Some players want massive worlds to explore for hundreds of hours. One of the most celebrated that has been around for over a decade now is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. With a fantastical world, visceral combat, and an engaging story, players couldn’t contain themselves. On the JRPG end, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth gave players another great option to explore and another great remake in the Final Fantasy series.
10 Linear Games That Quietly Give Players Total Control
Open-world projects are not the only ones with player choice and freedom, as these linear games demonstrate.
Not every RPG or JRPG fan is interested in exploring every nook and cranny in a game, even if they do want an equal amount of playtime. There are more linear experiences out there, both short and long, that fans are going to love if they haven’t played or even seen these games already.
Scarlet Nexus
The Future Is Now
Scarlet Nexus gives players a choice between two protagonists at the beginning, Yuito or Kasane, who start the same, but their paths diverge quickly. Each character gets different party members to join them on missions, and the protagonists are the only characters playable, with the others acting as support.
There’s not much in terms of side activities besides bonding with party members in between missions and discovering things off the beaten path. As linear as it may be, the action is the best part of the game, which is easy enough to get a grasp on and look cool while doing it.
Indivisible
A Metroidvania RPG
Indivisible is a turn-based RPG stuffed inside a 2D Metroidvania. In dungeons, players will run around typical interconnected mazes as they move between different regions of the world. Weak monsters can be killed with melee attacks, while stronger monsters will initiate combat when hit.
All four party members will be mapped to a face button, and players can freely summon them all randomly, or try to be more strategic and build combos. With slick hand-drawn animations, this is certainly one of the best-looking RPGs and Metroidvanias in somewhat recent history.
Undertale
Monster Mash
Undertale is short, very linear, but also one of the most unique and memorable RPGs on the list, let alone of all time. Players can choose to attack monsters or talk their way out of combat, and by sparing monsters, they can go through a pacifist route.
Doing so will open up random monsters and big bosses more, giving players insight into their problems. Being a pacifist is more challenging than fighting, oddly enough, as dodging attacks, especially from bosses, is akin to a bullet hell shooter. It’s all worth it in the end, thanks to the comedic writing and energetic music.
Final Fantasy 13
Funneled Fantasy
Final Fantasy 13 is the most linear entry in the mainline Final Fantasy games. Players will not be able to switch Jobs, party members, or do any side activities until much later in the game. For fans used to the openness of previous entries, this was a disaster, but to fans of linear games, it was a blessing.
10 RPGs That Let You Play At Your Own Pace
Go slow or fast, beeline for the next quest or spend a moment exploring: these RPGs encourage you to play as quickly as you want.
Splitting the party into different areas and missions helped players get to know characters in smaller pairings better, which is what Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth did as well, and that had to be inspired by Final Fantasy 13. While not perfect, the visuals, music, and battle system are all top-notch, plus the last fourth of the game does open up with quite a few distractions if players want.
Parasite Eve
Solving The Case
Parasite Eve takes place in New York City and follows a detective’s investigation into the paranormal. Melting humans, mutating rats, sewer chases, and more await players in this horror-themed RPG.
In combat, players can freely run around and dodge attacks, and on their turn, they can pause the game, aim their weapon or psychic power, and blast away. The heightened sense of reality, small location roster, and the battle system all make Parasite Eve one of Square’s best games on the PS1, and while there aren’t many side activities in the first go, the New Game+ mode adds an extra-long side dungeon.
The World Ends With You
Week After Week
The World Ends With You takes place within one city as well, except it’s Shibuya in Japan. Neku, a recently deceased teen, wakes up in a side dimension to the real Shibuya. While everything looks the same, he can only interact with characters who are also in this plane of existence.
The goal is to win a series of battle challenges to be crowned the winner of this game, thus getting a wish like the ability to be revived. The battle system is unique as touch controls work for Neku on the bottom screen, while his rotating partners can be controlled with face buttons on the top screen. Players can get the single-screen remaster on Switch to make things simpler, which is also the easiest to find and play today. Beyond grinding for EXP, the game goes through a day-by-day structure, so there’s not much side activity to be had.
Live A Live
An Episodic RPG
Live A Live lets players choose seven different characters who have self-contained stories throughout time. Some episodes are strictly linear, like Sundown Kid in the Wild West, while others let players explore more freely, like Pogo from the prehistoric era. Once all episodes are completed, more opens up, and it’s a bit of a spoiler to say how.
Either way, this remaster of Live A Live, which started only in Japan on the SNES, is a great anthology example of a turn-based RPG with tactical grids. It’s not the greatest cohesive story, even when things come together, but the experimental nature is worthwhile, along with the HD-2D graphics.
Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow
Following The 2D Path
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is a continuation of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, which followed Soma Cruz, a vampire hunter, in the future. Future or not, Dracula and his castle still exist, so the fight continues even without the full support of the Belmont clan. Like the first game, Soma can fight enemies, level up, and pick up or buy gear from shops.
10 RPGs Where Builds Matter More Than Gear
Loot isn’t everything in these RPGs that put a major emphasis on your class, skills, and other abilities.
Also, players have a chance of learning abilities from monsters, both active and passive, turning the collection of souls almost into a Pokemon game. The 2D Metroidvania design means there will be a lot of backtracking and some side exploration, but it’s minimal in the long run.
Fire Emblem: Path Of Radiance
Back To Basics
Contrary to more recent releases in the Fire Emblem series, like Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which has side content, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance follows the old-school path. Players will go from one tactical battle to another, with permadeath turned on at all times, meaning that players have to pay attention more than usual during battles.
Once an ally is dead, that’s it unless players reload. It’s a more challenging tactical game to be sure, but anyone curious can now check it out on the Switch 2 thanks to the recent GameCube drop.
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance
Not As Open As BG3
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is strictly a more focused dungeon diving action game, akin to Diablo but on a smaller scale. Players can choose their character and class between an Archer, Fighter, or Sorceress. They can follow the campaign alone by going into various dungeons, or they can make the hack-and-slash and loot-based gameplay go faster with friends.
Anyone who jumped into Baldur’s Gate 3 and was too intimidated by the branching paths and long campaign will feel more at ease with this earlier spinoff, which does have a remaster now on most systems.
10 Hardest RPGs By Square Enix, Ranked
With plenty of RPGs under its belt, it’s no surprise Square Enix has made many highly challenging titles, even in default difficulty.
