Best RPGs of 2020
Honorable Mention: Genshin Impact
Senior Editor Alex Gibson: If the narrative before Genshin Impact’s launch were its perceived similarities to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, our big takeaway after having played it was the extent to which its gameplay stands apart from Nintendo’s masterpiece.
That, in large part, is thanks to Genshin Impact’s deep, engaging role-playing mechanics, which offer near limitless opportunity to trial and error character builds and party compositions.
Much more than the arbitrary level mechanics we’ve seen in games gone-by, here they truly enhance combat by constantly encouraging you to experiment both in and out of battles.
Even after countless hours, Genshin Impact’s elemental-based combat system never tiers; particularly so, as developer miHoYo has provided a robust post-launch support program. New content in the form of characters, entire regions on the map, and exhilarating boss encounters have kept me invested.
Oh, and did I mention this huge, sprawling open-world RPG is completely free-to-play? No, really…
All in all, there’s no doubt Genshin Impact raises the bar for the free-to-play scene and redefines what’s possible for a game that exists not only across consoles and PC but mobile as well.
