attracted by an enmity known as The Sorrow, who looks to destroy the remaining vessels along with this ancient man’s consciousness. The Last Castoff must locate other vessels and search for this consciousness before they are destroyed by The Sorrow.
#4. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Platforms: Windows, PS4, XB1
Set two years after the events of Deus Ex: Human Revolution comes Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. After the Panchaea Incident which caused millions of augmented individuals to mindlessly attack those without augmentations, more people have sided against the act of implementing augmented parts within humans. Players take on the role of Adam Jensen once again as he works against new terrorist attacks along with locating who is responsible for the control of his own organization from a few years prior.
#3. The Witcher 3: Blood & Wine (Expansion Pack)
Platforms: Windows, PS4, XB1 TBA
The Witcher 3: Blood & Wine is the second paid expansion pack for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. There’s still plenty of mystery as to what we can expect exactly from the upcoming Blood & Wine expansion though we do know that there will be twenty hours of gameplay that will take Geralt to a new land that has been untainted by war. However, behind this land lies a truly bloody secret for players to unveil.
#2. Final Fantasy XV
Platforms: PS4, XB1
Final Fantasy XV is an upcoming action role-playing video game that will be marked as the fifteenth main installment to the Final Fantasy franchise. The game is also said to take a darker atmosphere with more realistic characters than ever before. This time around the game centers between two empires that have declared war, Lucis, and Nifheim and after Nifheim successfully captures the kingdom’s crystal of Lucis, a group of friend’s sets out to regain it. Players take control of Noctis, prince of Lucis, who teams up with his friends in a grand journey against a massive empire force.
#1. Tyranny
Platforms: Windows PC
Tyranny is set in a world where evil has already won. Instead of playing the hero or some peasant farmer resisting the big bad guy, you’re one of the Overlord Kyros’s Fatebinders—a bit like Judge Dredd. Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, Tyranny an isometric role-playing game in the vein of Pillars of Eternity that looks to expand the horizons of the genre with intriguing new concepts and a strong focus on choices and consequences. We’re incredibly excited about it.
