We adore role-playing games – titles that let us explore not just fresh new worlds but also meet new characters, including the chance to shape our own player character as we experience the story and plot, in their shoes.
Top Xbox Series X and Series S games overall: Add these titles to your next-gen library
The Xbox Series X and Series S, thanks to extensive backward compatibility and a growing native library, offer a huge range of amazing RPGs and we’ve gathered the very best for you to check out right here.
Our other Xbox Series X and S game buyer’s guides
• Best overall games• Best indie games• Best racing games• Best horror games• Best shooters
What are the best RPGs on Xbox Series X and S?
Elden RingDisco ElysiumThe Witcher 3: Wild HuntMass Effect Legendary EditionAssassin’s Creed: ValhallaTales of AriseYakuza: Like a Dragon
Elden Ring
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FromSoftware’s latest RPG is a stone-cold masterpiece that absolutely sings on next-gen hardware, with way quicker loading times and smoother frame rates. You’ll explore a terrifying, ridiculously detailed and varied map over many hours.
It’s tough as nails, and you might find it a little unforgiving at times (okay, all the time), but when you stick with it and make hard-fought progress it offers a level of reward that few games can match. A genuine must-play.
Elden Ring review: Dark Souls goes open-world to stunning effect
Disco Elysium
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If you prefer your RPGs to be heavy on the story side of things, and want a game that really adapts to your approach and lets you do things the way you want to, Disco Elysium is like mana from heaven. It’s written to an unbelievably high standard.
Playing a deadbeat, failing police investigator, you’ve got a crime to solve and not long to do it. The real star, though, is its stunning dialogue, including with your own psyche in-game. This is ideal for anyone looking to be impressed by a game’s intellectual scope.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
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Possibly the greatest RPG of the last console generation, The Witcher 3 is a sprawling, magical story with almost endless amounts of diverting side content to explore while you make your way through its meaty main quest.
The game looks ravishing despite its age, and will get a next-gen version very soon to make things sparkle at higher resolutions, which means the Series X or S is the perfect place to give it a play-through for the first or umpteenth time.
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt review: One of the best RPGs ever made
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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One of the greatest stories in gaming history is repackaged and massively upgraded in this collection of all three Mass Effect games with almost all of their DLC and extras, making for a seriously monstrous amount of gaming to get through.
With memorable characters, huge choices and epic moments, though, you’ll find it goes by in a blink, and we had an absolute blast reliving some of the most incredible sequences in RPG history.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition review: Revisiting the best RPG series ever made
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
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Assassin’s Creed didn’t start as an RPG but at this point it might just be the biggest one on the market, with Valhalla offering up a huge map and countless activities to explore within it, plus letting you choose your dialogue and whether your Eivor is male or female.
The game looks gorgeous and plays super smoothly, and there are some great DLC packs to check out if you do manage to finish its huge main quest, which will take dozens of hours. This is a great world to sink into for some low-stress gaming.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla review: A bloody good Viking escapade
Tales of Arise
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If you want more of a JRPG, Tales of Arise is one of the first big next-gen arrivals on that front, and it looks brilliant on a new Xbox. The story it tells is one of oppression and revolt, and you’ll be right at the heart of it with a cast of loveable characters.
Fighting back will involve plenty of battles, and thankfully Tales of Arise has a superb, rewarding and satisfying combat system that lets you hot-swap between powers and characters on the fly for huge damage and powerful moves.
Tales of Arise review: A sprawling, enchanting story
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
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Staying in Japan, this brilliant entry in the long-running Yakuza series is the perfect place to jump in, thankfully. It also marks a massive change for the series, transforming it successfully into a turn-based combat game rather than a brawler.
That makes it more relaxed to play, but doesn’t stop it from exploring some truly crazy depths and offering up countless amazing stories and fun side activities to try out and eventually master.