2. Baldur's Gate

 

When story driven RPGs were dwindling, Baldur’s Gate put the spark back in the genre. The game is based in the Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting, the Forgotten Realms. Upon its release, it was critically received as the best D&D video game around. And it wasn’t an exaggeration—Baldur’s Gate laid the foundation for the RPGs we know and love today.

Your player character is fully customizable. You have your standard choices of class, skill, and abilities, but you can also select your race and alignment (as a patron of the internet, you might’ve heard of D&D's nine alignments). Your moral choices affect your reputation, which determines how the world reacts to you.

"Back in my day, we rolled for our attacks!"

A reactive world, a rich story with deep dialogue, and a wealth of dimensional characters make the game spring to life. With quests to partake in, enemies to defeat, and places to explore—from towns and castles to dungeons and forests—gamers clambered to immerse themselves in this sleeper hit.