Robert Sinclair’s RPGs of the Decade

In addition to showing the results our staff-wide voting, our massive RPGs of the Decade feature allows individual staff members to highlight their personal favourites from the last ten years. While our main list is limited to entirely new entries from the decade, our writers have been given a bit more leeway for their personal lists, being able to combine titles into a single entry in their list of ten, include various remasters and ports, and use whatever ordering, or not, they wish. Here, Robert Sinclair gives us his picks.

#5
Diablo III

Between the PS3, PS4, and Switch versions of Diablo III, I’ve put more than 400 hours into the game. A significant chunk of that was in multiplayer with my brother and few games feel as rewarding as it does. There’s tons of ways to build your characters and lots to loot. It’s as close to the perfect multiplayer action RPG as I’ve played this last decade.

#4
Borderlands 2

Another game that I’ve played hundreds of hours on and another that I’ve owned three versions of. Handsome Jack is one of the most twisted and hilarious villains that this decade provided and the rest of the supporting cast is just as colourful and over-the-top. Borderlands 2 is probably the best shooter-looter RPG out there, especially when it comes to multiplayer.

#3
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

The Trails of Cold Steel saga is more than just excellent characters and compelling story, it’s a glimpse into a vivid and sprawling world. I connected with these characters, I shared their hopes, I felt their pain, and I was compelled to play through them enough to see every bit of story, including just talking to NPCs.

#2
Final Fantasy XIV

Final Fantasy XIV is the MMORPG that all MMOs should be trying to be. You can be any job with a single character, the story is epic, the characters are cool, the bad guys blur the lines a bit, and you get a chocobo to fight with you. It’s also full of armour and weapons that you can dress your characters up in. I feel like this is one game that improves itself constantly and I have no problem wasting hours in it every day.

#1
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Not going to beat around the bush. Simply put, Dragon Quest XI is my favourite game of all time. I loved every character in the party so much. The first two acts of the game are enough to call the story complete and if you do it’s a very bittersweet story. It’s genuinely heart breaking. But that last act was also amazing and totally worth continuing on.

The art, the music, the old Dragon Quest turn-based battles given a fresh take, this is the pinnacle of Dragon Quest and, in my opinion, reigns at the top of the turn-based RPGs and most RPGs in general.