Summary
There are a lot of things players expect whendiving into an RPGfor the first time: character customization, stats to distribute, skills to unlock, and loads of items to collect. Adventurers spend the majority of their time gaining the strength to overcome increasingly difficult challenges and encounters, eventually taking their avatars to god-like levels of power.
Despite this formula, however, there are some titles that tone down or outright forego one crucial aspect of the genre:boss fights.It’s a novel concept for an RPG to have few to noclimactic final battles, but these titles double down on the story or other gameplay mechanics to great effect. Below are some of the best RPGs with almost no boss fights.
Lovingly crafted to look, feel and play like a traditional illustrated manuscript,Pentimentis a 2D side-scrolling adventure with plenty of mystery and intrigue. Set in 1525, the player controls Andreas Maler, an apprentice illuminator at Kiersau Abbey during the time of the Holy Roman Empire. They are soon thrown into a murder mystery that requires wits, cunning, and plenty of probing questions to determine the guilty party.
Throughout the game, players must discover clues and piece together evidence, a lot of which isdetermined by Andreas' personal history. Language skills, travel, and academia are all decided based on how players choose to approach certain situations. Taking place over the course of 25 years,Pentimentis a delight for role-players who prefer developing backstories and exploring branching dialogue trees, especially if they happen to enjoy a hefty dose of 16th century sleuthing through a unique and captivating art style.
Slapstick adventures that get the humor just right are hard to come by, butWest of Loathinghits that particular tin can dead on. It’s a sharp, witty title presented entirely in black and white stick figure form. Players can explore a deceptively large world and embody any number of wackytakes on the cowboy trope, whether it’s a silver-tongued Snake Oiler, a magic-weaving Beanslinger, or engage in some fisticuffs as a Cow Puncher. Add to that its colorful cast of memorable characters, and that’s a campfire recipe for a unique experience.
Despite the basic graphics,West of Loathingdoes have character customization, as well as turn-based combat. Still, only a scant handful of these combat encounters can be considered bosses. What’s more, those that do exist can often be skipped if players make certain choices. Instead, the focus is on the world, its characters, and the various humorous ways players can interact with all of it. Plus, any game that advertises itself as having over 50 hats to collect and “liberal use of the Oxford comma” is worth checking out.
Straying away from the traditional Medieval setting a lot of RPGs inhabit,Citizen Sleeptakes place on a ruined space station called Erlin’s Eye, cast adrift at the edge of space where thousands of people are desperately trying to survive. Inspired by tabletop narratives, players take on the role of a sleeper, a digitized human consciousness plugged into an artificial body. The goal is to build relationships with fellow occupants and survive together through various branching choices,all based on dice rollsand a clock system that gradually ticks down to the next cycle.
Eventually, players will be able to manipulate the dice and use it to their advantage, uncovering troves of lost data and mysteries that will affect subsequent cycles. There are a wealth of secrets to unearth, from rogue AIs with malicious intent to the machinations of the nefarious Essen-Arp corporation, as well as an engaging narrative that explores the ideas of freedom and personhood.
Featuring an intriguing narrative set among the streets of a mysterious and dark steampunk city,Planescape: Tormentis a unique take on the classicDungeons & Dragonsformula. Players assume the role of the newly resurrected Nameless One, a man cursed with immortality in a distinctively grisly way. Every time he dies, someone else in the multiverse suddenly drops to fuel his next rebirth. The story follows the Nameless One’s quest to remember his past and, in doing so, discover what the future holds for him.
Players must point and click their way through an isometric world dripping with grim atmosphere as they guide the Nameless One through the labyrinthian city of Sigil. There are plenty of items and spells to collect along the way that can help in the quest, as well as certain tattoos that can enhance certain character’s abilities. And if a certain challenge presents itself that the Fighter class can’t solve, players can freely change to a Thief or Wizard. There’s even a traditional alignment system that can alter certain outcomes, meaning plenty of replay value to see every possible outcome.
Boasting an incredible level of freedom and countless ways to approach any situation,Disco Elysiumis a detective RPG that’s hard-boiled down to its core. Players pound the mean streets of Revachol, a city where the seedy underbelly has spilled over and nothing is off the table. Whenever challenges arise (and they often do), there are options to talk through a solution, come out guns blazing, or even write a poem. How players choose to handle encounters isentirely up to them. They can even resort to taking bribes if the path of justice becomes increasingly hard to tread in this unforgiving world.
Revochol is a living, breathing entity unto itself, with hundreds of unique lines of dialogue to explore. No two playthroughs are ever the same. It is a true role-playing experience, from the tabletop-inspired mechanics to the 24 different skills to master, as well as an arsenal of items available to mix and match in almost any way players can imagine.
Set in the wild frontier of America,Red Dead Redemptionfollows former outlaw John Marston on a path to, well, redemption. Forced to hunt down his old partners in exchange for his family’s safety, Marston must overcome a host of challenges in a brutal and unforgiving world that charts the infancy of a fledgling nation. As players traverse the dusty plains, they’ll engage in various missions, leveling up their health, stamina and Dead Eye meter while collecting an arsenal of historical weapons. There aresix gambling mini-gamesto wager on if players want to forget their troubles for a while in a saloon.
The story ofRed Dead Redemptionis a favorite among fans and critics alike, with twists and turns that are up there with the best spaghetti Westerns. And while there is no shortage of gunfights and brawls, it doesn’t really have any bosses in the traditional sense. There are various named NPCs that can comfortably fill the role, but they all feel a lot more grounded in the harsh reality of the world rather than being a spectacle of an encounter with a big bad. The focus here is on the narrative, and it’s one that was masterfully crafted by Rockstar San Diego.
