With Persona 4 celebrating its 10th anniversary in July, we embarked on a quest to discover a bunch of the best RPGs that have nothing to do with faux medieval fantasy, and round up some of the more unusual stories to suit folk who don’t give a crap about swords in stones.
We will admit, however, to clinging onto some of the traditional RPG trappings that we shamelessly enjoy such as puzzle solving and turn-based battling. Our selection includes stuff like that, but spun around, turned on its head, and kicked forcefully into a vat of luminous gunk... Or at least something along those lines. These games share the same lifeblood, but do things just a little differently.
Persona 4 (Atlus, PlayStation 2, 2008)
With a high school murder mystery at the heart of its plot, this breakthrough entry to the popular Shin Megami Tensei series stylishly juxtaposed our modern world with the occult.
We got to know the charismatic cast through classroom hijinks and after school hangouts, so that their complex personalities wove together in a convincing social minefield while their lives took a turn for the bizarre. Besides getting their homework done on time, Persona 4’s protagonists discovered another dimension inside the TV, from which students found it worryingly hard to escape. The mood was infectiously bright, if not outright psychedelic, though that’s not to say the game made things easy.
Earthbound (Nintendo, Super NES, 1994)
One of the main reasons to own a Super NES Classic, Earthbound really is special. Though it featured a bunch of cute kids in a game that looks like it was made for cute kids, the experience Earthbound offered was far richer than the ‘Charlie Brown RPG’ / Pokémon aesthetic it seemed to represent.
It’s a story of humanity versus extraterrestrial invaders, in which the final battle against the “Embodiment of Evil” is fought in the mind. Despite its humble looks, Earthbound dealt sensitively in matters of the soul, while comedically staging the funkiest battles that boast hilarious, often unexpected dialogue.
We cannot recommend Earthbound highly enough, you absolutely need to play it.
Catherine (Atlus, PlayStation 3, 2011)
Strictly speaking, this is an action game with a story – though you could also say that about Puyo Puyo (I prefer Bubble Bobble’s narrative myself - Ed). There are still very much role-playing requirements, however, and there’s just no other suitable category for Catherine. Be advised, this is a highly sexualized experience.
In Catherine the player was called to make sense of a confused bachelor’s love life. Tortured by guilt after cheating on his long-term girlfriend, he’s looking to reconcile both with them and his own mind. By day, our guy consults with his pals in the Stray Sheep bar and deals with his relationship issues between the two girls. By night, he enters nightmares that take the form of a climbing puzzle while being pursued by monsters that look like butts with fangs, or giant zombie babies, patrolled by anthropomorphic sheep. It’s fair to say that Catherine wasn’t exactly your ordinary guilt trip, but it’s one well worth experiencing if you haven’t already.
Heavy Metal Thunder (Square Enix, PlayStation 2, 2005)
This is a wild card, really, since it’s a story that eschewed exploration of any kind in favor of menu-driven combat as relentless as the ear-splitting riffs that accompanied the main action. Unless you live in Japan, you’re unlikely to have seen or heard of this. You’re welcome.
See, Japan never lost its love affair with hard-hitting heavy metal, and the celebrated shock-rockers Sex Machineguns (like the Sex Pistols, but better) were called upon to provide the soundtrack for Heavy Metal Thunder, in which the story – please don’t ask what it was about – could only be progressed by vanquishing robots, whose special moves were their mad axe skills.
Legend of the River King (Natsume, Game Boy Color, 1997)
Developed by the makers of the adorable Harvest Moon series, the Legend of the River King followed a similarly ‘honobono’ (heartwarming) story set in rural Japan. It’s a fishing RPG, in which the hero – a young boy – goes in search of the fabled Guardian Fish, which is the only thing that can save his sister’s life. Along the way, comparatively meaningless fish are sold in order to upgrade the kid’s all-important fishing equipment. To improve his skills, and to see more of the story, our hero undertakes missions to catch important fish for other villagers. Legend of the River King 1 & 2 are available on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. Just saying.
Undertale (Toby Fox, PC, Mac, PS4, 2015)
What can only be described as an unnervingly self-aware RPG, and one that plays upon the likelihood that you’ve had some experience with the genre. Indeed, the more you know about how RPGs generally pan out, the more rewarding the fourth-wall breakage in this essential game becomes. Despite its deliberately coarse presentation, Undertale is unquestionably elegant, relaying its story via an artful balance of battles, puzzle solving and storytelling. Without the playfulness of Earthbound and risqué approach of Atlus to a well-worn old genre, it’s likely Undertale may never have happened. We’re lucky, then, as sole developer Toby Fox’s complete understanding of games and gamers makes the world a better place.
Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe, PC, 2016)
This indie title takes its inspiration from Natsume’s Harvest Moon series, but extends the theme to its laid-back lifestyle limits. Be warned: most players who begin to treasure the wholesome old ways of Stardew Valley tend to become terribly engrossed, unable to rest until the cold-hearted Joja Corporation is sent packing, the sound of birdsong fills the air, and the sweet smell of plants (and not to mention manure) is ever-present. You can side with those Joja SOBs too, if you like, but the main thing is that every little thing you do counts for an awful lot.